Apple iPhoto 9.6.1

Overview

Apple iPhoto is part of Apple’s iLife suite and it is safe to say that it enjoys the most popularity compared to the rest of its counterparts. The reason is very simple – everyone takes photos and everyone has a number of photos on their Mac. As a result, as time goes by, our libraries increase in size exponentially and the management of our photos becomes a top priority. This is an issue that Apple iPhoto is very keen to resolve as the photo management is simplified through the concept of events and the possibility to share your photos on social networking websites like Facebook and Flickr is one of the utility’s biggest selling points. And did I tell you about the face recognition feature?

Apple iPhoto is all about slideshows, having fun with your photos by creating cards and calendars, sharing them with your family and friends and organizing your library in a simple and effective way. Let’s analyze the features of Apple iPhoto in this quick article!

Installation

As soon as you will see the download size of Apple iPhoto (750 MB), you will quickly realize that this is no ordinary tool. As a result, the installation process takes more than just a few seconds but in the end, it is really worth it. Regarding the requirements, iPhoto is an Apple product so you will need a Mac in order to run it. Other specs include 1 GB of RAM, an Intel processor and the Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. You can also install iPhoto from the preinstalled iLife suite on Mac computers. You should be happy to discover that Apple iPhoto doesn’t come with adware/spyware or other programs.  

Interface

The interface of Apple iPhoto is a perfect example of an excellent interface with a very good design that provides easy access to most of the tool’s features. One of the biggest additions to the latest version of Apple iPhoto is the full screen mode. Thus, every pixel on the display will be occupied by your entire workspace. It gives a nice edge to the interface and makes you feel that you’re working on a very big iPad. The full screen mode gives you more opportunities to share your photos via e-mail or Facebook. In addition, it lets you see all your events, faces and places without any visual distractions. Overall, the interface is one of iPhoto’s biggest strengths, as it is simple, intuitive and perfect for novice users.

Pros

If someone would ask me to sum up Apple iPhoto in a few words, then “events”, “places” and “faces” would be my top 3. Firstly, through events, a new meaning is given to your photos as they are automatically organized based on where you took them. It is a very useful feature that you will simply love and appreciate. On the other hand, it has to be said that Faces is the technology that is on everyone’s lips. The iPhoto’s face-recognition technology, Faces is able to recognize faces from your photos and match characteristic such as eyes, shape, mouth, nose, and more, to the rest of your photos in your library. If iPhoto failed to recognize a face – and this happens pretty often – you can use the “Add Missing Face” button and associate a given individual with a certain photo.

Secondly, the Places feature is pretty self-explanatory. It uses Wi-Fi triangulation and GPS and whenever your photos are imported into iPhoto, their location data will be included as well in the Places database. As your library of photos grows, maps of your photos can be displayed by using the Places window, and the great thing about it is that you can see which photos were taken at a certain place.

A neat feature of iPhoto is the slideshow editor that takes advantage of Apple's Core Animation technology and includes a lot of themes such as Vintage Prints and Places, a GPS-friendly theme. Make sure you use it, as some very nice smooth-looking effects can be achieved. As for the social side of iPhoto, the support for Facebook is excellent (you can see, for example, your friend’s comments right into iPhoto) and the e-mailing capabilities include e-mail sharing history and support for all the popular mail services.

Cons

The weak points of Apple iPhoto include some minor bugs and an underpowered Effects pane but we should easily overlook these due to the jam-packed advantages that come with the program.

Alternatives

Google’s Picasa is the most popular utility when it comes to iPhoto alternatives. It is offered for free on both Mac and Windows. There also exists a beta version for Linux users.

Conclusion

All in all, Apple iPhoto is a very good photo management tool with excellent out of the box online integration and a full screen mode that offers one of the best photo viewing experiences out there.