Can LR3 and iPhoto use same files?

I'm sure it's discussed somewhere but can LR3 and iPhoto share the same photos and file structure without duplicating? Right now it seems they both want their own files and I don't have the space or time to manage both.

Unfortunately everything on the Mac wants to run through iPhoto. Does anyone have a good process to use all of the Mac features without duplicating everything? I'm thinking that I will have to export from LR to iPhoto only the pictures I want to use in iPhoto or iMovie.

Does anyone else have any ideas or processes they use?

Thanks,
John

Right now I do what you are describing. I edit the photos in LR3 and export as JPEGs the ones that I want in various collections in iPhoto. That means I have the RAW and a JPEG on my HDD. It allows me an easy way to show photos on my iPad.

Check this thread on the Apple Discussion Forum to see if it helps. What you're looking for is a "referenced library", which it looks like iPhoto is capable of. The only problem you'll face is that iPhoto probably won't recognize your LR edits, so you'll get the SOOC images rather than the edited ones. If it's something you do frequently, you might want to look into using Aperture rather than Lightroom as your primary editor/DAM application. It's very similar to Lightroom, but more tightly integrated with iMovie and you'd remove iPhoto from the process entirely.

Not sure what you are trying to accomplish but have you looked at the LR3 Collections? I also use iMovie but have not had any issues although doing time lapse does require some 'duplicate' images for format. I import them into iMovie and then delete them since iMovie keeps them in the event folder.

I have found no use for iPhoto at this point - other than helping my neighbor offload his images from the camera.

Now that I am re-reading this I see that I did not completely explain myself. I like to use iMovie to create slideshows. It seems to be one of the best options out there for the Mac and I've had really good luck with it. The problem is that it won't go out and pull up any picture files, they have to come through iPhoto and saved as "events or albums."

I was hoping that iPhoto and LR3 could use the same source files to cut down on duplication. I know that when I tried to point iPhoto to where my photos were located it wanted to duplicate them and put it into it's own location. That's crazy and I don't have the space nor the desire to duplicate all of my pictures just to make it easier to make slide shows.

So far it seems the workaround of exporting the exact photos I need to iPhoto is the best option. Or am I missing something? Is there a way to import photos direct to iMovie?

Veemac - thanks for the info. I might try the referenced library and see if this works. It seems like that might be the way to go if LR3 is the preferred photo management system which it is for me.

Titus - you seem to implying that you can import photos straight to iMovie, how do you do that?

There are certainly ways to get images and video clips into iMovie (all of mine are imported by LR3 from the cards) without going through iPhoto. I did say that time lapse stills generate a duplicate file for iMovie but once they are in iMovie you can delete the duplicate file. I put the duplicates in a folder on my desktop and just delete it when I'm done. I try to keep my desktop clean of all items.

In iMovie I select file>Import Movies for movie clips. For stills I just drag and drop them on the Project window.

I am a complete novice with both LR3 and iMovie so if I'm doing something that will cause problems down the line please let me know.

And now you've got me wondering if this is right....