| Most digital cameras store photos in the JPEG format, which combines a high-quality image with effective compression to economize file size. iPhoto works best with JPEG formatted photos, although it recognizes most common formats such as TIFF, PICT, BMP, TARGA, and PNG. iPhoto also supports the RAW format used by many professional-level cameras and photographers.  | iPhoto provides the viewing area in which you edit and organize your photos, but the actual photos themselves are stored in a folder on your hard disk named iPhoto Library. To find this folder, open your Home folder, then open the Pictures folder; the iPhoto Library is inside the Pictures folder. |
The iPhoto Library folder also contains an Albums folder that contains all the albums you created in iPhoto. But these album folders don't really contain photosthey contain "references" to photos that you imported into the Library in iPhoto. This way, you can have the same photo in many different albums without overloading your computer with multiple copies. Back up your iPhoto Library folder regularly by copying it to another disk or burning a CD or DVDs. Search the Internet for iPhoto scripts and plugins You'll find some very interesting freeware and shareware that makes iPhoto even better. Search Google (or any search site) for "iPhoto scripts," or go to VersionTracker.com and search for "iPhoto." A couple of useful add-ons are: iPhoto Diet: When you edit images, such as cropping or making color and contrast adjustments, iPhoto keeps copies of the originals in the iPhoto Library folder so you can revert back to an original later. A convenient feature, but at the cost of using a lot of storage space. iPhoto Diet is an AppleScript droplet that slims down your iPhoto Library folder by moving unwanted duplicates to the Trash. Just drop your iPhoto Library folder (located in the Pictures folder, in your Home folder) on top of the iPhoto Diet droplet. Find this software at www.VersionTracker.com. | When you download and use software from freeware and shareware developers, be aware that you're doing so at your own risk and that the developers do not take any responsibility for unexpected hardware or software problems that may occur. |
BetterHTMLExport: This iPhoto plugin creates web pages, but gives more control over the appearance of the pages than iPhoto's built-in Web Page feature. After installation, the plugin appears as an extra tab in the "Export Photos" window (from the Share menu, choose "Export…"). Visit www.DroolingCat.com to download.
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