With that said, it’s the only thing I use. But I don’t really ‘get’ the difference between events and photos categories. They look pretty darned the same to me. I find it easier to wrap my head around importing a picture and stuffing it into a folder. For instance, if I have a few pictures of my kids, and I import them, they’re in there asking for an Event title. But if I wanna put them into a pre-existing thing I have already set up for Kids, it totally screws with the whole purpose of the thing. I don’t know, maybe I’m missing the big picture here, but I just don’t get it..
— Mike
You can use Events like you used to use camera rolls back in the pre-digital days. But you aren't limited by size. So if you take 50 pictures at a birthday party, you can put them all in the same Event. Or, it could just be 3 photos.
So think of Events as time-based. You group your photos according to a range of time that defines something going on: a party, a trip, a hike, an evening, etc. This then goes along with the other two: Locations and Faces, which define places and people.
Then, you can create "Albums" (is that what you mean by folders?) which can be anything you want. So "Kids" or "Landscapes" or "Favorites."
A photo would be in a single Event, and at a single Location. It can have multiple People (Faces) in it. Then you can put it in as many of the albums you have created as you want.
These are just different ways of tagging your photos, really, so you can find them later.
With respect. You didn't answer the question -- the same one I have.
You explain the difference between events and albums. Whats't the diff between events and photos. I can open the events category and see the key photo for each event. I can double-click an event and see the photos within that event.
On the other hand, I can click photos and see a list of all the events with the key photo displayed. I can click the disclosure button and get a list of each photo. Looks like all the same info to me presented in an almost identical manner.
Contrast this to albums or faces where selected photos from multiple events can be collected into a logical group.
So what's the diff with events and photos?
You explain it yourself pretty well. They are very similar. Just two different ways to browse your photos.
Took me a while to organize my photos in iPhoto, too.
I'm used to it now. Smart folders and folders is the way to go in iPhoto. Events is still problematic for me since I've got thousands of photos. If I don't maintain some sort of naming convention, it's difficult to sift through them. Hence, tagging and smart folders. With so many photos, it's a bit daunting and time consuming.
Since Aperture 3's release, I'm seriously considering it. Besides the extra features/editing, it looks like Aperture could be much better at organizing than iPhoto. You could (as I think I understand it) have a project called Birthdays, and inside that project keep all birthday photos or make folders for each person. And/Or, maybe smart albums based on whatever criteria you want.
Still, any photo management system takes some thought and effort. *Sighs.* I've found it to be a major 'project' in itself. It'll payoff when I'm done though - as long as I can maintain it with each new batch of photos!
Aperture isn't cheap and might be overkill for those who don't need the extra features. Still, it might be worth the look and free trial down load. Aperture seems quite fairly priced compared to the competition. Personally, I never did fully like Adobe when I was on Windows.
The way I finally understood iPhoto was when I realized its just like iTunes but with pictures.
Events is like Library divided in Songs by Artist... all the pictures together separated by WHEN you took them not by whom.
Albums are like playlists, you pick from all your songs (photos) and put them into playlists (albums), but your songs are always on your library (events) and can be repeated between playlists (albums).
The most important thing is that like iTunes, you don't have to worry about where or how your photos are stored in your computer, just know they are organized so you can find them and use them trough the use of the program in an easy reliable way.
To me it was just getting that concept around my head.
Hope it helps.