Customer Reviews

iPhoto '09: The Missing Manual

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I traded in my PC for a new IMAC earlier this year, over 15.000 photos moved into the Iphoto library. I had my own organizing system based on folders and subfolders and subsub folders and was also using Photoshop organizer. IPhoto 2009 at first glance does not match the way my mind works did not seem to sync well with this system, and I could not understand where and how my pictures were organized. This book is helping me figure out how to cope, how not to lose hours and hours of work, and how to make the program fit the way I want to work. Its target audience seems to be people using earlier versions of Iphoto or those just getting started. It would be nice if it also addressed those coming from pc programs such as Photoshop organizer or Picassa

I have never used iPhoto before, despite always having it preinstalled on all of my recent Macs, and now I could kick myself. It's a great program and does so many of the things I always wish the Mac could do with photos. This book made me get into the program and finally figure it out, and it's not that hard. I'm excited about making photo album books for gifts in the future, and now I use iPhoto to routinely crop and fix my photos, even though I do have Photoshop. Thanks Dave, for helping me get over my fear of iPhoto! Hope your iMovie book works, too, because that program really scares me.

I look forward to David Pogue's Missing Manuals. He has the gift for explaining technical subjects in a clear and straightforward fashion. This book continues his success. His co-author, Jude Biersdorfer must be good, too because I find this book excellent.

I've been told that iPhoto is supposed to be so easy to use that you don't need a guide. It kinda-sorta is, but not totally. With more features comes more complexity. And the latest version of iPhoto does have some nice features like Faces and Places. In some cases it's not even that the features are difficult to work as that people don't even know that they are there. iPhoto comes with a new Mac and isn't something that people research.

Explanations are clear and straightforward. If you haven't considered geotagging your photos or don't know why you should bother, this book serves as a good nudge to try that out.

As for the killer new feature of face recognition, if you take people photos, get ready to streamline your iPhoto album. The book makes the process simple and approachable, as it does for most of iPhoto's features.

A great book, but it's difficult to find things using its index... the page numbers in the index are not correct, sometimes they are 10's of pages off! I can't give this many stars because of that. Sorry. I've spent hours trying to find what I'm looking for because of this.

easy to follow and use for all the areas I needed help in using this strong program. It allowed to use features that I could not find or understand on my own

David Pogue has done it again, this time with the very able assistance of J. D. Biersdorfer. This latest book in the "Missing Manual" series, iPhoto '09 The Missing Manual, published by O'Reilly Media, is an equally valuable resource for those new to the Mac and/or iPhoto as well as for those who have used iPhoto for many years.

Part One, iPhoto Basics, covers everything from getting photos from the camera into iPhoto to organizing, and editing them once they are there. Particularly helpful is the chapter on the newest organizing features, introduced in iPhoto '09, Faces and Places. Using the face recognition method is fairly straightforward, while manually geotagging photos is more challenging. Pogue's step-by-step guidance makes it easy. The section on editing photos is so thorough and revealing that even novices can produce professional-looking results with ease. Those who shoot in RAW will find the advice in that section particularly helpful.

Part Two, Meet Your Public, guides the reader in the making of prints, web galleries, DVD slideshows and more, including publishing to Flickr and Facebook. Detailed instructions for using iPhoto to make and order books, calendars and cards is included. Using the information provided saves not only precious time but also can save money while assuring good results that will wow family and friends.

Part Three, Photo Stunts, is devoted to designing and building Screen Savers; finding prewritten AppleScripts, and developing Automator Actions that add new and timesaving features to iPhoto. Methods for managing the thousands of photos that eventually populate iPhoto by burning them to disc or backing them up to an external disk is explained. iPhoto '09 The Missing Manual explains how to create, swap, and merge iPhoto Libraries and the pitfalls to avoid.

Part Four, Appendixes, though brief, is packed with very important and helpful information. The first section, on Troubleshooting, can save the day when things go awry. How to retrieve photos using Time Machine is worth memorizing. iPhoto '09 Menu by Menu explains in useful detail every one of the menu items included in the program.

Although those coming from using other photo management programs (e.g., Picasa) might wish for more in this book to ease their transition to iPhoto, the information in this book will shorten their learning curve while providing a series of confidence-building successes.

As Pogue himself says, the Missing Manual books are "entertaining [and] unafraid to state when a feature is useless or doesn't work right." The indispensible information contained in this book is delivered in an easy-to-understand, witty, and engaging way. Even those with years of experience with previous versions of iPhoto will learn new tricks. And everyone will benefit from keeping iPhoto '09 The Missing Manual as a handy reference book and valuable resource.

I have several of David Pogue's Missing Manuals and consider every one an essential accessory to effective and efficient use of their subject Apple software. Each book is chock full of "the-light-goes-on" moments. His informal writing style keeps otherwise geeky material very readable. And, he often goes tangentially off topic to introduce or remind his readers of other very important concepts, shortcuts, or insights.

In short, try it - you'll like it.

I have used the Missing Manual series for several years and find them laid out well.... easy to search for answers to my questions, always full of ideas I have not even thought of..... never even consider other manuals when choosing one to go with a new program.

This is a great book. Provides answers to your questions and even answers for questions you haven't thought of yet! Great buy.

This book is written in a very down-to-earth way, a little comic relief provided, and lots of well explained procedures. It's my new bible! Blondie