IPhoto Questions (including rotating movie & save locations)

Question

I've owned my new Macbook Pro for a little over a month now. Prior to this I have been using Linux (Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu, etc...) on my primary computer and MS Windows for many, many years. I am very used to the way Linux and Windows handle files including imported photos. Prior to my Macbook purchase, I was managing my iPhone and iPad with Windows 7. Please pardon my Mac OS X ignorance. I am new to this.
Here's my hardware:
Macbook Pro 15" Retina 512gb (mid 2014) with OS X 10.10.1
iPhone 5s (16gb)
iPad 4 retina (64gb)
Now the questions... When I import photos from my iPad or iPhone into iPhoto, the photo's do not go into the "Pictures" directory unlike Windows. I did some research and apparently iPhoto stores your photos in a database similar to the way iTunes works with music. However, unlike iTunes, you cannot browse the .jpg's and .mov's in the finder, you have to open them in iPhoto to see them. This creates a problem for me in that I can't back up my photos manually anymore to an external hard drive. I have to rely solely on Time Machine. I don't like that. Also, I'd just like to be able to browse my photos in finder. I want access to the .jpg's and .mov files so that I can copy them to USB thumb drives, etc... Is there a way to import your photos from the iPhone or iPad into the "Pictures" folder on my Macbook, then into a date sub folder similar to the way Windows imports photos? This would be preferable for me because I want access to the original files in finder, not just through iPhoto. If there is an "open in finder" option in iPhoto, obviously the photos are stored in folders on the Macbook. Why can't you just browse them from finder without using iPhoto? iTunes lets you do this. Is there a setting in iPhoto that I am missing that will allow this? If not there should be one similar to the iTunes "keep iTunes media folder organized" option.
Also, when I have to rotate a movie that is located in the iPhoto library, I know that I can click "open in finder" from iPhoto and open the .mov in Quicktime to rotate the movie. However, when saving (there's no save option, you have to close and are prompted to export) there is no option to save in the original location and rewrite the movie in iPhoto. The only option is to store in one of the browsable file folders (Movies, Pictures, Documents, etc...). Consequently, when opening iPhoto, the movie file remains in the original rotation, unchanged. How do I have Quicktime save to the original location of the movie in the iPhoto library? You can not open iPhoto Library.photolibrary from within Quicktime and browse to the folder containing the original movie. This is mind boggling to me. I suppose I could delete the original movie in iPhoto and import the rotated movie into iPhoto, but this seems like a huge waste of steps, time and is really inefficient.
I don't like not having control over my photos. I'd like to be able to view all of them in my finder. Am I missing a preferences setting or something? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I don't like not having control over my photos. I'd like to be able to view all of them in my finder.
You have far more control over your Photos with iPhoto than with the Finder. But you can simply use the Finder or any other app to manage your photos, iPhoto is not compulsory in any way. If you are going to use iPhoto then there is a conceptual leap to make, and then it begins to make sense.
That leap is this: that Jpeg is not your Photo. That .doc file is not your novel. That .mp3 is not the song. In each case, these files are containers for the data - with characteristics attuned to the nature of the data, sure - but your data is the photo, the novel, the song. Or put another way, they're the shoebox, your data is the shoes.
iPhoto is about the Photo and not the file. If you want to manage files by all means do, and best to use a file manager. iPhoto is for managing Photos. The best analogy I can come up with is the Contacts.app. (and like all analogies, it's limited but here goes.) The Contacts.app is a central store and repository for anything to do with your address book, emails, phone numbers. Somewhere on the HD is a file or files with all this data, but you never go there. You either use the Contacts.app or any of the many hooks built-in to the OS to access, edit, share and manipulate this data.
Now try the same with iPhoto: iPhoto is a central store and repository for anything to do with your photos. Somewhere on the HD is a file or files with all this data, but you never go there. You either use iPhoto or any of the many hooks built-in to the OS to access, edit, share and manipulate this data. So, iPhoto replaces the file manager for anything to do with your photos, because it's about the photos and not the files.
Coming from Windows and Linux, especially, this level of abstraction can be confusing, but that's what it is. Added to this is the level of virtualisation used in iPhoto - all edits are virtual until you export - the non-destructive editing feature can also be confusing. But that's why iPhoto can't be navigated via the Finder. Comparing it with iTunes, which has no editing, is not comparing like with like. iPhoto will always preserve your original data - the photo as shot.
To specifics:
For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
This User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
This creates a problem for me in that I can't back up my photos manually anymore to an external hard drive.
Of course you can. Simply Export them. File -> Export. Now you can choose exactly what to export: the original, an edited version, if different qualities and different formats. But again, simply backing up a version of the photos is not really backing up your work, just the raw data. So you need to back up the Library as well.
have to rely solely on Time Machine. I don't like that.
No you don't.
Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store
Is there a way to import your photos from the iPhone or iPad into the "Pictures" folder on my Macbook, then into a date sub folder similar to the way Windows imports photos?
Two ways:
1, With iPhoto you can run a Referenced Library. But I cannot urge you enough not to do this. iPhoto does not have the tools to manage this and you're only strong up grief for further down the road. It's unnecessary and only makes more work for exactly zero advantage.
For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361
2. Use some other system for managing your photos. Image Capture (in the Applications Folder) will get your images from your camera/phone/whatever and put them wherever you like. Just don't use iPhoto.
However, when saving (there's no save option, you have to close and are prompted to export) there is no option to save in the original location and rewrite the movie in iPhoto.
Again, this has got to do with non-destructive  processing and that's why you're better importing movies to iMovie and processing them there and then exporting them to the finder, and only when you've finished them, importing them to iPhoto. (Or just not shooting video in portrait).