IPhoto
iPhoto is a
software application made by
Apple Computer exclusively for their
Mac OS X operating system. It is part of the
iLife suite of applications and comes bundled with every new
Macintosh computer. iPhoto can import, organize, edit, print and share
digital photos. It is often compared to
Google's
Picasa and
Adobe's
Photoshop Album.
iPhoto allows easy importing from
digital cameras,
scanners, picture CDs and the
Internet. Almost all digital cameras work without additional software, as do many scanners. iPhoto supports most common image
file formats [
1].
Once photos are imported, they can be optionally titled, labeled, sorted and organized into groups (known as "albums"). Individual photos can be edited with basic image manipulation tools, such as a
red-eye filter, contrast and brightness adjustments, crop and resize and other basic functions. iPhoto does not, however, provide the comprehensive editing functionality of programs such as
GIMP,
Apple's
Aperture or
Adobe's
Photoshop (not to be confused with Photoshop
Elements or
Album).
Numerous options then exist to share photos. Photo albums can be made in to dynamic
slideshows, and optionally set to music imported from
iTunes. These slideshows can be exported to
QuickTime movie files, further edited in
iMovie or burned directly to
DVD-video discs using
iDVD. Both slideshows and static photos can be shared to other
Macs on a by using the
Bonjour "
zero configuration" technology. Or they can be uploaded using simplified
web publishing to Apple's
.Mac online service. iPhoto can also sync photo albums to any
iPod with a color display. These
iPods have an audio/video output that allow photos to be played back, along with music, on any modern
television. Finally, photos can be printed to a local printer, or, in certain markets, be sent over the
Internet to
Kodak for professional printing. iPhoto users can order a range of products, including standard prints, posters and even 100 page hardcover or softcover volumes [
2] -- again, such services are available only to users in certain markets.
iPhoto was
initially released on
January 7,
2002 as a free download from
Apple's website.
iPhoto 2 was
introduced by Apple exactly one year later, on
January 7,
2003, as part of the newly created
iLife suite of applications. It is still available as a free download [
3] for those with older
Macs.
iPhoto 4 was
announced as part of iLife '04 on
January 6,
2004. New features included "Smart Albums", ratings for photos,
Bonjour (then known as Rendezvous) sharing, better slideshows, and support for up to 25,000 photos. Unlike previous versions of iPhoto, iPhoto 4 was only available when purchased as part of iLife '04 or when bundled with a new Mac.
iPhoto 5 was
announced as part of iLife '05 on
January 11,
2005 and was the first version to allow the import of
RAW images and
MPEG-4 video clips. It also added enhanced editing support, better search support, more slideshow options, and new book designs. As with iPhoto 4, iPhoto 5 was only available when purchased with iLife '05 or when bundled with a new Mac.
iPhoto 6 was
announced as part of iLife '06 on
January 10,
2006, adding enhanced scrolling and a full-screen editing mode with more one-click effects available. It also introduces 'photocasting', available to
.Mac members, touted as
podcasting for photos. In addition, users can/will be able to construct calendars and greetings cards from photographs. This version dropped the random order capability when viewing slideshows. It is the first version of iPhoto to be made available as a
Universal Binary. It also sports a refined look based on iTunes 5.0 and up.
All versions of iPhoto run only on the
Mac OS X operating system. iPhoto can easily share files with users of other programs and operating systems, including
Windows and
Linux, since it uses industry standard
file formats.
Image:Iphoto 4.0 small.png|iPhoto 4Image:IPhoto 5.jpg|iPhoto 5Image:IPhoto6.jpg|iPhoto 6On January 18, 2006,
Mark Pilgrim criticized the implementation of
RSS in the new version of iPhoto, saying that it violated
XML standards and RSS conventions [
4]. This story was picked up by
VNUnet and
Slashdot, but there has been no official response from Apple's developers. In the last few years, Apple has been a supporter of web standards, making a point of including full RSS support into Safari, and ensuring that Safari passed the
Acid2 test.
Apple has also been criticised by users outside the US, Canada, Japan and select European markets for not extending the hardcover book printing and Internet photo/calendar printing services to other countries.
iPhoto Plugins
*
iPhoto2Gallery exports photos to
Gallery web sites.
*
FlickrExport exports photos to the
Flickr photo sharing web site.
*
KeywordAssistant enhances
Keyword management.
*
Picasa Web Albums Exporter uploads photos to
Picasa Web AlbumsExternal Tools
*
iPhoto Buddy is a multiple library manager for iPhoto.
*
iPhoto Diet is a utility that helps to slim down your iPhoto libraries. (
Caution: current version - 3.0.8 - does not support new file organization in iPhoto 6)
*
iPhoto Library Manager allows for working with multiple iPhoto libraries
*
iLife*
Lphoto*
Digital photography*
Comparison of image viewers*
iPhoto product page at Apple.com*
iPhoto support at Apple.com
