Your photo here Page 2 of 2

Turn your favorite shots into rock posters, night-lights, and more

Secrets of iPhoto’s calendars, cards, and books

If you use Apple’s iPhoto, you can create personalized calendars, books, and cards without leaving the comfort of your photo library. Now the latest version, iPhoto ’08, ups the ante with larger calendars and more options for designing books. Use these tips to get the best results from your next iPhoto project.

Use Vivid Photos Because of the printing process Apple uses for iPhoto print projects, you’ll usually get the best results from photos that have vivid colors and plenty of contrast. If you use a photo with soft, muted tones (for example, a foggy lake at dawn), you may see subtle vertical stripes, or striations, in the printed result—particularly in calendars or full-page photos.

Edit Locally iPhoto ’08 lets you optimize a photo for a particular project without having to change the original version in your photo library. That means you can bump up the sharpness and adjust exposure settings—often a good idea when printing—without affecting how the image looks in Web galleries or slide shows.

While designing a photo project, select an image and click on the Adjust button to access localized editing controls—including options for creating black-and-white or sepia-toned images. I recommend increasing the sharpness to improve the photo’s clarity when printed, and perhaps bumping up the Exposure setting to give the photo a bit more punch (take care not to go too far, lest bright areas of the photo wash out to pure white). To crop a photo that you’ve added to a print project, click on it once and then use the controls that appear above the photo to zoom in and reposition it within the frame.

Think Smart Typographers and designers know the difference between those heinous typewriter quotes (

) and true opening and closing quotes (“ and ”), also known as smart quotes. Alas, iPhoto does not. If you want professional-looking text in your project, you’ll need to type it yourself. To create opening and closing single quotes, press option-right angle bracket (]) and shift-option-right angle bracket, respectively. For opening and closing double quotes, press option-left angle bracket ([) and shift-option-left angle bracket, respectively.

Kill the Marketing Every Apple calendar, book, or card displays an Apple logo and the text “Made on a Mac” somewhere—it’s on the back of a greeting card, for example, and on the inside back cover of a book. If you’d rather not provide the free advertising, click on the Settings button and then deselect the Include Apple Logo option.— Jim Heid