Category: Computers

I’ve been using iPhoto almost since its creation, so naturally I’ve got a metric buttload of photos in its library. Now that I’m getting more serious about my photography, iPhoto just isn’t going to cut it anymore, especially since it anti-aliases your photos when displayed on an LCD screen. I’m switching to Lightroom. (For $9.99 a month you can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud which gives you Photoshop CC and Lightroom. It also includes cloud storage.)

After doing some Googling, I found a couple of ways to import your iPhoto Library into Lightroom, but they all seemed to involve duplicating your “Masters” directory contained within the iPhoto Library package. My laptop’s HD doesn’t have enough room remaining to create a duplicate of all my photos, so I came up with a different solution.

You can’t directly browse inside the iPhoto Library package using Finder, so Lightroom can’t browse there either. You have to create a way for Lightroom to access your photos via the filesystem. In my mind the easiest way was to create a symlink (or “pointer” folder) to the Masters folder in your iPhoto Library.

1. Open Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
2. type “cd Pictures” (minus the quotes)
3. type “ln -s iPhoto\ Library/Masters/ Pics” (minus the quotes) This creates a “pointer” folder called “Pics” to your iPhoto Library Master folder
4. Now Lightroom will be able to see the photos in iPhoto if you browse to Pictures\Pics

Note : You don’t have to call the symlink “Pics”, obviously. You can call it whatever you want. As a matter a fact, prior to running that “ln” command, make sure the symlink you’re creating doesn’t have the same name as a file or directory that already exists under the Pictures folder in your Home Directory.

1. Open the application “Image Capture”
2. Your device/card will be shown in the left pane
3. Select it if it isn’t already
4. At the bottom left of the pane will be a drop-down labeled “Connecting this camera opens:”. (If you don’t see the drop down, click the bottom-left “triangle in a box” button which will display the menu)
5. Choose from the drop down what application you want to automatically run when your camera/card is connected to your Mac. (If your app isn’t shown, click “Other”
6. Close Image Capture
7. From this point on, when you insert an SD or connect your camera, the application you chose will run by default.