Where is my IPhoto Library? Need to move it, and cannot find it...

Question

Hi to all,
I am running out of space on my iMac's HD and I need to move some files to an external HD. Looked up on this forum on how to move my iPhoto Library and it says to go into my Pictures folder, find the iPhoto Libray and just copy it to the xternal HD, then reboot iPhoto with the ption key pressed and point iPhoto to the IPhoto Library's new location. Pretty simple.
HOWEVER, when I go into my Pictures folder there is no iPhoto Library with all my photos...! What gives? Can someone asssist with this situation. I see all my photos and events fine in iPhoto, so those pics are somewhere...
Thank you all.
PS
I am using iPhoto 8, v.7.1.4.

Answer 1

Was there a question in there?
With iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is now a Unix Style Package File. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.
You can make back ups of the iPhoto Library using Time Machine or any of hundreds of back up utilities that parse the Library. These can make incremental back ups. I use DejaVu but there are many, many others, search on MacUpdate.
You can use iPhoto with Photoshop very easily: 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.
Lightroom and Aperture are different from Photoshop because they are essentially the same as iPhoto - just rather more powerful. In other words, like iPhoto they are databases. The want to manage the files, just like iPhoto does.
Note: Neither Lightroom or Aperture are Photo Editors like Photoshop.
There is integration between Aperture and iPhoto, but none whatever between Lightroom and iPhoto. Bluntly, you’ll need to choose between the two.
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
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. 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. With 10.5 you can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
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.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
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