6.17. Reverting to the Original

6.16. Beyond iPhoto

Thanks to the Adjust panel, iPhoto's editing tools have come a long, long way. There's a lot less reason now to invest in a dedicated editing program like Photoshop.

But that doesn't mean that there are no reasons left. The Auto Levels command (in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements) is still a better overall color - fixer than iPhoto's Enhance button. Photoshop-type programs are also necessary if you want to scale a photo up or down to specific pixel dimensions, superimpose text on a photo, combine several photos into one (a collage or montage), apply special-effect filters like Stained Glass or Watercolor, or adjust the colors in just a portion of the photo.

In all of these situations and more, you still have to spring for a more full-featured image-editing program.

Photoshop is by far the most popular tool for the job, but at about $600, it's also one of the most expensive. Fortunately, you can save yourself some money by buying Photoshop Elements instead. It's a trimmed -down version of Photoshop with all the basic image-editing stuff and just enough of the high-end features. It costs less than $100, and a free trial version is available online. (Your digital camera may even have come with Photoshop Elements right in the box.)

Before you go software shopping, though, check out your own hard drive. If you bought your Mac recently, you may already have the image-editing software you need. Apple includes Graphic Converter ”a simple but powerful editing program with Photoshop-like tools ”on some Mac models.

6.16.1. Opening Photos in Other Programs

To open a photo in a "real" editing program, first install that program's icon on your Dock. (For example, drag the Photoshop icon onto the Dock from your Applications folder.)

Then, any time you want to edit a photo in iPhoto, drag its thumbnail image directly onto the program's Dock icon. (Of course, you can also drag a picture from iPhoto's window onto the application's desktop icon, or an alias of it.) In fact, you can even drag several thumbnails at once to open all of them simultaneously .

If you've already been working in, say, Photoshop, you might be tempted to use its File Open command to open an iPhoto photo directly. But, alas, the drag-and-drop method is far more efficient. If you use File Open, youll have to navigate through the oddly numbered folders of the labyrinthine iPhoto Library folder just to locate the picture you want.

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Tip: When you edit a photo in another program, you're essentially going behind iPhoto's back; the program doesn't have a chance to make a safety copy of the original. Therefore, you're sacrificing your ability to use the Revert to Original command to restore your photo to its original state in case of disaster (page 172).The sneaky workaround: Just make one tiny change to the photo in iPhoto before you drag its thumbnail onto another program's icon. Any small change, even rotating it all the way around, forces iPhoto to create a backup. Thereafter ”whether you edit the photo in another program or not ”you can restore the photo to its original condition at any time.

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6.16.1.1 Setting up a default editing program

The drag-and-drop approach is fine if you occasionally want to open a photo in another program. But if you find yourself routinely editing your photos in another program, there's a much easier method: Just set up iPhoto to open your photos in that program automatically when you double-click. You set up this arrangement as follows :

1. Choose iPhoto Preferences.

   The Preferences window opens.

2. Click the General button, if necessary. For the "Double-click photo" preference settings, select the "Opens photo in" radio button, then click Select Application.

   A standard Open dialog box appears so you can navigate to your favorite photo-editing program.

3. Choose the program you want to use for editing, then click Open.

   When you're done, close the Preferences window.

Now, whenever you double-click a thumbnail, iPhoto launches the designated editing program and uses it to open your photo.

One big advantage of this method is that it lets iPhoto track your editing activity ”yes, even in other programs. iPhoto can subsequently update its thumbnail versions of your photos to reflect the changes. It can also preserve the original version of the photos you edit externally, so that you can later use the Revert to Original command if disaster should ever strike, as explained later in this chapter.

6.16.1.2 Freedom of choice

Sure, it's nice to be able to edit photos in external programs, but it's a lot of trouble to switch that feature on and off, since a trip to iPhoto Preferences is involved every time. If youre like many photo fans, what you want is to use iPhoto's convenient editing features most of the time, ducking out to other programs only when you need more industrial-strength features.

Fortunately, iPhoto offers a couple of tricks that let you switch to an external editor only on demand:

• Clicking the Edit button below the photo-viewing area always opens a selected photo for editing right in iPhoto, regardless of your Preferences setting.

• If you Control-click a thumbnail, the shortcut menu offers you three choices: "Edit" (in the main iPhoto window),"Edit in separate window," or "Edit in external editor." (The last option is available only if you've selected an editing program as described above.) No matter what your settings in Preferences may be, this route always gives you the choice of all three editing modes.