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Sectionone.iLife

Section one: iLife

What is iLife and what does the "i" mean?

When the iMac was originally introduced, Apple explained the "i" as symbolizing both innovation and the computer's built-in Internet capabilities. That was many millions of web pages ago. Now the "i" represents the concept of a digital lifestyle and the software applications that can enhance that lifestyle. Your Mac is a digital hub that enables various applications and devices to work together as powerful, creative tools. At the core of the digital hub concept are five separate applications: iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, i DVD, and GarageBand. As stand-alone applications, they're amazingadd the feature of built-in integration between them and the result is an increase in creativity and productivity that can only be described as inspirational. This very special collection of applications is called iLife.

If you have a digital still camera, digital video camera, or a CD collection gathering dust, iLife will turn them into your most important creative tools. It's unofficial , but think of the "i" as a symbol for inspiration in your digital lifestyle. You're certain to find yourself thinking "iLove iLife!"

Chapter 1. iPhoto

iPhoto makes managing, sharing, and enhancing your digital photos both easy and fun. You can effortlessly import photos straight from most digital cameras , as well as from digital card readers, CD s, DVD s, Zip disks, or any location on your Mac's hard disk.

Organize your photos, expertly retouch blemishes, get rid of red-eye, adjust contrast and brightness, make other adjustments, then share your photos with friends , relatives, or business associates in a number of different ways.

If you have a .Mac account, use iPhoto to create web photo albums and screen saver slideshows, order custom prints online, and order large or small photo albums of your favorite digital photos.

If you don't own a digital camera or if you have quite a collection of prints, negatives , and slides from long ago that you would like to drop into iPhoto for organizing and sharing, search the web for "slide scanning" or "photo scanning" services. Avoid services that give you back images in their proprietary format, such as Kodak's PictureCD or PhotoCDyou want your images in standard .jpeg or .tiff formats. Try someplace like SlideScanning.com or DigitalMemoriesOnline.net.

Open iPhoto

Single-click the iPhoto icon in the Dock, or go to the Applications folder (click the Applications icon in the Sidebar of any open Finder window), then double-click the iPhoto icon. The iPhoto window (below) opens, although yours will be empty if this is the first time you're using it.

The Library (top item in the "Source" pane below) stores all the photos you import. You can create separate Albums (pages 1819) to organize selections from the Library into easy-to-use collections.

The iPhoto Main Window

Before you can use iPhoto's various features, you first have to import the photos into the Library, as explained on the following pages. When you import photos, iPhoto considers each import session a "Film Roll." Each time you import, the photos are grouped beneath a Film Roll icon that shows the date of the import and the import session number.

To hide the photos from an import session, click the disclosure triangle to the left of the Film Roll icon. To show the photos, click again on the triangle.

Each image is tagged with the name that your camera automatically assigned, a name like DSCN451 . You can rename any photo, as shown below: Select a photo in the viewing area, then click the " i " button (shown at right) to display the Information pane in the bottom-left corner. Click the word "Title," then type in a new name for the photo. The Information pane also includes the date and time the photo was taken, the image format, the photo dimensions (in pixels), and the photo storage size . At the very bottom of the Information pane you can type comments about the photo. Comments are searchable and can help you find photos later.

If the import sessions in your viewing area are not separated by a Film Roll icon, go to the View menu and select the "Film Rolls" item to place a checkmark next to it. The Film Roll icons will now appear in your viewing area.

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Tollett J., Williams R

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