Mac Photos Library Masters Vs Originals

Wondering, “Where does iPhoto store photos?” Well, in this post, you will get to know about the location where it stores your photos, and how find photos on Mac.

Common iPhone Data Tips

To get these files back on macOS, launch Photos, then open the Photos menu, choose Preferences, switch to iCloud and make sure Download Originals to Mac is selected. I will take the uploaded photos (which download to my Mac) and then merge them into iCloud Photos. This method keeps all of our photos in one “master library” that can be run through my backup.

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Mac Photos Library Masters Vs Originals
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Without any doubt, iPhoto is a useful picture management application by Apple. The app was present on a Mac computer, but it replaced with Photos application in 2015. However, whenever users import photos into iPhoto, the app makes copies of their photos and leaves original files somewhere else where users can’t access them easily.

No matter for what reasons you want to know the location where iPhoto stores original pictures whether for backup purpose or to transfer them into another application, you can refer to this guide. Here, we are going to show you where iPhoto stores photos in detail. Also, you will get to learn how to find photos on Mac computer.

Part 1: Where Does iPhoto Store Photos

So, let’s begin: iPhoto stores your picture copies in a special folder known as “iPhoto Library”. You can locate in your Mac Home folder and then, Pictures folder. Here are the detailed steps to find the location where iPhoto stores photos:

Step 1. To begin the process, go to the “Finder” in your Mac computer and after that, navigate to your Home directory.

Step 2. Thereafter, if you log in to your Mac computer with the name “Alex”, the full path to the folder “iPhoto Library” would be Mac HD > Users > Alex > Pictures > iPhoto Library. And right-click on the folder, and then, choose the “Show Package Contents” option.

Where Does iPhoto Store Photos

Step 3. When you reach your iPhoto Library folder, you will see a set of files and folders organized with numbers. All these numbers you see are the originals files creation dates. Look at the below figure to understand.

However, if you are now using an iPhoto newer version known as Photos, then you can locate the photos in a similar way as described above. But, you have to locate the “Photo Library” folder instead of “iPhoto Library” folder. And then, tap on “Masters” to view your pictures set in folders by date.

Part 2: How to Find Photos on Mac and Transfer Photos to Mac

No doubt, iPhoto or Photo application allows you to view pictures on Mac. But, what if you want to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac? Don’t worry as AnyTrans is here for you. It is mainly designed for iOS data management and transfer. With the help of it, you can manage your iPhone files including photos on Mac easily. Here are its main features and advantages on photos management:

  • Transfer any type of photos: With the help of it, you can move photos in Photo Stream, Camera Roll, Photo Library, Photo Share, and Albums from your iPhone to Mac.
  • Support selective transfer: It allows you to move all photos in one go or only selected photos to your Mac.
  • Multi-directional transfer: It allows you to migrate files from computer to iPhone also, and there will be no data and quality loss during transfer.
  • Supports all data types: No matter whether you want to move photos, audio, videos, apps, contacts, or any other data type from your iPhone to Mac, it can do it with ease.

Now, Free Download AnyTrans on your computer, and then follow the step-by-step guide to view and transfer photos from iPhone to Mac effortlessly.

Free Download * 100% Clean & Safe

Step 1: Connect your iPhone and Mac.

To begin the process, launch the software on your Mac. Then, run it and connect your iPhone to a computer with the help of a digital cable. Next, click Photos category as shown in the figure.

Open AnyTrans and Choose Photos

Step 2: Transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.

After that, select “Photos” and then, choose a photo type you want to move to your Mac computer from iPhone. Let’s take an example of My Photos. Here, choose the desired pictures you want to move and finally, click on the “to Mac” button as shown in the figure.

Step 3: View photos on Mac.

After the process completes, you can view the transferred photos on your Mac.

How to View Photos on Mac

Mac Photos Library Masters Vs Originals

The Bottom Line

That’s all on how to find photo files on Mac and how to transfer them to Mac. Hopefully, this guide helps you to find the location of your iPhoto/Photo original files. However, give a try to AnyTrans software by downloading and installing it on your PC, and manage your iPhone data in a better and efficient way.

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Managing a huge gallery and organizing photos is a tricky business, even if you’re generally tidy, so it’s always a good idea to use some help. Especially when there’s software out there designed specifically to deal with an overload of pictures.

The only trouble with professional photo organizing software is that, much like any photo equipment, it’s painfully expensive. In this article we’ll suggest tools that tame your giant photo gallery without leaving a hole in your pocket.

Best photo manager apps for Mac reviewed

RatingNameFeaturesInfo
1Gemini 2Best at keeping your photos cleaned up where they live.Link
2PhotosOrganize your photos by album, people or places.Link
3MylioSyncs and organizes your photo library across all devices: Apple, Android, or Windows.Link

1. Gemini 2: The duplicate photo finder

The first step to getting your photos organized is to remove all of the duplicate or similar-looking images. Chances are when you take a picture, you don’t take just one; you take 15. All from different angles, maybe even with different poses. But rarely do you need or want all of them, so now they’re just taking up space on your Mac.

The easiest way to get rid of those files is to get a duplicate photo finder, Gemini 2. It scans your whole gallery and locates the duplicate or similar photos. Gemini 2 lets you quickly review and choose which pictures you want to delete. But the app also uses AI to select the best version of each image, and it will get rid of all of the copies with just one click of the Smart Cleanup button.

2. Photos: Best photo organizer on Mac

Here’s the biggest secret to good photo organization: master Photos. You might be thinking: seriously, is a native Apple app really any good? And you’d be surprised how much it is.

Since macOS Sierra, Photos has been getting makeovers and new features. In macOS Mojave, the app lets you organize content just by dragging-and-dropping it, and with Smart Albums, you can instantly group photos by date, camera, and even the person in them. At this point, it’s just a really good piece of photo management software.

3. Mylio: A free photo manager app

If you’ve been meaning to consolidate your photos in one place for years, Mylio will help you do just that. When you first start using the app, it offers to look for your photos on the current device, on an external drive, and even on your Facebook.

Once all the photos you’ve taken in your lifetime are imported, Mylio organizes into a variety of views. The coolest one is Calendar, showing you photo collections on an actual calendar. That way, you’ll quickly find the photos from your son’s first birthday, even if you forgot how you named the folder. Plus, Mylio offers a free mobile app, so you can access your photo library wherever you are.

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Masters

4. Adobe Lightroom: Cloud-based photo editor and organizer

Photos Library Masters Vs Originals

While Adobe Lightroom is probably best known as a powerful picture editor, it’s also loaded with tons of tools to help keep your photos organized. It stores your pics in the Adobe Cloud so you can access all of your albums and folders on another computer, phone, or even an internet browser.

One of the great things about Lightroom is that it makes non-destructive edits to your photos. So, you can revert back to the original image at any time, and you don’t need to create a duplicate just to preserve your picture.

5. Luminar: Organize and view pictures without importing them

If you have your pictures saved in various folders across your computer, then Luminar is the app you’ll want to check out. It shows you all of your photos without having to import any of them into a library. So you can start using Luminar in almost no time.

6. Adobe Bridge: Free photo library manager

You might be wondering why Adobe would make two separate photo managers. Aside from Adobe Bridge being free for everyone, it serves an entirely different purpose. Bridge is solely an image and asset manager. Unlike Lightroom, it doesn’t have any editing functionality.

So, what’s the point then? Where Bridge really shines is if you’re using other Adobe products, such as Photoshop or Illustrator. You can store and organize all of your pictures in Bridge and then open them in any Adobe program without creating a duplicate or searching through the thousands of files on your computer. Plus, Bridge offers a robust search tool making it a breeze to find the exact image you’re looking for.

Mac Photos Library Masters Vs Originals 2020

Final word on photo management on Mac

There are basically two things you need to remember to bring order into your photographing life:

  1. Before you get to organization and management, be sure to unclutter your photo library. The easiest way to do it is with a duplicate finder, such as Gemini 2. Otherwise you'll be rummaging around in thousands of photos you don't even need.
  2. Photos, the native photo manager on a Mac, can accomplish everything you need to make organizing photos into groups and categories easy.
  3. Third-party tools can provide you with added functionality that’s missing in native macOS tools, like calendar view or managing photos right in the Finder.

Now that you know all the secrets to photo organization, Mac photography shouldn’t be that hard or that expensive. Not when you’ve got the right tricks up your sleeve.

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