iPhoto 08–new features

If you haven’t upgraded to iPhoto 08, you shouldn’t hesitate.

I have to be honest that I haven’t been using previous versions. One of my biggest complaints had been that adding keywords to ease searching was unintuitive.

I guess Apple has been listening to its users. 

iPhoto users who have a dotmac account can now easily publish a web gallery without knowing a single line of code.

To learn how to do this, read my tutorial

iPhoto users who don’t have Apple’s dotmac account, don’t fret.

There is now a free solution from Google’s Picasa Web Album. Please understand when I say “free,” there is some fine print you need to read and decide for yourself.

After you click on that link, go down to #11 and read over “Content License From You.”

See the video below.

To use Picasa Web Album Uploader, you must be running Tiger or OS 10.4 and higher. It is compatible with iPhoto 4,5,6,7 (iPhoto which came with iLife 08)

Picasa plug-in as it looks in the iPhoto interface

Looks like Google has been developing more applications for Mac users.

Picasa Web Album was previously just for Windows users.

Google has finally paid attention to Mac users. They have added a plug-in for iPhoto which allows you to upload albums directly from iPhoto without leaving the interface.

So, what do you need to get started using Picasa Web Album if you’re using a Mac?

  • Download and install the Picasa Web Album Uploader. It’s a plug-in for iPhoto 
  • Quit iPhoto and relaunch. Now select any event or album, Choose “Export“. When you do, you’ll see the screenshot I’ve added above.
  • Sign up for a gmail account. If you have one already, you’re all set. When you log into your gmail account, at the top of the page, select “Photos“. This will bring you to the Picasa Web Album administration area.

From here you can create a flash-based slideshow. It’s not as spiffy and sexy as the Web Gallery that is available by dotmac users. 

But, hey Picasa Web Album is free, well not entirely.

If all you’re doing is sharing pictures with friends and family and you don’t keyword your images when you upload, I’m confident Google will never find pictures that you took which might be of interest to them.

For them to search through your pictures to find something they might want to use, manually is next to impossible. This is probably how they’ll approach it if they’re looking for pictures.

They’ll probably do a keyword search like you would on your puny iPhoto library.

So if you don’t add keywords to the pictures that you upload, the odds of them finding a picture that they will use is quite remote, don’t you think?

It would be like trying to find the proverbial needle in a …….

Anyway here’s what a slideshow looks like when you embed it into any webpage.

Try out this tutorial, if you’re having problems, scroll down to the bottom where it says “Leave A Reply“, register, sign in and write me. 

I have enabled “moderation” in an effort to keep out spam. Your comment will be approved as soon as I get notification by email. I’ll answer your questions as soon as I can.

8 thoughts on “iPhoto 08–new features”

  1. Jo,
    Not all is lost yet. This option is pricey but if the images are important to you, I feel it will pay for itself many times over.
    I don’t use it as matter of practice but it is my backup. Download the trial and see if the software sees those pictures. If it does and I’m fairly sure it will, then decide.
    As to the actual value of the software ( £23) versus the value of your own images, only you can decide, Jo.

    http://www.lc-tech.co.uk/software/rescueprodetail.html

    Best of luck. Post back and share your experience so that others can learn of your trials and tribulations.

  2. Hi Pete,

    I tried your suggestion twice, but it didn’t work either time. Sigh. Oh well, Live and learn. I will never delete from my camera again until I am sure they have been properly downloaded on my computer.

    Thanks again for your help.

    Jo

  3. Jo,
    Thanks for commenting.
    You can try this:

    Hold down the Option and Apple keys while you launch iPhoto.

    You’ll get a prompt that asks you if you want to “Rebuild Photo Library” . Make sure to check all the boxes and then click “Rebuild” Be patient with this. Remember you’re asking iPhoto to rebuild 4K pictures.

    Hopefully rebuilding the photo library will sort it out. Don’t forget to check back and post especially if it works.

    Subscribe to these comments. That way you’ll get notification when I post a reply.

    Keeping fingers crossed for you!

  4. I need help!

    I have been using iphoto for two years. I have about 4500 photos loaded, and have never had any problem. Suddenly today, the photos seem to load, then stop mid-stream. I have to turn the camera off and back on to get the loading to resume. I did that three times, then realized that though the photos were indeed lading, I couldn’t see them. When I scroll quickly through, they flash on the screen for a second, then disappear to be replaced by a grey, blank box.

    I have deleted around 700 pix now, thinking it was a space issue, but so far I still can’t see them. And I have deleted them from the camera! Any suggestions? these are photos from my niece’s wedding, and very precious!

    Thanks so much!

  5. Kathy,
    I dare say if you had bought a Windows machine, this wouldn’t have been this easy.

    Congratulations! Please share my tutorials with your Mac using friends.

  6. Peter,
    Thanks so much for sending me your tutorial! You have moved me from overwhelming boxes of photos to completely digital recall of photos. I have put all my digital photos into iphoto and I love it. I have labeled every photo using keywords, and now I can call up any subject I want. I have made several photo galleries and sent them to friends. Everyone thinks I am a genius, and you made it so easy for me. I have also made calendars and slide shows. Thank you for bringing me into the twenty first century.
    Kathy Donde

  7. No sooner had I posted that entry about Picasa that Rigo, one of my photographer friends, wrote back warning me about the fine print in the Terms of Service.

    There have been discussion about this in many blogs. Mostly these are the concerns that professional photographers have about copyright and licensing rights.

    If you don’t plan to make a living from photography and all you’re uploading is family pictures but not “masterpieces” , I would say you are fine.

    Those sort of pictures have no commercial value since you don’t have model releases.

    Rather than go into a lengthy explanation, I’ll let you guys read it for yourself.

  8. Peter
    I like page and the video. I hope that I can someday make one that is as good as yours.
    I was trying to create another blog page for Jujubee ( my wife) and I got your name in there by accadent. I went back in and asked them to delete it. I hope it will be OK. Sorry about that
    Ralph

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