How Addicted to Photography are You? Let iPhoto Tell You

Posted Monday, August 28, 2006

I'm taking a lot of photos lately. Since falling passionately in love with a Nikon D200 digital SLR back in March, I've taken 4,375 photos. In May, I took 1018 of them. On July 17, I took 122.

How do I know? iPhoto told me so. There are several ways to do very precise photo counts in iPhoto. Conducting a census of your imagery might not be the most fun you can have while sitting at your Mac, but it can be interesting.

Here's how to do it.

The Calendar Pane
The key to photo counts in iPhoto is the Calendar pane, which you can display by clicking the small calendar button in the lower-left corner of the iPhoto window.

The Calendar pane can display an entire year or a specific month.



As this excerpt from my book shows, you can get a photo count for a specific month by simply pointing to that month. (Just point; don't click.) Similarly, if you're viewing a specific month's calendar, you can get a photo count for a given day by pointing to the day.

But there's more. To get a photo count from more than one month, simply drag across the months to select them. As you do, iPhoto displays the number of photos at the bottom of its window. Similarly, to get a photo count from more than one day, drag across a range of days in the Calendar pane.

Want More Calendar Pane Details?
You'll find lots of details about the Calendar pane and other iPhoto browsing techniques in the world's top-selling iLife book, which is still going for just $23.09 on Amazon—34 percent off the cover price. Order now.

Want details right now? Download an excerpt from the iPhoto chapter (300K PDF).

Update on the Redesign
The redesign of this site is coming along. Since updating the look of the home page last week, I've since incorporated the new look into the iTunes and iPhoto pages. I've also revamped those pages to make them more useful: in the leftmost column of each page, you'll find links to the latest iTunes and iPhoto updates as well as constantly updated news on digital music and digital photography. You'll also find a shameless e-commerce column that lets you order goodies from Amazon and, in the process, help put a couple of dog biscuits in Sophie's maw.

I'll be gradually applying the new look to the remaining product pages in the days and weeks to come. And I still have to edit most of my archived postings so that they format correctly (specifically, so that the headings operate as permalinks).

Oh, and all those photos I've been shooting? You'll find my favorites on Flickr—my other serious addiction.

Labels: iphoto, photography