Erase photos on your camera after importing

If you want to erase your photos from your camera after you’ve imported them, select the “Erase camera contents after transfer” checkbox before importing your photos. If you don’t select this checkbox, all of your photos will remain on your camera. You can always delete them later by using your camera’s delete feature.

If you don’t want to import the same photo twice

If you have a photo on your camera that you’ve imported previously, iPhoto will ask you if you want to import the “duplicate” photo. Click No if you don’t want to reimport the photo. If you don’t want to import any duplicate photos, or want to import all duplicates, select the “Applies to all duplicates” checkbox in the Duplicate Photo window.

Importing with a memory card reader

Memory card readers are a great way to import your photos without having to connect your camera to your computer. Before removing your memory card from your camera or memory card reader, make sure it’s not processing images, or you may lose information on the card. The best way to do this is to click the eject icon next to the Card Reader in the iPhoto Source list. You can also drag the memory card icon to the Trash or eject it in the Finder.

Using your iPod to store and import photos

With the Belkin Media Card reader or Belkin Digital Camera Link you can store thousands of photos on your iPod, and keep your camera ready for more shots. Each time you run out of room on your camera, move your shots onto your iPod. Later, when you get home and connect your iPod to your Mac, you can import the photos into iPhoto.

Using photos from your hard disk or a Photo CD

If you already have photos stored on your computer, you can easily add them to iPhoto. You can drag a folder from your computer containing photos into iPhoto. A film roll is created using the folder’s name. If the folder of photos contains subfolders, film rolls are created with each subfolder’s name. Another way to get photos into iPhoto, is from a CD. How? One way is to have your photos put onto a CD when you have your film developed or order reprints from negatives. When your photos are returned to you on a CD, you can insert the CD into your Mac, and then easily import your photos into iPhoto.

Using images from the Internet

Do your friends or family members post photos on websites? As long as the owner of the website gives you permission to copy the photo, iPhoto makes it easy to add it to your photo library. To use a picture from a web page in iPhoto, drag the picture out of your web browser onto your desktop, and then drag the picture into iPhoto. You can even do this with pictures that others send you in email messages.

Importing video clips from your digital camera

If your digital video camera supports taking movies, iPhoto will import them along with your pictures. When you double click a movie in iPhoto, it will open up in QuickTime player. You can also add these movies into your iMovie projects by dragging your movies from the iPhoto window to iMovie.

Scanning your existing print photos

There are two types of scanners: flatbed and photo. Flatbed scanners work like copy machines. They usually produce higher-quality images than photo scanners, and can scan odd-size photos or documents. Some even let you scan slides and negatives. With photo scanners, you simply insert your photo into the feeder. They’re easier to use and are usually much less expensive than flatbed scanners. But photo scanners accept only standard-size prints.