Organizing strategy

Question

I am seeking advice or assistance simply setting up a game-plan for using this software.
For years I've simply organized .jpg photos directly into a series of subsetted folders on my harddrive. I recently decided to try once again to get the hang of organizing photos into iphoto but I just can't seem to generate a good strategy.
From the very start, I can't even seem to resolve how to use events. Is it correct that they are not really folders that can have visible subfolders? If not, then won't they just pile up in number indefinitely? Wouldn't it be better to have some sort of limiting hierarchical scheme, say, year? And how many photos can be stuffed into a single event before it becomes unwieldy?
I have so many questions, but let me settle for a concrete example.
Consider a long X-country trip consisting of many "roll" downloads -- that is, events automatically created upon download into iphoto. Is it wise to retain these events as download dates, organize the events into, say, days of the trip, merge all downloads into a single event, "X-cty trip", generate several descriptive events like, say, "Yosemite", "Niagara", etc... if the latter, then how are these banded together please? I know they can be searched for but what if I prefer that they stay together in some clickable folder?
If a single mega-event is suggested, then how to extract subsetted events such as, say, "Yosemite", etc.?
Many thanks for the remedial help....

Answer 1

I can't even seem to resolve how to use events. Is it correct that they are not really folders that can have visible subfolders?
They're not Folders, really. They are Groupings of photos base on Date and Time. And, no, you cannot have 'sub-Events' or nested Events.
If not, then won't they just pile up in number indefinitely?
Yes.
Wouldn't it be better to have some sort of limiting hierarchical scheme, say, year?
Might Be.
And how many photos can be stuffed into a single event before it becomes unwieldy?
There is no limit, apart from the iPhoto Limit: 250,000 images.
But while Events were the marketing signature of iPhoto, they are very limited. Events are Organisation for folks who don't want to Organise. So here's a quick and easy way to group your Photos.
The moment you want to Nest Events, or group them by year is the moment you outgrow them.
The good news is that all the other organising tools come into play:
Album
Ratings
Keywords
Smart Albums
and these offer you pretty much infinite flexibility.
I use Events simply as big buckets of Photos: Spring 08, July - Nov 06 are typical Events in my Library. I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.
I keyword on a
Who
What
Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics on a 1 - 5 star basis.
Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 25k library in a couple of seconds.
So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.
File -> New Smart Album
set it to 'All"
title contains Seattle
keyword is mountain
keyword is snow
rating is 5 stars
Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?
New Smart Album
Keyword is John
Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending
Want only the best pics?
add Rating is greater than 4 stars
The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.
Keywording takes time to set up, there's no doubt about it. I use Keyword Manager as it's much more powerful than the inbuilt system, and adds the possibility of nested keywords. So, for instance, if I add John to a photo it also adds 'Family'. Now I can add many keywords to a pic quickly.
In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast.
To your specific example:
I would merge all those photos into a SIngle Event: Cross Country Road Trip.
Then I would completely forget about the Event.
Then I would create keyword the Photos 'Niagara' 'Yosemite' and so on and create Smart Albums based on that Event.
I would then create a New Folder (File -> New Folder) and name it "Cross-Country 2010 or whatever' and then drag those Niagara and Yosemite albums to the Folder.
Result: A Folder of the whole trip, containing Albums for particular elements of the trip.
Remember, Albums use no HD space. The simply reference your pics in the Library. A pic can be in 50 albums and you no extras space whatever.
Regards
TD