I photo Albums Missing

Question

This question was not answered actually, but the powers that be seem to have closed the post, since the person who decided that because I find the Albums feature on iphoto to be ridiculous, or not useful at all when trying to upload organized, titled images from iphoto to other programs such as snapfish, flickr or kodak.
I can not drag the album. I can export, but the album is out of order.
So the question remains, is there anyway to view the photo Albums, in the finder to upload elsewhere?
If not, then I do not see how iphoto can be useful for that purpose. (despite the fact that millions use it). To organize photos by roll, yes, by album no.

Answer 1

Your previous posts were in both the iPhoto 5 and 6 forums. Since you refer to Film Rolls I'm guessing you use v6, although you've started this thread in the v5 forum. It is useful for us to know which version you are using, since there are some differences.
So the question remains, is there anyway to view the photo Albums, in the finder to upload elsewhere?
The answer remains, no there is not.
I can not drag the album.
Correct. The album won't drag from the Source Pane to the Finder. Click on the Album, then select the photos. Selected photos will drag and drop to the Finder and some other applications. You can Select All, or Shift-Click to select the first and last photo of a contiguous group, or Command-Click to select non-consecutive photos.
I can export, but the album is out of order.
An easy way to preserve your album order during export is to check the box in the Export Dialog that says "Rename: use Album Name". Let's say you have an album called "Vacation". The Album name option will name each exported file "Vacation - 01" "Vacation - 02" "Vacation - 03" etc. Since the Finder always lists files in alpha-numeric order, they will be correct in the folder of exports. (Remember to create a New Folder for the exported photos so they aren't mixed in with other files.) Then to upload to snapfish, etc., just select that folder. The order will also be preserved whether you copy that folder to a CD, DVD, or other storage media for use in another computer, printing, or even a digital photo frame.
If you had given your photos descriptive titles and can't bear to lose the titles upon export (the above method will NOT preserve iPhoto titles) there is another way. It takes a little more time, depending on the size of your album. With the album in the order you choose, go through the photos one by one and add a number at the beginning of the title. Be sure to pad the title with the correct number of zeros: for up to 99 photos begin with "01 your title" ; and for up to 999 photos begin with "001 your title". When the titles are all numbered, export the album. This time, check the box in the export dialog for "Rename: use Title". Since your titles are now in alpha-numeric order, they will remain in that order in the Finder.
I hope this gives you some of the answers you seek. There are reasons why iPhoto works this way. The most basic reason is that it is a database, and you are not supposed to access your files from the Finder once you import them into the iPhoto Library. In the iPhoto Help file (v6) under a section titled +"About using the iPhoto Library"+ it says:
*IMPORTANT: There is also an "iPhoto Library" folder located in the Pictures folder in your home folder, outside the iPhoto application. If you move, delete, rename, or otherwise touch files or folders within this folder, you may be unable to see your pictures in the iPhoto application.*
and
*The files within this folder should only be manipulated by a customer care representative.*
By digging into that folder from the Finder, even to upload your photos to a website, you risk damaging your entire iPhoto database. Your photos will be safe, but you could cause iPhoto to forget where they are located. It's best to stay out of that folder completely and access your photos from iPhoto itself.
There is no representation of iPhoto albums in the Finder, because albums exist only inside the iPhoto database file. Your photos are stored based on import date (version 5) or Film rolls (v6 and v7). From v6 Help:
*Your photos aren't actually stored within each album, slideshow, and book; instead, these contain references to the photo files stored in the iPhoto Library folder. This way, you can add the same photo to several different albums, slideshows, books, calendars, or cards without actually duplicating the image file.*
This is what makes iPhoto such a powerful organizer. Albums are completely flexible and use very little disk space whatsoever. You could take a family reunion photo of 20 people, and place it inside an album for each person - without wasting any space. But you can't access your albums from the Finder.
If not, then I do not see how iphoto can be useful for that purpose.
People use iPhoto's different features in numerous different ways. Some people like to use albums to organize their entire libraries. I do not. I like to organize my Library by Film Roll, and my primary choice for viewing is by film rolls. I keep my photos grouped chronologically, with a few exceptions (I have one Roll just for Movie clips). I use the comments section to list the contents of each roll so that I can scroll through my library with the rolls closed and comments showing. That helps me know where to find a particular photo. Just after importing I go through and keyword the new photos. I don't have an album for each member of my family, because I can locate them quickly using the keywords. I don't use chronological albums, because I can use the calendar tool to find photos by date.
For me, albums are useful for special projects. I use them to gather and prepare a group of photos for printing or uploading. I use them when I'm working on a movie, since albums are easy to locate from the Media Pane of iMovie and iDVD. I have a few Smart Albums for collecting the highest rated photos from a specific date (best of birthday, etc). Most of them I save, in case I want to reproduce the project, but sometimes I create an album, export, then delete.
Here's one final example. A relative of mine died suddenly and completely unexpectedly. Prior to her memorial service, I went through my entire library and placed all my photos of her into an album. From there I weeded out the duds, then edited the rest. Some I opened via iPhoto into Photoshop Elements for more "heavy duty" editing, some I just cropped in iPhoto. I printed the album and created a little book to share with her loved ones. Her daughter liked it, so I gave it to her at the service. Since I still have the album, I can easily print out another set of the photos for myself or other family members. That project could have been very difficult, but with iPhoto's tools it only took a few hours, and the bulk of that time was spent editing my photos.
The tools are there. Hopefully as you come to understand how iPhoto works you'll find the way to use it that suits you best.
Regards.