Customer Reviews

iPhoto 5: Missing Manual

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, if you aren't a professional photographer, then you're an amateur one (or possibly, as my wife likes to remind me, an immature one). I'm assuming if you're thinking of picking up this book it is because you've already got iPhoto 5 and are a little mystified by some of the features. I've been using iPhoto from the beginning and it only gets better - as well as more complicated - with each release.

If you don't already have a book on iPhoto - this is the one to get. I have the iPhoto 4 Missing Manual (and love it) as well - if you're still using iPhoto 4, you can still get this book as 90% of the information is still relevant. This book takes all the great stuff from the previous edition, adds color (that's reason enough to get this book, in my opinion) and goes into detail on the new features of iPhoto 5.

The book goes beyond just a "how to" on iPhoto. It spends a few chapters going over digital cameras and the basics of taking good pictures. The information on iPhoto covers details that will satisfy both the beginner and advanced user. From simply importing and arranging your pictures to using AppleScript, iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual is hard to beat.

This is a solid book on iPhoto that walks through all of the basics, and throws in a few advanced tips. What I particularly like are the sections that cover how to take better photos in the first place and the sections that cover basic digital photography. That's important because the photography is an end-to-end process where iPhoto is just a piece.

Excellent use of images and screenshots. Solid writing a good production value. Highly recommended for people looking to make iPhoto a central part of their digital photography workflow.

Some people may argue that iPhoto is a simple enough application that it doesn't require a 388-page user guide. But one peek into David Pogue and Derrick Story's latest, full colour edition of their Missing Manual will reveal that this is an extremely informative and useful book.

"iPhoto 5 : The Missing Manual" is divided into four main parts:

1. "Digital Cameras" covers the basics of digital photography, everything from selecting and buying a digital camera to how to take great photographs. This includes detailed lessons on how to achieve the best results in the many different types of photography, e.g. action, portrait, nighttime, etc.

2. "iPhoto Basics" describes all the features of iPhoto 5: transferring photos from your camera to your Mac, setting up albums and managing and editing your photos, e.g. removing scratches and red-eye, adjusting exposure and balancing colour.

3. "Meet Your Public" discusses ways you can showcase your photos to the world: via slideshows, QuickTime movies, burning to DVDs, making prints, publishing on the web and printing photo books.

4. "iPhoto Stunts" delves into the more advanced features of iPhoto 5 like making screensavers, using AppleScript and managing your photo libraries.

This is more than just a book for iPhoto. The first part alone is like a separate manual on digital photography. And the colour images truly enhance this edition. All in all, a very useful book to have for the aspiring photographer who wants to make the best of iPhoto as well as improve his or her photographic skills.

Picking up this book, the first thing you notice is how great is looks. It's printed in full color, with screen shots on nearly every page. I started the book expecting to jump right in to using iPhoto, but found that the entire first section of the book covers buying the right digital camera and a a guide to taking great looking pictures. I skimmed this section rather quickly as I already owned a camera and understand the basics of lighting and composing pictures. What I did read looked very useful for someone getting into photography for the first time.

The second section covers using iPhoto to organize and edit your digital pics. I was surprised how many handy ways iPhoto 5 has to organize and find pictures easily. The chapter on editing demystifies all the controls and sliders in iPhoto's editing mode. Perhaps the best tip though is the advice to use the enhance button quickly and automatically adjust photos suffering from the affects of being taken in sub-optimal conditions.

Section three details the many ways to share your photos with others. This falls primarily into 2 categories: printing and electronic distribution. These chapters have great tips for getting high quality prints wether you use your own printer or send your photos to a third party printing service. The section on electronic distribution shows you how easy it is to create a DVD you can send to friends and family; a format that even grandma will understand how to view. If you want to post your pictures on the Internet there are lots of useful tips on optimizing your photos for on-line viewing.

The last section covers advanced uses. One of the most valuable explains how to get all those spontaneous photos off of you camera phone an into iTunes. And if you take a lot of photos; more than iPhoto can handle easily, the authors explain techniques for managing multiple iPhoto libraries.

Summary: iPhoto 5 The Missing Manual is a great guide to getting the most out of iPhoto. In addition to covering iPhoto's many non-obvious features, the book includes a guide to buying the right digital camera, and techniques for taking the best quality pictures in many conditions. Best of all the book is beautifully illustrated in full color. iPhoto 5 The Missing Manual is well worth the $30 cover price ($20 on Amazon).

The book is a voluminous compendium which is at the same time concise in its handling of individual topics. I'm sure it will answer every question you could possibly have about iPhoto. The included Applescript Tricks are a super bonus - especially the one to Do Photoshop Action. At this price it's a no brainer.
Will Bosch

Do not buy this book unless, for some reason, you are determined to use an obsolete version of iPhoto. The newest version of iPhoto is iPhoto 6 (SIX!!!) and it is VERY different from iPhoto 5. (Sorry David, I wish your book was for iPhoto 6. I would buy it then. I do have your Mac OS X Tiger Edition, and it is GREAT!)

Catching the wave! As digital cameras and cameraphones have become common, so too has the need to handle an ever increasing inventory of photos. Which is why Apple offers iPhoto 5. The book shows how Apple has refined iPhoto into a coherent and easily used package.

There are tips on taking these digital photos and for editing a photo with various enhancements. But of the book's 14 chapters, only one is on actual editing. These capabilities of iPhoto are adequate, but clearly inferior to Photoshop. iPhoto's emphasis is different. It focuses more on handling or managing large numbers of photos. Especially in making your own website of these. Plus doing the printing of photos.

You have to admire Apple for what they've done here. Adobe's Photoshop dominates digital image editing. But rather than trying to fruitlessly match Photoshop, feature for feature, Apple broadened the scope of digital image usages to include the above tasks, and then went after a new customer base. Where Photoshop had no dominance.

Excellent! Very plainly written. Easy to understand. A must-have if you would rather refer to a book instead of electronic help. I really like the Missing Manual Series and/or anything written by David Pogue.

This book is well-written and absolutely required to make full use of your iPhoto 5 software. The illustrations are clear and easy to follow.

Never used the book. Apple is so user friendly to begin with, don't know why I bought it.