Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great Missing Manual, August 7, 2003
Apple Computer markets a concept they call "the digital hub" representing its integrated hardware and software combinations, especially the iLife package (iPhoto2, iTunes, iChat, iMovie, and iDVD). Beyond Apple's traditionally elegant and harmonious hardware-software integration, the iLife programs are brilliantly designed to allow users to easily enjoy important non-computer things in their lives - photos, music, home and family and recreational video, etc. - while benefitting from the enormous background power of computer applications. With iPhoto2, for example, images (scanned or from a digital camera) can be easily imported into the computer, viewed, printed, burned to CD or DVD, emailed, posted to websites, or composed in professional quality albums with only a handful of clicks. Other than acquiring the images themselves, iPhoto2 and the Mac can facilitate an enormous depth and breadth of enjoyment of photo images without great effort or computer knowledge. The iLife idea is to have the computer aspects work seamlessly and near sub-consciously in the background allowing the user to enjoy his or her photos. In essence, Apple has designed and created a hardware-software combination which, in itself, does virtually everything a non-professional needs to fully enjoy photo imaging. All of the iLife applications are designed with the "hub" concept - put all the tools needed into one easily learned and implemented application; - in other words, think of what people need and give that to them in an integrated and elegantly-designed package. As easy as the iLife applications are to use, like all computer aspects, ease of use is relative - there is no real "easy" computer or application - it's an issue of something only more or less easy to use than another thing. Consequently, there is still a need for focused documentation and instruction to allow users to better and more fully utilize the features and power of the applications. This is where "iPhoto2: The Missing Manual" becomes useful. "iPhoto2" is part of the acclaimed "Missing Manual" series published by Pogue Press/O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Like all of the other "Missing Manuals" it is a comprehensive, systematic, well-written paper manual where Apple provides none. Whether intentionally designed, or not, "iPhoto2" mimics the "hub" concept - bringing together into one elegant unit all the information and tools needed to productively enjoy digital imagery. "iPhoto2" contains five parts - an opening section on how to select and buy a digital camera, and sections on how to use a digital camera, iPhoto2 basics, how to create and produce photo projects like slideshows, prints, web galleries, photo CDs, etc., and a section on how to take advantage of specialized iPhoto2 features like making screensavers and desktop images and using Applescript. Also included is a separate set of appendices about trouble shooting, a menu-by-menu description of iPhoto2 features and commands, and a small section describing where to find additional digital photo resources. The trio of authors are David Pogue, noted writer, NY Times computer columnist, and wit; Joseph Schorr, established Macworld writer and author of "Macworld MacSecrets"; and Derrick Story, author of "The Digital Photos Pocket Guide" (which was reviewed here favorably a number of months ago). This book is structured into two overarching themes - as an iPhoto2 manual and as basic instruction in near-professional quality photography. Overlapping some material from "The Digital Pocket Guide", part one of this book covers basic digital camera concepts: resolution, memory cards, batteries, controls, etc. It then continues with guides on image composition and tips and tricks on how to obtain good quality photos in a large set of situations: portraits, travel, sports, night scenes, and the like. It does no good to have the ability to easily view, print, and e-mail bad photos. Learn how to take a good shot. These sections of the book will help a lot. The iPhoto2 parts describe how to get your "good" images into the application, how iPhoto2 is structured on the hard drive with its designated Library, for example, and its organizing concepts - "Albums" and "Rolls." Other application features like editing, copying, and archiving images are well- explained and detailed. The most interesting chapters are 7-12 detailing how to get quality and efficient production from the program.Features like the "One-click Slideshow" and how to make Quicktime movies from a folder of images are highlighted. All in all, this is another well-done publication from Pogue/O'Reilly.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An afternoon and this book means you'll master the program, February 20, 2004
I've had iPhoto for about a year, but wasn't familiar with any of the features save importing my photos from my camera. After a few hours with this book, however, I've mastered the program and received a lot of kudos on the improved quality of my shots.The first section is on how to take better pictures. As I've never taken a photography class, this section was particularly useful for me. It breaks down the different types of pictures (portraits, action shots, close-ups, night shots, etc...) and tells you how to get the best shot. The meat of the book is in the second section though - that part details how to use iPhoto, from importing pictures to touching them up and eliminating red eye. I primarily use my photos for my website. As such, I wanted to crop them, touch them up, and eliminate red eye. All three of those functions are easy to use after reading this book. It takes me a minute or so to turn my original, off-centered, dark, photo into something worthy of going online. The Missing Manual goes through each function in order, explains what it does, and what the potential drawbacks are. It also goes into file management - I had no idea that iPhoto stored a copy of the original of any image I altered, even if it was just to rotate it. I followed a suggestion in the book, downloaded a piece of freeware, and was able to open up a lot of space on my hard drive by eliminating these unnecessary duplicates. The Missing Manual also details how to edit photos in other programs (such as Adobe Photoshop) without causing problems in iPhoto. As I occasionally have to resize pictures based on the DPI, this information was quite useful. The third section describes how to show off your photos. As I usually just upload them to my website, I only perused this section. It looks to contain some useful information though - how to make a slideshow with a soundtrack, turn the slideshow into a QuickTime video, back up your photos on a DVD, upload them as a photo album to a website, print out a photo album, e-mail them, and more.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Little missing in this manual, February 14, 2004
The Missing Manual series has been around for quite some time, but I have never felt the need to buy one until I started doing some serious work with iPhoto. iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual was a good volume to assist.One of the things I like about Apple's iApps is that they hide a great deal of complexity behind a simple interface; they do indeed make the complex simple. The drawback to this is that I often find myself ignoring the more powerful aspects of the application and never using it to its full. It was here that the Missing Manual came to my help. The target audience for this book would probably be a little less technical than myself, however when I find myself in a field I don't understand well I don't mind a little stuff for the absolute newbie. This book has an entire first section that deals with photography and digital photography in particular that may be a total repeat for some, I found it a welcome reminder of how to get a good photograph along with some extremely useful hints about the new technology and choosing a camera. It covers such topics as composition and lighting for a host of different situations such as landscapes, night, portraits, children and sports. It then goes on to a section of similar size on the basics that covers getting the photos from your camera to the Mac, organising the photos using albums and keywords and then editing your shots. A third section covers the various ways of publishing and showing your photos such as printing, CD, and web pages, and a final section with some tricks and tips on things like managing your libraries. There are two appendices: one very useful troubleshooting guide, and a menu-by-menu look at iPhoto 2. I particularly appreciated the thorough treatment of how to get the most out of iPhoto when printing photo books and creating web pages in the third section; it was here that I really discovered how little I knew from just `playing' with the application. The book is peppered with useful information and tips that take you beyond the level that most of us discovered when we ran and used the program. The authors have also provided some marvelous explanations of what is going on, the "why" as well as the "what." The book is well written with a readable, light, almost witty style that somehow deceives the reader as to the depth of the material being covered. It is only when I reflected back on how much the book taught me that I realised how well it had done the job. O'Reilly have their usual web page for the book with a sample chapter, Table of Contents and Index. Pogue Press have a neat idea - they have a page that features all the software mentioned in the book. A neat idea that I liked a lot. In conclusion, I would recommend this book to everyone who is serious about digital photography on their Mac. If you have used iPhoto for a long time you may think the book a waste, but I'd be surprised if even long-time users didn't get their money's worth out of this book. I much preferred the style of this volume to IDG's iPhoto 2 for Dummies, the only other real competitor for this volume was iPhoto 2 for Mac OS X: A Visual Quickstart Guide, and that is a shorter volume with less depth and less advice for photography and nothing on the camera technology, though I think Engst's writing seems a bit clearer at times. I wouldn't buy a "Missing Manual" for every iApp or the operating system, but if you take the slogan for the series seriously, "The book that should have been in the box" (for the box is entirely devoid of books), I think they are a marvelous help for becoming a true `power user.
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