Welcome to iPhoto

At first glance, Apple's iPhoto appears deceptively simple. You plug in your digital camera, iPhoto grabs all the pictures, and you play with them on your computer screen.

This process is so easy in fact, that the next thing you know you have hundreds, if not thousands, of images annexing real estate on your hard drive. At some point sobriety settles in, and you realize that you need to back up all those pictures. Or you may want to move them to another computer or free up space on your hard drive for even more images.

So you open your iPhoto Library folder, which has grown to more than a Gig in size, and figure you'll just grab logical parts of it and burn a few CDs. Problem is, at first glance there appears to be nothing logical about the contents of this folder. All you see are numbered directories that when you open them up contain more numbered directories. Suddenly you realize that sorting this all out isn't going to be so easy.

This scenario is based on the premise that you've figured out the best way to shoot your pictures in the first place. You've heard some recommendations here and there about how to take good digital images, but you're still not sure about things such as: Do you always shoot at the highest resolution? How do you take flattering portraits of people outdoors? And how the heck do you prevent red eye?

By now you might be thinking, "Hey, I thought iPhoto was going to solve all of my problems. I'm more confused than ever. You're bringing me down, man."

The truth is, iPhoto is really quite powerful (and complicated) even though it appears simple on the surface. The following resources will put you on the fast track to avoiding iPhoto's "gotchas" that lurk beneath its Aqua surface.

iPhoto Resources

Top Ten iPhoto Tips that you need to know.

How to Manage Large Image Libraries with iPhoto 2 by Derrick Story.

Automating iPhoto 2 with AppleScript by Derrick Story.

Use Metadata to Improve Your Pictures by Derrick Story.

More iPhoto "How To" Articles by Derrick Story

Explore the Interactive Digital Photography Course that will help you improve your pictures immediately.

Improve your shots by reading the Top Ten Digital Photography Tips article by Derrick Story.

Visit an online photo gallery created directly from iPhoto.

Watch a QuickTime slide show created directly from iPhoto.

Visit Apple's informative iPhoto 2 product page, including a download link.

Learn about iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual by David Pogue, Joe Schorr, and Derrick Story

Get your hands on the Digital Photography Pocket Guide by Derrick Story.