Accessing Shared Photos

Working with shared photos is similar to using an iPhoto disc (see "Importing from an iPhoto Disc" in Chapter 2, "Importing and Managing Photos").

To access shared photos:

1.	Make sure the Mac with the shared photos has iPhoto launched and photo sharing turned on.
2.	On the Mac from which you want to access the shared photos, launch iPhoto, and from the iPhoto menu, choose Preferences () and click the Sharing tab. iPhoto displays the Sharing preferences.
3.	Make sure Look for Shared Photos is selected (Figure 8.4; opposite).
4.	Close the Preferences window. In the Source pane, iPhoto creates a shared folder for the shared photos.
5.	Click the shared folder to load it. If the shared photos are protected by a password, enter it when prompted. iPhoto loads the shared photos, displaying individual albums underneath the shared folder when you click its expansion triangle (Figure 8.6). Figure 8.6. You access shared photos in the Source pane; click the shared photo folder to load it, and click the expansion triangle to the left to display its albums.

Tips

• If more than one copy of iPhoto on your network is sharing photos, iPhoto creates a Shared Photos folder and puts all the albums for shared photos inside it.

• To disconnect from a shared photo album, click the little eject button next to its name in the Source pane.

• To import all the photos in a shared album, drag it to another spot in the Source pane.

Actions Allowed for Shared Photos

Just because you can see shared albums in your Source pane doesn't mean you can do everything with their contents that you can do with your own photos.

You can copy shared photos and albums to your Library or albums, print shared photos, play a basic slideshow with shared photos, send shared photos to others via email, and upload shared photos to .Mac Slides.

You cannot edit shared photos in any way, assign keywords and ratings, get photo info, make a new album on the remote Mac, use a shared album to create a book, put shared photos on your Desktop or use them as your screen saver, make an iDVD slideshow, burn them to disc, send them to iWeb, or export them in any way.

Basically, you can only view shared photos; for any action that requires making changes, you must first copy the photos to your Mac.