Access to my photos on Mac using Lightroom or non-Apple software?

[GlynH]

They say it happens in three's so here is the third question I have posted in this forum in as many minutes.

Mind you this is a photography forum so it could be argued I am also following the rule of thirds

Is there an easy way to get Lightroom for example to recognise & read the photos I have somewhere on my Mac as seen by iPhoto/Aperture etc?

I know Apple see their users as idiots and go to extremes to hide the filesystem away from prying eyes but they are my photos and I want to get at them!

Where the hell does Apple hide my pictures?

Or am I going blind...my Mum always told me it would happen one day!

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Treff]

Re: Access to my photos on Mac using Lightroom or non-Apple software?

I would not mix Lightroom with Iphoto, very different library systems. If you change one through the other chaos will rule and you will be in all sorts of problems. I run them side by side if you want a pic out of iphoto the best way is to drop it on the desktop then drag it to lightroom. If you change things in either software using the other one you have a corrupted library file and can be big problems.
Hope that helps a little.
Cheers
Treff

[tesarver]

Re: Access to my photos on Mac using Lightroom or non-Apple software?

What apple does, is store all the photos in 1 large file. The only way you can access those photos is to export them or as Treff says to drag them onto your desk top.

Tom

[GlynH]

Re: Access to my photos on Mac using Lightroom or non-Apple software?

Thanks for the replies guys but for Gods sake...why do Apple persist in treating us like idiots and locking us into their walled garden?

The Mac is a lovely machine but I'm tempted to bin it and go back to PC...at least that way I am able to choose which & how many programs I want to use on my photos without crApple hiding them leaving me to jump through hoops to access MY photos!

On my PC I had Photoshop (Elements & CS) Lightroom, DxO Optics Pro, ThumbsPlus and Canon software amongst others which played nicely together and I could access my photos as I pleased as I could physically see each individual file in its own easy-to-find folder.

Because of crApple's hand-holding approach (file system...not for you sir...you won't need that. Its nasty and complicated) it actually makes it harder to do what you want to do!

The minute you want/need to step outside of iPhoto/Aperture all bets are off it would appear...damned if I'm gonna start dragging copies of folders/photos onto the desktop just so other programs can access them.

That's only the tip of the iceberg...there are many other programs (including crApple's own) that do not sem to work properly.

Lost count of how many times iPhoto has crashed...only yesterday it corrupted at least one of my photos until I reverted back to the original RAW file and lost all my changes...

-=Glyn=-

[secondintime]

Re: Access to my photos on Mac using Lightroom or non-Apple software?

Apple can be frustrating at times agreed. What you have to do is not let it decide for you. Create your own file system for your photos and refer to them from the relevant program. You can import into Lightroom and Aperture but select the option to leave file in its original location. The program just creates a link to it then.

ps. I recently binned Aperture due to the endless crashing, jumping and various other problems. Using lightroom 4 now and its much better in every respect.