In the Pictures folder. But they are contained in a single huge file called Photos Library.photoslibrary (sounds like maybe you are aware of this, but not sure) So far as I know, you can’t unpack this within Finder to see individual photos.
But for your issue - are you aware of Image \ Edit With in the Photos app? I think this should allow you to edit photos using another app without manually copying out the photos.
Yeah, unless you can right click (two-finger click) on the file in Photos and see a menu option to show the photo in finder, it’s locked up in that library file.
The editing options in Photos are very nice (I’ve used them to salvage some too-dark pictures), but I’m not sure how the built-in editor compares to a dedicated program like Photoshop.
As a designer, I want to instantly find and look at any media files. I was never tempted to use iPhoto or Photos, so all my pics are in the Pictures folder on my Mac. That way I can open that one folder, and sort by Date Created or Date Modified (very handy) or Size or Type (see RAW files, Tiffs and PNGs separately).
And thanks to iTunes, all my audio files are in one easily-accessible place: the iTunes Media/Music folder in my Library. Not only that, but it’s all organized in separate folders by Artist/Author. And again, you can sort them any way you want to. Very handy, and if I want to mess with a file, or grab a bunch and put them on a disk/drive, I can just see the actual files and drag them wherever I want them.
If you’ve never seen your music files, pick a track in iTunes, right-click: “Show in Finder” (or command-shift-R on a Mac), and there it is*.
Now if Apple messes with that, I’ll, I’ll … have to figure that out when the time comes.
*Very frustrating that I can’t do that on an iPhone. And I assume an iPad works like a phone, where everything’s just kept “somewhere”… Aaaarrrrgh! I want to see my files!
Can’t say about Photos, but in iPhoto you can set the right click default to “edit with external editor” and specify any editing software you want. When done, it saves back to the original file. No duplication necessary.
Although I prefer to use Photoshop, the built in iPhoto editing suite does have the feature of keeping an unaltered copy that you can revert to at anytime.
I’m clearly the ideal Apple customer. I never want to see file folders, directories, etc. if I can possibly avoid it. Just blanket everything in user-friendly gauze and make it all look pretty and sleek, and I’m happy as a clam.
I’m glad you posted this… because I’d probably be more relaxed if I were more like that. (It’s like those people you see on the street, and you wonder how they can be so happy with all the crap going on … maybe they’re just content to be oblivious.)
So, Apple, you just do whatever you’re going to do, and I’ll cope (…somehow):
(The caveat is that it has to just work, seamlessly. No error messages, no frozen screen or “spinning beach ball of doom”, etc. And preferably it works instantly without any lag.)
Yeah, I do know that they are hidden in a giant file. I was hoping there was a way to unpack that.
it’s not so much that i want to edit one file. I want to build a collage out of several, or post photos to a website, or… I find it incredibly annoying that apple has hidden my content. I’m looking into expirting everything (if i even can) and using light room or something instead.
It’s trivial to do.
Just select the images you want to export, and choose “File->Export.” You can choose to export the edited or original files. This is EXACTLY what you want to do if you had access to the original files in the Finder - make a copy of the files. If you move the files, you will break Photos. If you don’t mid breaking Photos, then you can find the originals in Photos Library->Originals. You need to right-click on Photos Library and choose “Show Package Contents.”
I strongly recommend that you not mess around in the Photos Library, unless you don’t mind wrecking it. Use the Export feature.
ETA - the images are NOT stored in a “giant file” - they are stored in a hidden directory structure, organized by year.
The one bad thing about the current iPhoto file system is that all the photos have unrecognizable names that are just assigned numbers. You can’t find “img_2175” anywhere, but 45929A57/3D is right there in the directory. The prior editions of iPhoto kept them in folders by date. the structure was 2019>June>June14>img_2175-img_2190 (for example).
But iPhoto still knows right where they are. I preferred the old way, but I have learned to live with the current version. But this is the kind of thing I was thinking about in my post above.
Current iTunes keeps the content in a logical directory structure. Music>folders with band names>folders with album names> individual song files (in their real names - Hotel California.aiff, for example.) I fear Apple will use the iPhoto style name convention for directories in the new Music or whatever they call it.
Have you met Apple? This is a insane assumption to make. Apple drops legacy support for things faster than any tech company out there. It’s “courage”.
I don’t think this is exactly correct.
If I browse my Photos Library, I find that it is organized by Year->Month->Day->ROLL NUMBER -> image name (e.g. - IMG12345.jpg)
The “ROLL NUMBER” is a random-appearing string, but if you open that directory, the images inside of it have ordinary names.
I’m going by memory but I do remember it changed.
Opening up individual photos by name isn’t as important as being able to open up individual songs in Sound Studio, for example, for editing. I do that a lot.
Yes, I do this all the time. And it drives me nuts. I don’t want to have to open iphoto to use my photos. And i wonder if there’s any path to move to another system, or to move off the Mac without it stealing all my photos.
To be clear, I have thousands and thousands of photos . There’s no way I’m individually moving all of them everywhere.
Yup. iTunes still has a very human-useable file structure, but I’m afraid they will break that.
I gave you the answer previously.
Your photos are all right there, organized neatly by year, month, day roll number. You can move them anywhere you want. If you want to get rid of Photos (or iPhoto) you can, without touching your images - they are stored in your library, not in the app.
ETA: If you are using iCloud, you need to download the images first.
Which is another way of saying that cell phones have basically reached their maximum market penetration, the Apple/Android split has stabilized, and major phone manufacturers are largely the same these days.
So there’s not much growth there, and they’re looking for the next market where they can break new ground.
It’s an interesting position for Apple to be in; they’ve spent the last two decades making their money by doing new stuff- iPod, iPhone, , but concentrating on services like Apple Music, Apple TV, etc… seems kind of like trying to squeeze more out of existing products rather than pioneering a new device/service/etc…
Very much not their MO of the last 20 years.
Okay, someone here invent Something Never Before Even Thought Of. Then get bought out by Apple. Then we’ll say “Hey, we used to know that guy!”
So, if I want to copy them to, I dunno, an external backup drive, en mass, how do I do that? Because you said to use the file export function, but that doesn’t work for large numbers of photos. I’m not being snarky, I don’t understand the instructions you offered.
Find your Photos (or iPhoto) library. It should be in your “Pictures” folder.
Right-click on it, choose “Show Package Contents.” (I find it helpful to be in multi-column view, but it works in any view).
Find the “Originals” or “Masters” folder, and drag it anywhere you want.
If you drag it to another volume (drive), it will copy it.
If you drag it to somewhere on the same volume, it will move it, and you will break your iPhoto (or Photos) library. If you don’t care about that, just move it where you want it.
You will find all your original images filed neatly in that directory.
Open Photos > in the sidebar click “Photos” > in the menubar click “Edit,” then click “Select All” > in the menubar click “File” then go to “Export” and click “Export Unmodified Original for XXX Items…”
Depending on how many photos there are and how fast your machine is, it might take 30 seconds or more.
In the dialog box that then appears, click “Export” then choose the location in which to save the photos and click “Export Originals.”
eta- I guess my way is just another way to do it