Need to share photos between two iPhoto libraries

January 10, 2012 7:43 PM

Is there a way to share pictures among two iPhoto users, preferrably on a NAS?

My wife and I keep separate iPhoto '11 libraries, and both use our cameras a lot. Is there any way to share pictures besides sticking our SD cards into both computers every time we load new pictures?

I want to buy a NAS for this (and to store music & movies) but I have read that Synology NAS devices will eat the iPhoto Library and/or your pictures. I have read that Dropbox is a way to share two copies of one iPhoto Library, but that this, too, will eat the iPhoto Library and/or your pictures -- and it would require one of us giving up their library.

Is there now a solution to this that lets me still use iPhoto? (I just got my wife to go from PS Elements 5 on Windows XP to iPhoto 11 on a Mac, and I don't think I can get her to make another big move any time soon.)

(One MacBook Pro on 10.7, one older iMac on 10.6.something.)

posted by wenestvedt to computers & internet (5 answers total)

Do you still want to keep separate libraries, or do you want to share the library too?

What part of iPhoto are you attached too? Would you consider using Picasa instea? It is easier -- in my opinion -- to have Picasa monitor various folders (for example, a shared folder) since it doesn't do the mysterious black boxing of your photo library like iPhoto.

You mentioned you just got your wife to switch, but PS Elements and XP and whatnot are all very different than a program like iPhoto or Picasa, which are basically just tools for viewing a photo collection with a small amount of editing thrown in.

With Picasa, you might be able to each maintain your own librarly, but monitor the other's folder for new pictures across the network as well.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 8:10 PM on January 10, 2012

you could just allow "sharing" on both computers, it's really pretty simple. you wouldn't be sharing the same Library for downloading, but you could each access each other's photos.
posted by HuronBob at 8:33 PM on January 10, 2012

Meaning, setting each copy of iPhoto to share with other computers.
posted by HuronBob at 8:33 PM on January 10, 2012

You can share iPhoto just like you can share an iTunes library. It is under the Sharing tab in preferences (command-,). The other library will show up on the left panel.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 9:58 PM on January 10, 2012

Hmmm, that might be an option.

We both like the workflow of tagging, catalogs, and other photo-handling tasks in iPhoto that we've become accustomed to. (We don't do too much editing, really.)

Sharing libraries might work, especially since I already have Smart Albums that each collect a few months' worth of pictures -- so we could immediately find the most recent imports into the other's catalog.

And this would obviate the possibility of corruption from putting our own libraries on the NAS, saving its capacity for backups. This is sounding pretty good.

Thanks!!
posted by wenestvedt at 5:49 AM on January 11, 2012