Location of iPhoto files

I'm a Mac person for 10 years.  This will be hard to believe but I have never used iPhoto.  That's because I got into the haibit adjusting photos on Photoshop and when I once tried iPhoto many years ago I ended up having so many multiple copies of all my photos from Photoshopping and then being put in iPhoto.
But I'm tired of not having a good way to quick view my photos and I want to starting using iPhoto.  I'm guessing the simple adjustments I make in Photoshop can these days be easily done in iPhoto also.
I have a LOT of photos.  I don't know, over a 1,000.....2,000?   
My question:  Doesn't iPhoto cause there to be a duplication of every photo, one in iPhoto and then the original file?
Can I set iPhoto up so that it is storing everything on an attached external hard drive? 
That is how I do my iTunes because it is also very huge over 90gb.  I know in iTunes how to keep the iTunes mp3 folder on my external hard drive.  This saves computer space.  Can I do the same thing with iPhoto?  If so, should I dump all my photo folders into iPhoto first and then move it to the external hard drive or can I set it up first?

iPhoto is good for 250,000 images in each library, so 1 or 2k is not so much.
My question:  Doesn't iPhoto cause there to be a duplication of every photo, one in iPhoto and then the original file?
So, don't keep what you call the 'original' file. It serves no purpose and is quite unnecessary
Can I set iPhoto up so that it is storing everything on an attached external hard drive?
Yes. Simply put the Library on an external drive.
See my reply on this thread for more:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15511008#15511008
Regards
TD

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