2. Upgrading to iPhoto ’11: What’s New and Noteworthy

Discover how to upgrade your Mac with the iPhoto ’11 software and then learn about some of the new features added to this version of the software.

There are two ways Mac users can acquire iPhoto ’11. If you purchase a new Mac, the entire iLife ’11 suite, including iPhoto ’11, comes pre-installed and ready to use on your computer. However, if you’ve had your Mac since before mid-October 2010, you need to upgrade to iPhoto ’11 from an older version of the software.

This chapter explains your options for upgrading to iPhoto ’11 and then provides an overview of the exciting new features and functions this powerful software offers when it comes to organizing, editing, enhancing, printing, sharing, and archiving all your digital photographs.

It’s Time for an Upgrade

Over the years, Apple has consistently improved the operating system for the Mac, as well as the popular first-party applications bundled with it. If you purchased your Mac before mid-October 2010, it came with an older version of iLife, such as iLife ’09, already installed.

In its day, iPhoto ’09 was a powerful and feature-packed program for managing, editing, archiving, printing, and sharing digital photos. However, iPhoto ’11 is even better!

After you decide to upgrade your iPhoto software, you have three options for purchasing iPhoto ’11:

1. You can purchase iLife ’11 on disc from any retail location that sells Apple products, including Apple Stores, Best Buy, or the Apple.com online store. The price of the iLife ’11 suite upgrade is $49.00 for the single user version, which means you can upgrade one Mac computer (either an iMac or MacBook). The iLife ’11 suite includes iPhoto ’11, iMovie ’11, and GarageBand ’11, as well as iDVD v7.1 and iWeb v3.0.2.
2. You can purchase the iLife ’11 Family Pack for $79.00 on disc, which allows you to install the iLife ’11 software on up to five Macs.
3. You can purchase, download, and automatically install the standalone iPhoto ’11 software from the new Mac App Store ($14.99).

If you purchase iLife ’11 on disc, simply insert it into your Mac and follow the installation instructions. The installation process could take up to 30 minutes. If you download the iPhoto ’11 software from the Mac App Store, the installation process happens automatically.

The first time you launch iPhoto ’11 (if you’re upgrading from an older version), you need to update your photo library. When you see the message “The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of iPhoto,” click on the Upgrade icon to continue (see Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1. After iPhoto ’11 is installed, you may need to upgrade your photo library.

Depending on how many photos you already have stored in iPhoto (using the older version), this upgrade process could take up to an additional hour. During this time, you are able to continue using your Mac, but the iPhoto software isn’t functional. However, if you’re running iPhoto ’11 on a brand-new Mac, there is no need to update your photo library because there are no pre-existing photos stored on the computer.

When the upgrade process is complete, you see the main iPhoto ’11 screen, which will look somewhat familiar if you’ve been using iPhoto ’09.

At the top of the screen are iPhoto ’11’s pull-down menus. On the left side of the screen are additional commands and navigation options, and at the bottom of the screen, as you can see in Figure 2.2, is a selection of new command icons, with which you’ll soon become acquainted. The main portion of the screen is the place where you view your images, either as thumbnails or in a larger format, depending on the iPhoto ’11 viewing feature you’re utilizing.

Figure 2.2. Some of the new command icons located at the bottom of the main iPhoto ’11 screen.

One of the new and most important command icons you’ll notice is located in the lower-left corner of the iPhoto ’11 main screen. It’s the Full Screen icon. Click on it, and the entire user interface and viewing mode of iPhoto ’11 change to the impressive new full-screen mode. You explore how to navigate around the program in full-screen mode and access all the various commands, features, and functions built into iPhoto ’11 shortly.

Welcome to iPhoto ’11

As soon as you install and load iPhoto ’11 for the first time, you’ll quickly discover that this latest version of the software is chock full of new features; plus, it has a new look. Although the core functionality of iPhoto ’11 is to help you organize, edit, enhance, print, share, and archive your digital photos, the software’s new, but optional, full-screen mode allows you to interact with the software and view your images in some exciting new ways.

When you look at the new full-screen mode, notice that all the software’s menus are no longer anchored at the top and side of the program screen, like they were in iPhoto ’09 (see Figure 2.3). The Mac’s program Dock at the bottom of the screen is also no longer visible.

Figure 2.3. Flashback to iPhoto ’09...the program’s old look.

Now, look at iPhoto ’11’s new main screen, shown in regular viewing mode. As you can see in Figure 2.4, some new commands and options in iPhoto ’11 are displayed as command icons at the bottom of the screen.

Figure 2.4. iPhoto ’11’s main screen shown in its regular viewing mode.

Aside from the new onscreen look of iPhoto ’11, you’ll discover major improvements when you begin to organize, edit, enhance, share, print, and archive your photos, or if you use your digital images to create slideshows, photo books, or custom greeting cards, for example.

Sharing your digital photos with friends, loved ones, and coworkers has also never been easier, whether you want to email your photos directly to selected recipients without ever exiting iPhoto ’11, or you choose to publish your favorite images on Facebook or in an online photo gallery using a service such as MobileMe or Flickr.

iPhoto ’11 also gives you greater ability to create prints from your digital images, whether you’re using your own photo printer or you opt to order prints online from a professional photo lab from within iPhoto ’11.

Overview of iPhoto ’11’s New Features and Functions

Let’s take a closer look at some of the new features and functions iPhoto ’11 now offers (compared to iPhoto ’09) and focus on why and how these new additions to the program can be useful.

Full-Screen Viewing Mode

The most obvious new feature of iPhoto ’11 is the full-screen viewing mode. When you use this feature, iPhoto ’11 utilizes more real estate on your Mac’s display, giving you more space to view and edit your images. The full-screen mode works with the main Events screen, as well as the Faces, Places, Albums, Projects, and Editing screens, all of which you’ll become acquainted with shortly.

When you enter into the full-screen viewing mode, all your menus and commands are available from the bottom of the screen. The benefit to this viewing mode is that all the ancillary content that typically appears on your Mac’s display when running any application, such as the menu bar at the top of the screen and the Dock at the bottom, is no longer present.

Any time you open a single photo, you’ll also notice the new Filmstrip preview located at the bottom center of the screen. Figure 2.5 shows a single image being viewed in iPhoto ’11. The new Filmstrip feature is visible at the bottom of the screen. This is a way to quickly preview thumbnail images of photos in the same Event or Album, for example, as you’re viewing a single image in the main image viewing area of iPhoto ’11. Use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through the thumbnails in the Filmstrip.

Figure 2.5. The Filmstrip mode allows you to see other photos stored in the same Event or Album of the image you’re currently viewing.

Multitasking When in iPhoto ’11’s Full-Screen Mode

When you use iPhoto ’11 in full-screen mode, you’ll notice that your program icons, which are traditionally displayed along the bottom of the screen as part of the Dock, are no longer present. This does not stop you from running multiple applications simultaneously on your Mac, however.

When you have multiple applications running on your Mac, including iPhoto ’11 in full-screen mode, to switch between programs, simply press the F3 (Expose) key on your keyboard. As you can see in Figure 2.6, Expose allows you to view all open windows and applications running on your Mac simultaneously and then click on the one you want to use.

Figure 2.6. Press F3 on your keyboard to access Expose and switch between applications when running iPhoto ’11 in full-screen mode.

LET ME TRY IT

Switching Between Applications When Running iPhoto ’11

Whenever iPhoto ’11 is running in full-screen mode, you can quickly switch between applications your Mac is currently running, even though you can’t see the Dock, which contains your program icons, on the screen:

1. Run iPhoto ’11 in full-screen mode by clicking on the Full Screen command icon located in the lower-left corner of most iPhoto ’11 screens.
2. When you need to access another application that is currently running, press the F3 key on the keyboard to activate Expose. On a single screen, large thumbnails of each application that’s running are displayed.
3. Click on the application you want to switch to.
4. You can return to iPhoto ’11 any time by again pressing the F3 key and then clicking on the iPhoto ’11 thumbnail that appears. You do, however, have to re-enter into full-screen mode, if you so desire.

Sharing Photos on Facebook Has Never Been Easier

More than a half billion people around the world are now active Facebook users. One reason why this free online social networking site is so popular is that it allows you to easily share photos with friends, family, or the general public, depending on how you set your account’s privacy features.

iPhoto ’11 now works even better with Facebook, allowing you to upload single photos to your Facebook wall or create entire Facebook photo galleries from within iPhoto ’11 when your computer is connected to the web. Another related enhancement is the ability to add and view photo comments on Facebook from within iPhoto ’11. You also can tag Facebook photos (a concept discussed further in Chapter 3, “Loading Your Digital Images into iPhoto ’11,” and Chapter 4, “Organizing Your Photos”) from within iPhoto ’11, as opposed to having to access your Facebook photo albums via a web browser such as Safari.

Sharing Photos with Individuals via Email

Older versions of iPhoto allowed you to choose one or more photos, automatically open the Mac’s Mail program, and easily share your selected images with individuals via email, as opposed to publishing them within a public online forum, such as Facebook or Flickr.

Now, the process of selecting and emailing images to individuals is more streamlined. Simply choose the photo(s) you want to send, click on the Share command icon, choose the Email option, and insert the recipient’s email address into the onscreen email message that iPhoto ’11 creates. Again, you do all this now from within iPhoto ’11, as shown in Figure 2.7, so you don’t need to access the Mac’s Mail program to email and share photos with individuals or small groups.

Figure 2.7. Directly email photos from within iPhoto ’11.

Another related enhancement when it comes to emailing photos, which you learn more about in Chapter 14, “Emailing or Publishing Your Photos Online,” is the ability to quickly create themed emails, such as postcards or digital greeting cards, with a single click of the mouse as you select from a handful of templates displayed on the right side of the screen.

Using this feature, if you’re planning a party or want to email an announcement about a new baby or engagement, for example, you can create a digital announcement card or invitation that incorporates your own photo(s) and email it to everyone on your list, all in under a minute.

Creating Professional-Looking Slideshows

Among the most impressive enhancements to iPhoto ’11 are the new templates and features for easily creating animated slideshows that can be used to showcase groups of digital photos. The animated, themed slideshow templates allow you to simply drag and drop your selected photos into a slideshow that features music and professional-quality animations.

Select the photos you want to showcase in a slideshow, click on the Create icon, and choose the Slideshow option from within iPhoto ’11. When you click the Themes icon, you can choose from a dozen precreated slideshow templates that can be fully customized with your own titles, choice of music, and visual effects.

When the slideshow is complete, click on the Export icon and select how you want to share your creation. iPhoto ’11 custom-formats the presentation to be displayed on an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, the MobileMe service, or on any Mac or PC computer screen. You can even upload your animated slideshows to YouTube, for example.

As you’ll discover in Chapter 15, “Creating and Sharing Slideshows,” the slideshow creation process is easier than ever before; plus, this latest version of iPhoto gives you more power to create and share presentations that are extremely professional looking and engaging.

Traditional Photo Albums Are a Thing of the Past; Photo Books Are the Wave of the Future

In the past, if you wanted to create a photo album or scrapbook, you needed to print out all your photos, purchase a traditional album, and then insert one image at a time into that album. Depending on the type of album page you purchased, your ability to truly customize each page of your traditional photo album was limited, and unless you took the time to create prints in different sizes, you were limited to displaying each of your photos within the album using standard-size 4" × 6" or 5" × 7" prints, for example.

Photo books are a totally different concept that involves using basic desktop publishing techniques to design and lay out each page of a photo book to showcase your own digital images. By dragging and dropping your images into page templates, you can create a highly personalized and professional-looking book that can also include graphics, photo captions, paragraphs of text, and unique page layouts.

When the book is fully designed, the digital file is uploaded (via the Internet) to a print-on-demand printing service that transforms your photo book into a hard-cover or soft-cover book that resembles something you’d purchase in a bookstore in terms of its appearance, binding, and overall quality.

Blurb.com has been a pioneer in creating highly professional yet inexpensive photo books. Now, this capability has been enhanced and made available from within iPhoto ’11. As you create your book using templates, you can spend as much or as little time and creative effort as you want to design the overall look of your photo book.

iPhoto ’11 can automatically place your images within the pages of the book and add appropriate design elements to each page. Alternatively, you can customize each page yourself, pick and choose how each image will be displayed, and then add your own theme. When the book is fully designed, from within iPhoto ’11, you can order your photo book (a fee applies) and have the finished printed book mailed to you within a few days.

iPhoto ’11 enables you to choose your photo book’s theme, overall book layout, individual page layouts, and the appearance of each photo to be published within your book.

To discover strategies for creating incredible-looking photo book keepsakes, gifts, and family heirlooms that showcase your photos and cherished memories, see Chapter 13, “Creating Photo Projects and Photo Gifts.”

Customized Photo Greeting Cards Replace the Need for Generic Store-Bought Cards

The concept of being able to create custom-printed greeting cards using your own photos is nothing new. The technology to do this inexpensively has been around for several years. However, in conjunction with iPhoto ’11, Apple has taken the photo greeting card concept to a whole new level, with what it calls Letterpress Cards.

Letterpress Cards can be created and professionally printed one at a time or in any quantity of your choice. These cards combine traditional printing techniques with state-of-the-art digital printing technology, enabling you to create professional-looking, textured (embossed) greeting cards with your personalized text and your own photo(s) actually printed as part of the card.

In terms of quality, the result is equivalent, if not more impressive, than any greeting card you’d purchase at a store. However, the cards you create in just minutes using iPhoto ’11 can showcase your own photos and personalized text messages. To create professional-looking results, however, you don’t need to have any artistic abilities or even tap your own creativity. iPhoto ’11 has 15 card templates, shown in Figure 2.8, that you can customize to create your own unique cards suitable for any holiday or occasion.

Figure 2.8. Directly email photos from within iPhoto ’11.

From within iPhoto ’11, you simply create a card design, insert your photo(s) and personalized text into the template, and click the Buy Card icon. Within a few days, your professionally printed greeting card(s) will arrive at your door.

When you combine your own photos with personalized messages and the easy-to-use card design tools offered within iPhoto ’11, which you learn about in Chapter 13, “Creating Photo Projects and Photo Gifts,” you’ll never have to purchase generic greeting cards from a store again.

Enhanced Photo Editing Capabilities and Much More

Many of the editing and photo enhancement features built into iPhoto have also been improved within this latest version, as have the features associated with organizing, printing, sharing, and archiving your digital images.

One of the wonderful things about iPhoto ’11 is that you can rely on the automated features of this application to help you enhance and edit your photos and make them look their absolute best even if you’ve made some mistakes when actually shooting the photos with your digital camera.

Chapter 5, “Taking Professional-Quality Photos,” and Chapter 6, “Overcoming Common Mistakes and Mishaps,” teach easy-to-learn photography techniques used by the pros to help you dramatically improve the quality of the photos you take using any digital camera.

As you’ll discover, iPhoto ’11 can help you correct shooting mistakes after the fact by improving the color, clarity, sharpness, lighting, and composition of your images. You can also fix common problems, such as red-eye, or add special effects to your photos with relative ease.

How to use the simple photo editing tools built into iPhoto 11 is covered in Chapter 7, “Using iPhoto ’11’s Simple Photo Editing Features.” You learn how to add special effects to your images in Chapter 8, “Adding Effects to Your Images.”

Going beyond the automated features that allow you to improve your digital photos, iPhoto ’11 also allows you to manually edit and enhance your images by making some extremely powerful tools available to you. For example, you can manually adjust a photo’s exposure, contrast, saturation, definition, shadows, sharpness, temperature, and tint to truly bring out the detail of an image or add a more creative or artistic quality to it.

Advanced photo editing techniques using iPhoto ’11 are covered in Chapter 10, “Exporting Your Images.”

iPhoto ’11 is one of the most intuitive, feature-packed, and advanced Mac applications available for organizing, editing, enhancing, printing, sharing, and archiving all your digital photos.

Whether you want to invest just a few seconds editing or enhancing a photo, or you’re willing to spend several minutes tapping iPhoto ’11’s more advanced editing features to create the perfect visual images before you share, print, or archive them, you can count on one thing: Even if you never improve your picture-taking abilities using your digital camera, you are able to improve the appearance of your photos after they’re shot and more easily view and share them using this powerful application.