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Editing a picture means making the best of what you have.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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Editing your pictures using iPhoto: The basics


Nov. 17, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   With their gorgeous LCD screens and fast processors, modern OS X Macs are ideal for photo editing. If you're a Mac OS X user who's never ventured into digital image processing, it might be time to take the plunge.
   You can start out with a few simple steps. This week and next, I'll tell you how.
   But first, as they might say on TV, a word from our sponsor. Or, in this case, from our dictionary.
   "Editing" doesn't mean anything scary. It's not something that requires a degree in orthocamerapixicology. Think of it as a friendly term meaning "making the best of what you have."
   Here's an example. You've got a picture of Uncle Marty that's too green. (Maybe it was taken in that awful lighting in the hallway. You know what I mean.) So if you want to make the best of what you have, you edit the picture using photo-editing software. With a couple of easy mouse clicks, Uncle Marty can stop looking like The Hulk.
   That's all it is. Editing a picture means making the best of what you have.
   Luckily, your OS X Macintosh already has the kind of software you need for photo editing. It's called iPhoto. You should see an icon for iPhoto right on the dock. If you don't see it there, drag the iPhoto icon from your Applications folder to the dock and drop it there to create a handy dock icon. (You won't be moving it; you be creating a launch icon.)
   iPhoto's editing capabilities won't impress the pros. But they're fine for you and me, especially when all we want to do is fix a picture and get on with our lives.
   So let's start at the beginning. iPhoto normally pops up any time you connect your digital camera or plug in a photo memory card to your Mac. That's a neat little trick, but you don't have to worry if iPhoto seems absent-minded. (Your kids might have turned the auto-running function off.) If iPhoto doesn't jump up and salute when you plug in your camera or your memory card, just click on iPhoto's dock icon to run it manually.
   Click the "Import" button at the bottom and let iPhoto import the photos from the camera or memory stick. They'll show up in the big iPhoto window, in miniature. The miniatures are called thumbnails because -- well, because they're the size of your thumbnail, more or less. If you want to make them larger or smaller, click the slider at the bottom right and zip it to one side or the other.
   All your pictures go into the iPhoto Library. There's an icon for it at the upper left. You can make folders at the left (by clicking the "+" button) to help sort pictures, but they're just for show, more or less. (There are a lot of "more or less" aspects to iPhoto. I'll try to keep them out of the way.)
   iPhoto Big Secret No. 1: Pictures you drag into your own folders won't really go there; they stay in the iPhoto Library. You're just dragging pointers to those pictures. For most of us, this is a side issue, but it's a Really Big Thing to Know if you're cleaning up pictures you don't want.
   If you drag them from your own folders to the trash, you're just getting rid of the pointers, or shortcuts. Open the iPhoto Library and drag pictures to the trash from there. And be sure to empty the trash when you're sure you don't need them any more.
   Ready to edit your pictures? Not so fast, pal. I didn't tell you Big Secret No. 2: iPhoto always saves your bacon. You can always retrieve your original picture. So don't worry about messing up. Just highlight (or "select") the picture you messed up, click the Photos menu and choose "Revert to Original."
   Enough futzing. First, while your thumbnails are visible, look for ones that are sideways or upside down. Fix the sideways ones by rotating them to the left or right. (Look in the "Photos" menu.) Fix the upside down pictures by rotating them twice.
   Choose a picture, click the "Edit" button at the bottom and have fun. When you're through, click the "Organize" button. iPhoto saves everything automatically.
   Oh, I almost forgot. The "fun" stuff really IS fun. iPhoto's editing functions are cool. I'll step you through them next week.