Why even use iphoto?

Question

My first experience with iphoto, it corrupted all of my picture files. Luckily I had them all saved on an external harddrive, so I didn't lose them. But many people don't do that and the risk of them losing all of their picture files using iphoto is high. And yes, I tried all of the things listed to rebuild the file and none of them worked. I spoke with tech support and they confirmed that all of my files were corrupted and useless.
So with the fact that the program is unstable and that it uses a system of "Aliases" that makes it impossible to locate your files outside of iphoto, or make any changes to them outside of iphoto... why even use it? It seems to me like it's set up solely to force the user into using only mac products.
Since it destroyed all of my files, I just keep my photos in folders that I created that make sense to ME and I use the program that came with my digital camera to edit them. If I need to look at them, I can see them in the Preview application.
Is there some other reason I should be using iphoto?

Answer 1

I posted because I have a question: why use iphoto? I want to hear someone tell me exactly why they use it and what they love about the program so I can figure out how I can use it to its fullest potential. Please, someone help me understand.
I'll tell you my story, in case it helps answer this question. Keep in mind that iPhoto has many capabilities, and each person can use it in a different way. Here I describe how I use it, past and present.
Pre iPhoto: After my first child was born I got a digital camera and a hand-me-down Mac. I uploaded photos to the hard drive and moved them around in the Finder. I renamed my files to try to help me remember the subject of the photos, tried to organize folders. I got Photoshop Elements and began editing. Then I had to keep edited photos separate from the unedited photos, to somehow know which was which. Some I downsized and uploaded to a sharing website. I needed to know which photos had been shared, so I kept them in another set of folders. If I printed or used photos in a project, I needed them in folders.
This led to rather a mess of folders, all using space in my hard drive. Say I had a photo, knew it was edited, wanted the original... could I find it? I tried managing the photos by date, but ended up with the same photos in different locations. It was very difficult for me to search the different file structures (all set up by me) and find the best version of a particular photo - I organized and reorganized many times, fighting an uphill battle.
Skip ahead to my next hand-me-down Mac, which had iPhoto. I imported my folders of photos. Now I could see them quickly without opening in Preview. It was easy to determine which were duplicates and keep the best one. I got all my images in one easy place and used it only to view my photos. Not knowing any better, I looked in the iPhoto Library folder and found lots of nested numeric folders. Many were empty. It seemed messy, so I consolidated (OOPS) those nasty folders. When I returned to iPhoto, my photos had been replaced with blank placeholders. This brought me to the Apple Discussions, where I learned the golden rule of iPhoto (and any database application): don't change things through the Finder. I put those folders all back and restored the links to all of the photos. It took some time, but I learned a valuable lesson.
Next Mac, iPhoto 5. I had many more photos in my library, since I didn't have to worry about how to file them. I even found all my old picture CDs and imported them to my library. I organized my Film Rolls and preferred film roll view to any other because it gave me a clear picture of my photo inventory. Need that photo from the baby's 2nd birthday? Just scroll to the roll, since rolls are basically chronological. My library was still relatively small and easily manageable.
Then I began to use Albums, but only for special projects. How do I know which photos were cropped 4 x 6 and printed? Because I collected them in an album. Since albums use practically no disc space, this was a great solution. Want to see the best photos from a special birthday? Smart albums are great. I only had to rate the photos, then set up a smart album based on rating and date. Then I could see my best pics from important events. From that, decide which to edit, print, upload, etc.
I had learned how to use Photoshop Elements 3 and was a much improved photo editor. However, I still used the Elements browser to open photos for editing. I saved my edited versions to folders outside of my library and managed them myself. I began to have that old problem of how to locate the best photo...
Bring in the iLife '06 upgrade. Around the same time I upgraded to Elements 4. I thought Bridge was cool, but I couldn't easily browse my iPhoto Library to open a photo. It was very difficult to predict whether the photo I wanted was in Originals or Modified. I came back to the Discussions and read the advice here: +use iPhoto to open the photos for editing in Elements+. It seemed strange at first, but after adding a keyword to identify photos that I have edited in Elements (means I took more time with them) I adjusted to the new workflow. I could edit my photos, identify the edited versions, and know that my originals were still safe if I should need them. No more stragglers and extra duplicates.
After using the one keyword with success, it occurred to me how useful they can be. I went through my entire library and added keywords to the photos. Want to see all photos of my daughter? Just click her name in the keyword pane, and the library is instantly filtered. If I need both kids in the photo, I just click to add his keyword to the filter. Want to exclude myself? (I usually do) Just Option-click my keyword and photos with me are removed from the sort. Need to filter by a special event? Click the birthday or Christmas keyword. It's amazing how many combinations there are using keywords alone. These days I rarely set up Smart Albums, since I can click on keywords for fast, flexible groupings of photos.
I remember my photos by when they were taken. Mostly. But my library keeps growing, and my memory keeps shrinking (alas). So there's the calendar tool. It filters the library by year, month, week, or date. One choice not enough? Shift-click to select a range or command-click to select non-adjacent items. Here's a really cool one: Option-click in the calendar tool to see that time range for every year in the library. Great for finding annual events, even if they aren't keyworded. *It's just so easy to filter the library in different ways, and it doesn't affect the underlying organization of my library.* That's one of the more fun aspects of iPhoto for me - I feel like I have endless flexibility in how I view and group my photos, yet I always go back to my photo inventory in film roll view.
Although I set up iPhoto to open Elements when I double-click, I can still edit in iPhoto by clicking the full-screen edit mode icon in the lower toolbar. This is convenient for a quick crop to a particular aspect ratio. Sometimes Elements is unable to correct the red-eye in a photo, and iPhoto 6 does it better. Elements only has an auto-correct, and when it fails, it fails. In iPhoto 6 there's a trick that turns the cursor into a circle, which can then be placed over the pupil and sized, to precisely define the area for red-eye correction. iPhoto 7 did one better and made this tool easy to access.
Here's a real example of how iPhoto worked for me. Last week we had a death in the family - an aunt. It was sudden, unexpected, and caught us all off-guard. There wasn't much I could do to comfort the family. But I have pictures in my Mac. I quickly filtered my library to locate all my photos of our aunt. I created an album and moved the worthy pictures into it. From the album, I went through and edited in Photoshop Elements. (That part took the longest.) I cropped them all to print dimensions. I printed the best one at 5 x 7 and placed into a frame as a gift. I selected the entire album for printing, loaded the photo paper in my printer, and cranked out a set of 4 x 6 borderless prints that look as good as drug store prints. I placed the prints in a little album and took it to the memorial service. Her daughter had never seen those photos and was touched, so I gave her the album. After all, to recreate it for my kids I only have to select the iPhoto Album, load my printer, and crank out another set.
Another example: One Spring Break I took my kids on a trip to visit my grandparents. While there, we all went to a museum of log cabins and windmills. I took lots of pictures at the museum, figuring I'd make a scrapbook. When I got home I wanted to share my pictures with my grandparents, but didn't want to have to create 2 scrapbooks. So I made a book in iPhoto which told the story of our day at the museum. I ordered one for us and one for my grandparents. It could have taken me weeks to complete a paper album; I did the iPhoto book in a day or two. They were thrilled to receive it, and they still think I am some sort of computer genius. I keep telling them iPhoto made it easy, but they have a PC and just don't get it. That's okay - it's fun being a genius in their eyes.
I hope my rambling answers your question about why I use iPhoto. I also hope that it is not just an endorsement, but answers some of your +technical questions+ about how to use iPhoto. That is, after all, the purpose of this forum. If you have any questions about how I achieved anything that I described here, by all means ask.
Regards.