Posted Monday, July 18, 2005

Use this Keyboard Shortcut When Titling Photos in iPhoto (and the Flickr Angle)

Ah, Monday! Are we awake yet? Here's an iPhoto tip that might help open your eyes. It's from my book, and it deals with assigning titles and comments to photos.

You've just imported a set of photos into your iPhoto library, and because you're organized and tidy, you want to assign titles and descriptions to each one, or at least to the best ones. There's a great keyboard shortcut in iPhoto 5 that lets you assign titles and descriptions to one photo after another without having to reach for the mouse.

First, display the Information pane by clicking its button (the little "i") near the lower-left corner of the iPhoto window.

Next, click on the first photo you want to title. Jump down to the Information pane, and type a title—for example, Mendocino Music Festival. Now press Shift-Tab to move immediately to the Comments area of the Information pane, and type your comments.

So far, so obvious. Now here comes the slick keyboard shortcut. To jump to the next photo, there's no need to reach for the mouse. Just press Command-] (that's the right bracket key, just above the Return key). iPhoto selects the next photo in the list, and you're ready to start typing and tabbing again.

To select the previous photo, press Command-[ (left bracket).

So What's the Flickr Angle?
Simply this: if you assign titles and comments in iPhoto, and if you use Fraser Speirs' free Flickr uploading plug-in to upload photos to Flickr, your titles and comments will be transferred to Flickr when you upload. It's the easiest, most efficient way to assign titles and descriptions to your Flickr photos.

The uploader will also turn iPhoto keywords into Flickr tags, making it easier to assign those all-important tags to your Flickr shots.

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Let's spend next Saturday together! Don't forget, Bay Area residents, Saturday July 23 is iDay Afternoon: a four-hour seminar that drills into iLife, Flickr, Photoshop, and much more. Learn more, then sign up!