IPhoto - Using Other Photo Sources

Question

I have had my Mac for a while now.  I use it mainly for editing photos and videos and sharing them across my home network through Apple TV and also via SafeSync - a file synchronisation application that enables all the devices in the home to have access to the same photos.
I'd like to stop using Windows Live Photo Gallery as my method for editing and start using iPhoto.  HOWEVER - I still do not seem to be able to point iPhoto at a folder on my Mac as the source of truth - i.e. my SafeSync folder where all my photos are stored - surely this is possible ? 
Can anyone help me out in explaining how something like that is achieved ??
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It's difficult to pitch an answer sometimes. If I assume you know more than you do I sound obtuse, if I assume you know less than you do I seem patronising. Bit of a rock and a hard place. Apologies if I've got that wrong.
The key issue here is the lossless processing. iPhoto uses masses of virtualisation. When you edit a photo in iPhoto the original file is not touched, rather your decision to, say, fix red eye is noted in the database and when you view a shot it's your original shot that you see, with the decision superimposed on it. In a nutshell, this means that when you edit in iPhoto there is no edited file, your original file is untouched. Therefore this:
I load photos into my HD folder.  That same folder is synchronised across multiple devices.
simply will not work. You import you files, add them to iPhoto, fix red eye (or whatever) and what do the other devices see? They see the file as imported from the camera. Still with the red eye.
So, to let other devices see the edited photo you would need to use Photostreaming - assuming the other devices support that. And that means your entire current system is of no use or benefit.
(Or, you could tediously export the finished shot out of iPhoto to this synced folder... but that rather negates the use of a lossless processor...)
So, assuming that you do want to use iPhoto this synchronised folder is no longer of any use. You would simply import the shots. Edit them and so on and then share them via Photostreaming. It's a whole new way of working.
Further, I'd read up some on what can actually be shared out of iPhoto via Photstreaming - I'm not sure face tagging can be.
As for this specific question:
Why would importing from that folder and having iPhoto simply reference those files not be recommended ?
In your case two reasons:
1. because the folks synced to that folder won't see the edits, only the original files
and in a more general sense
2. because iPhoto is not very good with Referenced Libraries, and experiened users recommend against it. FOr more on that read this:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3062728?tstart=0