iPhoto is a software application made by Apple Inc. exclusively for their Mac OS X operating system. The first version of iPhoto was released in 2002. It is part of the iLife suite of applications and comes bundled with every new Macintosh computer. iPhoto can import, organize, edit, print and share digital photos. It is often compared to Google's Picasa, Adobe's Photoshop Album, Microsoft Expression Media and Windows Photo Gallery. iLife 09, including the next version of iPhoto, was announced date: 2009-01-06.

Description

iPhoto is designed to allow importing from digital cameras, scanners, picture CDs and the Internet. Almost all digital cameras are recognized without additional software, as are many scanners. iPhoto supports most common image file formats.

After photos are imported, they can be optionally titled, labeled, sorted and organized into groups (known as "events"). Individual photos can be edited with basic image manipulation tools, such as a red-eye filter, contrast and brightness adjustments, crop and resize and other basic functions. iPhoto does not, however, provide the comprehensive editing functionality of programs such as GIMP, Apple's Aperture, or Adobe's Photoshop (not to be confused with Photoshop Elements or Album).

The current version of iPhoto, included with iLife '09, features facial recognition and allows for tagging and organizing photos by person. As well, iPhoto will read embedded GPS tags in photos and organize photos by location, represented by a pin on a map (powered by Google Maps). Photos taken using a camera that does not support geotagging can be manually tagged with a location within iPhoto.

Numerous options then exist to share photos. Photo albums can be made into dynamic slideshows, and optionally set to music imported from iTunes. These slideshows can be exported to QuickTime movie files, further edited in iMovie or burned directly to DVD-video discs using iDVD. Both slideshows and static photos can be shared to other Macs on a local network by using the Bonjour "zero-configuration" technology. Or they can be uploaded using simplified web publishing to Apple's MobileMe online service. iPhoto can also sync photo albums to any iPod with a color display. These iPods have an audio/video output that allow photos to be played back, along with music, on any modern television. Additionally, photos can be printed to a local printer, or, in certain markets, be sent over the internet to Kodak for professional printing. iPhoto users can order a range of products, including standard prints, posters and even 100-page hardcover or softcover volumes—again, such services are available only to users in certain markets.

Plugins

• iPhoto2Gallery exports photos to a Gallery web site.
• FlickrExport, iP2F, and Free Flickr iPhoto eXporter Plugin export photos to the Flickr photo sharing web site.
• KeywordAssistant enhances Keyword management.
• Picasa Web Albums Exporter uploads photos to Picasa Web Albums
• Facebook Exporter for iPhoto uploads photos to Facebook
• CopperExport exports photos to a Coppermine web site.
• SmugMug uploader exports pictures from iPhoto to a Smugmug account.
• GalleryExport for iPhoto BETA exports photos to Gallery1 and 2 installations.
• UberUpload for iPhoto exports photos to an FTP or SFTP server.
• iPhoto to Picasa Web Albums is a third-party plug-in for exporting files to Google's Picasa Web Albums, incorporating more functionality than Google's iPhoto plug-in (custom export options, support for geotags, etc.).
• iPhoto to Archive bundles photos into several popular archiving formats including .zip and disk image.
• dotPhoto Exporter for iPhoto exports photos to dotPhoto photo sharing web site.
• Keyword Manager is a very powerful keyword manager.
• iPhotoToGoogleEarth exports KMZ files for displaying geocoded photos in Google Earth.