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iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual 107

Posted by timothy from the point-click-trim-and-buff dept.
honestpuck writes "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." Read on for the rest of honestpuck's review.
iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual
author David Pogue, Derrick Story, Joseph Schorr
pages 336
publisher O'Reilly/Pogue Press
rating 8
reviewer Tony Williams
ISBN 0596005067
summary An good guide to iPhoto2 for beginner to intermediate users

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 or the average Slashdot reader, 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.'

You can purchase iPhoto2: The Missing Manual from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual More

iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual

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  • cheaper (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Amazon has it for $2.50 cheaper!(10% cheaper than bn!) [amazon.com]

    • Re:cheaper (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      has anyone noticed the new trend - shall we call it amazon whoring ?

    • Re:Bookpool (Score:3, Informative)

      by justMichael ( 606509 )
      And Bookpool [bookpool.com] has it $1.97 cheaper than Amazon.

      You'd think that the geeks would be using bookpool as opposed to Amazon.

    • Re:cheaper (Score:3, Informative)

      by LordNimon ( 85072 )
      This is getting off-topic, but if you want to compare prices, then go to http://www.allbookstores.com/search_advanced [allbookstores.com].
      • Great resource. Thanks.

        I wasn't only suggesting Bookpool because of price. I would rather deal with a small company if given the choice. I'm not really fond of Amazon or Buy.com. I have had good experiences with Bookpool.

        BTW: Bookpool was still cheaper than everybody on the list from allbookstores.com.

  • Options (Score:5, Informative)

    by jmays ( 450770 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:31PM (#6607556)
    I read iPhoto2 Fast & Easy [amazon.com] and thought it was a pretty good reference. Basic but worthwhile.

  • Not necessary. (Score:5, Informative)

    by momerath2003 ( 606823 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:34PM (#6607587) Journal
    All you need to become a power user for an iApp is a bit of spare time, experimentation, and perhaps the help of Mac OS X Hints [macosxhints.com]. You really shouldn't need a book, especially for a program as simple as iPhoto.

    • Re:Not necessary. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Enrico Pulatzo ( 536675 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:32PM (#6608087)
      That's just what they want you to think. When Windows 95 shipped, the thinking at the time (and still is today) was that consumers would perceive software to be easy to use if it had no "need" of a manual. It sucks having to plop down 50 bucks for a book telling me how to do some of the more intermediate tasks, let alone the advanced ones.

      Apple and Microsoft _should_ be shipping manuals with their products, hands down. Sure I could spend my time playing and figure out a way to do things and yes, the net is a great resource, but I'd rather have a vendor-provided method for training and get my work done so I can play with my Nintendo.

      • That's just what they want you to think. When Windows 95 shipped, the thinking at the time (and still is today) was that consumers would perceive software to be easy to use if it had no "need" of a manual.

        Dude, there is a monstrous difference between Windows 95 and iPhoto. Or even between an operating system and a consumer application.

        iPhoto is a very simple, mostly intuitive program whose features can be described / summarized in only a few pages of paper.

        I can't say the same for Windows 95.

  • Why a manual (Score:5, Insightful)

    by agent dero ( 680753 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:37PM (#6607619) Homepage
    I think it would have been nice to have recieved something of this nature when I bought my new macintosh. Something to give me a little peek into the power of the iApps.

    I think that would help Apple out a lot, to have more in-depth PDFs on their iApps, like iMovie, iDVD, and iPhoto

    I think that would help more and more normal mac users become power mac users (get it! powermac ;-))

  • iPhoto Is Nice... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Goo.cc ( 687626 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:38PM (#6607627)
    but it simply is more than I need. When I download pictures off my camera, I use EXIF-Renamer to rename the photos based on the date and time they were taken. I use JView to view them and if I want to order hard copies, I use Ofoto via Safari. Should I need to manipulate the images, I have GraphicConverter.

    The best thing about this is they there are no installers to run; they are "drag and drop" installed applications. But I can also understand why people like iPhoto.
    • care to explain why youd rather use 8715309821375981 different programs when one will suffice?

      • Re:iPhoto Is Nice... (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        1 generic program great at nothing, or a smattering of highly focused apps that do one thing, and do it well?

        Of course, if convenience did not equal dumbed down, this wouldn't be a problem.

        iPhoto is good for one thing only; getting pictures off a digital camera. It won't even grab the movies that are on a lot of newer cameras... how lame is that? And the directory structure is horrid as well.

        *shudder*

        • Re:iPhoto Is Nice... (Score:4, Informative)

          by elmegil ( 12001 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:47PM (#6608246) Homepage Journal
          And the directory structure is horrid as well.

          As opposed to a single directory full of P07310003.jpg files, as would be the case for the 80% of users who don't know how to automatically script downloading and renaming of the photos from the camera? Personally, while I wouldn't want to navigate the directory structure manually very often, the naming conventions are clear and for the target audience mostly transparent anyway.

          • "As opposed to a single directory full of P07310003.jpg files, as would be the case for the 80% of users who don't know how to automatically script downloading and renaming of the photos from the camera?"

            That's why EXIF-Renamer is such a nice program. It has selectable and customizable renaming settings. I have Image Capture call it while importing photos.
      • I would rather use a chain of smaller programs that can be individually replaced if need be. Depending on a single monolithic program can have problems (and advantages).

    • Re:iPhoto Is Nice... (Score:4, Informative)

      by mblase ( 200735 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:04PM (#6607843)
      What you didn't mention, I notice, is any tool to organize your images. Presumably you organize them yourself, which is great, but the charm of iPhoto is that it keeps them organized by date (and by virtual "film roll") for you. Manipulation is built in, and it always keeps the original, which GraphicConverter (the only app you mentioned which isn't free, btw) doesn't automatically do. Plus it will automatically export images into files, webpages or QuickTime movies, which saves you a lot of trouble configuring batch edits in GC.

      If that's more than you need, then great, although you're not missing anything by replacing a free application with shareware.
      • "If that's more than you need, then great, although you're not missing anything by replacing a free application with shareware."

        All the apps I use are freeware, except for GraphicConverter, which I already had when I finally got my camera. If I wanted to, I could replace it with Gimp.

        As for organizing, it keep them in a single directory with several sub-directories. It's easy.
    • I use iPhoto simply because it's free.

    • Re:iPhoto Is Nice... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by c13v3rm0nk3y ( 189767 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:15PM (#6607922) Homepage

      Having a monolithic app has it's drawbacks, but Apple has to offer a one-stop app for what is probably their median user group. Digital photography use among most computer users is exploding, and it would be wrong for Apple not to provide a slick single interface aimed directly at these users.

      The UNIX guy in me agrees with the notion that large apps can be a pain, in principle. Many small apps that do one or two things extremely well can often be more satisfying to use than a single monolithic app that is a pain to navigate, offers features you don't need and hides the ones you do.

      Well, I would have agreed that iPhoto is perhaps overkill until I got a digital camera and hooked it up to my G4. Having an app that catalogs and organizes my photos, like iTunes (or any other digital music app) was so useful, I never looked back. The fact that it has facilities for smart backup to DVD, and other features I haven't even explored is just gravy. The UI fills me with a warm fuzzy, as well.

      I'd have to say that iPhoto is one of those rare apps that manages to give most of us just about what we need, but no more. Between iPhoto and Photoshop Elements, this amateur photog (and recent convert from film cameras for holiday snaps and the like) has all he needs.

  • iPhoto needs some tweaks... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by terraformer ( 617565 ) <tpb@pervici.com> on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:40PM (#6607641) Journal
    I agree with the reviewer, iPhoto is such a simple program, why would someone on /. need a dummies book?
    Anyhnow, iPhoto needs two things badly
    • The ability to have hierarchical (nested) libraries
    • The ability to use the FS layout of files to create the above hierarchical libraries when importing
    I have a massive amounts of images (no, not porn) that I have organized painstakingly using folders and importing them into iPhoto lost all of that organization. Now I have to manually create libraries and I cannot nest them.

    • Re:iPhoto needs some tweaks... (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I have a massive amounts of images (no, not porn)

      I have massive amounts of images that aren't p0rn either, they're "art".

    • Re:iPhoto needs some tweaks... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Elwood P Dowd ( 16933 ) <judgmentalist@gmail.com> on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:59PM (#6607807) Journal
      That's funny, when I imported my massive collection of photos, each roll was automatically named with the parent folder's name, and organized automatically.

      Sure, they weren't hierarchically organized, but whatever.
      • Your photos had the right meta data on them (ie; roll info from whoever digitized your film) but most of mine are personal scans and personal art. None of the meta data existed except for digital images that I took and imported using Canon's software and not iPhoto.
    • I'm in the same position.. I have a ton of images that I have organized using a combination of automated tools and manual structuring. iPhoto doesn't handle importing of these very well.

      I would like it to import all of these images, use their directory names as Album names, and leave the images alone. In the hierarchical directory structure, they support easy web viewing using my image management tools (or any of the dozens of free tools out there).

      The best app I have found for this is "Adobe Photo A
      • I prefer Thorsten Lemke's fantastic Graphics Converter.

        It has a browser which "don't need no stinkin' import"

        You have your files organized in the file system the way you want - and it browses them. The best of both worlds. Honestly, I really don't understand what iPhoto is for.

        • Re:iPhoto needs some tweaks... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by XxtraLarGe ( 551297 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @03:49PM (#6609421) Journal
          Simple: iPhoto is for my girlfriend. I bought my girlfriend a digital camera for Christmas last year, and she's become a regular shutterbug ever since. She loves iPhoto and so do I. The best part about it: She NEVER asks me any questions about it. She figured it out on her own in about 10 minutes. This used to be from the woman who would crash her Win98 machine several times a day and I ended up playing tech support every time she had a problem. Getting her to switch to a Mac was one of the best things I ever did! Anyway, getting her to used 5 or 6 different apps where one does the trick would be an absolute nightmare. Not only that, but she uses it to create slideshows for iMovie. I know Graphics Converter is a sweet little app, but can it do that?
    • You might want to inform Apple of your needs.
      Which, btw, are things I would want too.

      Who knows, it might be a feature in the future.

    • Re:iPhoto needs some tweaks... (Score:4, Informative)

      by gsfprez ( 27403 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:28PM (#6608041)
      Well maybe not nesting, but this is the next best thing...

      a great piece of freeware called iPhotoBuddy [nofences.net] allows you to create and select multiple photo libraries. I don't even have iPhoto in my dock any more because of this software. I keep 4 different libraries and about 3000ish photos (i have a digital camera and a puppy, bite me).

      You simply choose which library you want to run - and it launches iPhoto with the corresponding library. My previously insanely slow library is now quick and easy, and iPhoto is a wonderful tool to use again, like when it first came out and I only had 500 pictures.
    • I think it's unfair to label the missing manuals as "dummies" books. My sister recently got a 17in. iMac and I quickly grew tired of explaining more advanced things to her. I sent her to BN to pick up a missing manual. Chock full of actually useful information. Everyday I learn something about the Mac I had no idea about and I've been using computers for over 10 years. There's a lot of stuff in those nifty white enclosures.
    • I hate (not dislike, hate) iTunes for the exact same reason.

  • What they really need... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    is a missing manual to find the second mouse button.

  • Missing legitimacy (Score:5, Funny)

    by FromWithin ( 627720 ) <mike@@@fromwithin...com> on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:49PM (#6607715) Homepage
    I think the "Missing Manual" series should be renamed to the "I've got a cracked version" series.

  • But what about the plot? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sxltrex ( 198448 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:50PM (#6607724)
    What kind of review is this? I want to find out about character development and whether or not there are any glaring plot holes! And you didn't even give away the ending! All you told me was why I might find this book useful.

    Oh, wait...

  • Slashbot book review (Score:3, Informative)

    by rkz ( 667993 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:20PM (#6607963) Homepage Journal
    This one is a great addition to the book shelf, you all know how to do certain things in IPhoto but this book clarifies nicely why you are actually doing it. Also, it introduces nice advanced features and concepts which amatures might not have come across before.

  • iPhoto SLOOOOOW with big libraries (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this yet, but I had to abandon iPhoto in favor of iView Media.

    I imported my 3500+ digital pics I've taken over the years into iPhoto only to find that the application slows down to the point of unusability. Every few operations I attempted to perform would hang for a minute or more -- including simple things like seeing context menus. I did a usenet search and discovered that others had experienced a similar slowdown with large collections in iPhoto.


  • The problem with iPhoto is that it does not have a web interface. And sharing via iMac web services is tedious and limited in storage.

    Pixory solves all of these problems. And best of all, of course, it runs on Linux!

    www.pixory.org

  • Pouge is Great! (Score:5, Informative)

    by joel8x ( 324102 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @01:39PM (#6608177) Homepage
    I just browsed through the sample chapter and its full of usefull hints such as editing the book templates with Apple's developer tools. This is a great book for for people who are new to Macs or aren't tech-heads.

    OTOH, any Mac geek can find all of this info easily at MacOSXHints.com [macosxhints.com]

  • iPhoto for dummies not IDG (Score:3, Informative)

    by PMcGovern ( 13300 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:24PM (#6608576)
    IDG no longer publishes Dummies books. They sold the division to Wiley a few years ago.

    FYI.

  • iPhoto features (Score:5, Informative)

    by 47Ronin ( 39566 ) <[glenn] [at] [47ronin.com]> on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:30PM (#6608656) Homepage
    One big problem that Apple hasn't responded to is sharing a photo library among multiple users. In the current setup, each user of the system has their own home dir, and therefore separate photo libraries, inaccessible by the other users. While iPhoto currently supports a central repository for photos (roughly), it doesn't like it if you try to store it on a network server. Right now I have an old mac running OSX with my iPhoto Library stored on a separate drive. All my other macs are connected to it via 10/100 Ethernet and we mount that drive remotely to access the photos via iPhoto. Let me tell ya, it's DOG SLOW. even with 100Base-T bandwidth, iPhoto only uses a trickle of that potential. Instead of chewing up about 1MB/sec, it accesses the library at about 35kB/sec, so loading albums is a major test of patience.
  • When I try to order prints through iphoto, it fails every time to upload the pictures to apple, asking me to check my network connection.

    and I've turned off my firewall, plugged my ibook straight into the cable modem, and have even tried it over my 56k modem.

  • ...until I started doing some serious work with iPhoto

    What? Look, this isn't a MacOS bash--I love my macs and use iPhoto all the time. But other than filling up iPhoto with thousands of photos (and that doesn't even count) what is 'serious work' with iPhoto? It's simply not that deep an application.

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