Preserving folder organization (directory structure) when importing...

Question

Hello. I've spent years meticulously organizing a growing collection of about 10,000 photos. There are many subfolders (nested up to 4 deep). I'd like to start using iPhoto while preserving this organization. The catch is, I do not have enough free space on my hard drive to duplicate all of them and would rather not have two copies of all of them even if I could.
So, my question is whether or not there is some way to import them all into iPhoto '09 without messing up the organization and without duplicating all of them.
On a related note: If I can do this, and I then shuffle a bunch of images around in the finder, will iPhoto be savvy enough to keep track of that, or will there just be broken links and missing images when I try to view them from within the application? Along the same lines, if I use an application that changes the names of batches of files, will this break iPhotos links to them?
Thanks so much for any insight folks can offer here.

Answer 1

To use Photoshop with iPhoto:
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
The real problems with running a referenced Library, as you propose, come when - at some point in the future - you move the files onto a new volume. Say your HD begins to fill and you need space. While iPhoto's aliases will track the pic as it moves around the disk, it gets lost once you change volume and you could easily find yourself reconnecting each alias for each individual photo.
However, there's a key choice you need to make. Do you want to organise your Files or your Photos. If you want to organise Files then by all means do. The point of iPhoto is to manage your photos without constant recourse to the files. Once you escape the file base to organIsing everything becomes much more flexible.
Are you worried about accessing your files?
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
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You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
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*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
Regards
TD
Regards
TD