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By Earlier versions of Apple's iPhoto stored its library information in a regular folder structure. Around version 7 Apple changed that approach and iPhoto began hiding its folder structure inside a package file. While this makes the applications presence on the drive neater and theoretically more portable, it does hide the images in iPhoto's library from Lightroom.
If you want to migrate your iPhoto library to Lightroom I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that it is relatively easy to import the files. The bad news? Your edits will not migrate easily. Unlike Lightroom, files that you edit in iPhoto are saved as a separate file. You can import these edited files but you will have both an original and the edit without any connection between them. Essentially, you wind up with two separate images. If you're still game here is how you do it.
Locate your iPhoto Library package. It's is in the Pictures folder by default.
Right click (or Control click) on the iPhoto Library and choose Show Package Contents.
A new Finder window will open revealing the folder structure hiding inside the package.
Lightroom cannot see inside this package so we need to make an alias to the Originals folder. This is where your original image files are stored. Right click (or Control click) on the Originals folder and choose Make Alias.
This creates the alias at the same folder level as the Originals folder.
Lightroom won't be able to see this either so we need to drag the alias to a regular folder. The desktop is a convenient place since we won't need the alias once we're done.
Now open Lightroom and click Import in the Library Module.
Choose the Originals alias from the desktop (or wherever you chose to save it).
In the import dialog it is important to choose the option to Copy photos to a new location and add to catalog. You can't leave them at their original location because Lightroom won't be able to get to them inside the iPhoto Library package. Choosing to move the files will damage the iPhoto Library package and you won't be able to open the library in iPhoto. So Copy is the best choice here.
When the import is finished you have your iPhoto images in Lightroom!
If you choose to also import the edited version just follow the same make an alias procedure for the Modified folder inside the iPhoto package. Once you're done you can delete the alias files.
Keep in mind that many things may also be left behind. iPhoto will store EXIF and keywording in expected locations. However, IPTC data may not migrate with your files.
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thanks this helps me a lot. :)
If I copy my iPhoto library to Lightroom, does that mean I double the amount of space the photos are now taking on my hard drive?
Hi Doug!
If you decide to keep both the iPhoto version and the Lightroom version then yes. Unfortunately, the way iPhoto stores your images makes them unavailable to other programs like Lightroom. There are a few applications that can access the files trapped in iPhoto's package setup but they aren't many.
I would recommend that you choose to import selected images into Lightroom that you want to work on in ways iPhoto cannot handle.
Somehow this seems complicated to me. Can't one simply move images from iPhoto to a designated desktop folder, then Import the folder to Lightroom? The iPhoto images always seem to end up as jpegs, anyway.
Thanks,
Ginnie
Hi Ginnie!
That is one way to approach the problem. However, if you are shooting RAW it is better to access those original RAW files from the iPhoto library than to give up all that data and flexibility by converting it to a JPEG before importing to Lightroom.
If you want to get RAW files out of the iPhoto library and into Lightroom this is the easiest way at present.
hi gene:)
i just currently bought a mac computer and am trying to figure out the best, most efficient way workflow system to catalog, edit, and package my images to clients. i am not tech saavy so reading things like this helps. if i dont' want to do the steps listed above (i worry about external hard drives and broken links) can i just download them to a pictures folder on my hard drive, upload to lightroom, edit, and then export back to my harddrive???
is that to many steps?
Hi Heidi!
If you are using Lightroom already then there is no need to use iPhoto at all. Lightroom can import the images directly from your card. This article is really aimed at people who already have existing images in iPhoto and now want to switch to Lightroom.
Just a quick note - I tried to export all my iPhoto originals from my MacBook to my iMac desktop computer, but that didn't work. I created an alias on my laptop desktop and then tried to import from Lightroom using that alias.
Of course (I found out), the iMac see the alias as pointing to the iPhoto originals folder on the DESKTOPS coputer, since the path is the same for both compuers :-( No photos where visible! ;)
If you need to copy photos between two computers in this way you first have to copy all pics from the originals folder to a separate folder ;)
All works now ;)
// B
I appear to be having the same problem as Benny - I tried importing into Lightroom, where my photos are stored on an external drive. Things seemed to be showing up in Lightroom, but I couldn't find any of the photos on the external drive. After a while, my original iPhoto library had swelled from 9 GB to 16GB, and I ran out of hard drive space.
I'm not quite sure what to do now, actually.
I appear to be having the same problem as Benny - I tried importing into Lightroom, where my photos are stored on an external drive. Things seemed to be showing up in Lightroom, but I couldn't find any of the photos on the external drive. After a while, my original iPhoto library had swelled from 9 GB to 16GB, and I ran out of hard drive space.
I'm not quite sure what to do now, actually.
thank you for taking the time to share this information! eased the burden upon me...
all the best
kevin
Thanks, Kevin!
I am playing with lightroom 3 beta. Having been a long time iPhoto user I am working on the same idea as your post. My goal is to use both iPhoto and LIghtroom side by side. I realized I can not see the effects of edits in one program with the other. For example if I make changes using Lightroom it will not show up in iPhoto of vice versa.
What I have accomplished is an work flow where I can used the Originals folder of iPhoto as the source to both programs. Make sure Lightroom is set to not copy the file into it's own folder. Setup a catalog you wish to work from. Using the MacOS finder do the "right click" show package contents trick to work your way into the Originals folder. Enter the folder and find the sub folder with the files you want. Select the files and simply drag them to the Lightroom application. The thumbnails will show up and you can select which ones to import.
If I make a change with Lightroom that I want in my iphoto application I can export from light room and then drag it into iPhoto. I really can imagine having to do this much though. Just for cases when I want the photo available via iLife related applications, such as iDVD etc.
As a side note I did play around with changing files in Lightroom, exporting them to JPEG and the moving them into the "Modified" folder in iPhoto. It worked but I could see how this could cause issues and screw up iPhoto's database. So I wouldn't recommend it.
Hope this helps.
Scott
Interesting approach, Scott!
You need to be careful. Deleting or moving the image from either app may cause you headaches in the other. If using both works for you then great. Personally, I would make one app my main workflow tool and export some images to the other to take advantage of a particular feature set.