iPhoto: The Missing Manual
by David Pogue, Joseph Schorr and Derrick Story
Published by Pogue Press, O' Reilly Books, $24.95.
Reviewed by Leo de Heer
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iPhoto: The Missing Manualby David Pogue, Joseph Schorr and Derrick Story Published by Pogue Press, O' Reilly Books, $24.95. Reviewed by Leo de Heer |
In January 2002 Apple introduced a marvelous application - iPhoto, a simple, uncluttered computer program that finally is succeeding in making the bumpy road from digital camera to a well organized photo library and its presentation very easy indeed. What Steve Jobs called a "chain of pain" in his keynote address at Macworld Expo January 2002 suddenly became an easy slide.
iPhoto comes as free software with all new Mac computers equipped with OS X.
David Pogue, the creator of the excellent Missing Manual series, has done it again and even better with his July 2002 first edition of “iPhoto: The Missing Manual” (covering the 1.1.1 version of iPhoto) to produce a 288 page manual that is both witty and standing out by its clarity and lack of nerd language. It is easy reading for the average amateur photographer. The collaboration of the two professional photographers is very noticeable and useful.
The book is well organized into 5 parts.
Part 1 (chapters 1-3) covers digital cameras. Chapter 1 explains the mechanics of a digital camera and how to make the right choice of camera, matching the money you want to spend with what you want to achieve. Chapter 2 covers the more artful side of photography and explains how to compose brilliant snapshots. Chapter 3 takes you much further into the details of proper photographing techniques under different circumstances and for different purposes and is loaded with useful tips.
Part 2 (chapters 4-6) is called “Composing Brilliant Photos.” It leads you step-by-step through the process of transferring photos from the camera to iPhoto and then storing and editing the photos. It gives clear understanding of the different options of arranging and creating albums. Methods to crop photos, change the contrast and brightness, eliminate red-eye using iPhoto with color correction programs like “pixelNhance,” and the like are given.
Part 3 (Chapter 7 to 11) is called: “Beyond the Simple Snapshot,” shows you the marvelous feature of "Slideshow". Any chosen collection of photos can be shown as a full-screen sequence of the pictures with one click, each picture fading gently into the next and accompanied by music of your own choice, creating an incredibly polished and professional looking slide show. This slide show can be sent by email, posted on a web page, or burned on a CD and is also Windows compatible. It then tells you how to export the slide show into a QuickTime movie with a few button clicks
.This part also describes how to make prints, export photos on line using iTool, and how to publish a ten page album, with a flexible number of pictures on each page, via the program's Bookfeature. Bookfeature lets you design a gorgeous, linen covered 9 by 11 inch hardbound book with your photos printed on glossy, acid free, single sided pages complete with caption, and you can order your book via the Internet for $30.
Part 4 (chapter 12 and 13) is called “iPhoto Stunts.” It provides more detail about creating screensavers, desktop pictures, other export procedures, plug-ins, add-ons and beef-ups, such as ways to export to a Palm device. It finally explains the details of photo file management such as backup methods and how to create multiple photo libraries. The iPhoto library can contain an unlimited amount of pictures but might become sluggish in its handling. It tells you how then to split it up in multiple photo libraries and so restore the original speed etc..
Part 5 covers trouble shooting and gives some final tips.
This book is a very useful manual and I find it a pleasure to read. Its contents far exceed the limited information available via the built-in iPhoto Help program. The book is well organized and its convenient arrangement and extensive index make it easy to locate almost any relevant subject quickly and effectively. A pleasant contrast to some other computer manuals I have read.
Claremont August 2002