How Your Mac Can Do 9 Things iPhoto Won’t Do
Who among the growing ranks of Mac users does not collect their photos in iPhoto? Yes, a few of the pros will use Apple’s Aperture, or Adobe’s Lightroom, but the rest of us trudge along with iPhoto, which does the job except for one thing. Really cool effects.
Here’s my updated list of the nifty things your Mac can do with photos that iPhoto won’t. It’s not that iPhoto isn’t good for a touch up here and there, and an effect or two, but free brings with it some limitations.
An interesting change has taken place in.... (excerpted).
9 Reader Comments
Geddy said:
Well, I stand corrected.
I was looking for an out and out iPhoto alternative and came to this website. In my frustration at the total lack of choices (I’m stuck with iPhoto for the foreseeable future) I guess I read in the ‘alternative’ part.
Editor’s Note (Ron): Geddy, not to worry. As a non-pro with a leaning well beyond the amateur, I have a similar problem. iPhoto is decent for holding my photos but woefully lacking in the enhancement arena. Some of the posters are right on the money, though. Photoshop is a gargantuan and expensive beast; difficult to learn and use. I have Aperture, which manages photo workflow quite well, but the photo enhancement capability is lacking, too. Ditto for Adobe’s Lightroom. For now, I keep photos in iPhoto but use other utilities to provide the effects and filters I want. There may be no other way.
FWIW department: I’ve tried Kodak’s EasyShare, but it’s more anemic than iPhoto. What else is there? Photoshop Elements? Flickr or Picasa just seem to be a place to store photos online, and don’t do much else.
It’s a jungle out there. But, when it comes to photos, there’s no Lion King.
Jason Ng said:
Pixelmator is for professionals without money!! It’s really like a mini-Photoshop at a fraction of the cost. But it’s still like Photoshop.
The others are nice enhancements to iPhoto but none are anywhere as valuable as FunstasticPhotos. It’s great!!
Funmeister said:
I second the emotion about Funtastic Photos. What a great Mac utility. Loaded with features, affordable, absolutely the easiest “non-amateur” photo utility around.
Candace said:
I love iPhoto but I have “graduated” beyond iPhoto’s photo enhancement tools. They’re basic, good for the average Mac iLife user, but FuntasticPhotos is a great way to add high quality features that iPhoto simply does not.
BTW - I tried Pixelmator and it looks really good but it also requires talent, training, experience. I like point and click.
Davey M. said:
Geez, dude. Did you even read the article?
“Pixelmator is an alternative to iPhoto??”
Where did you come up with that grand conclusion? This seems to be a list of Mac utilities which do things better than iPhoto, not as alternatives to iPhoto.
iPhoto’s singular purpose is to organize but it has other features built in. It shares. It exports. And, it enhances. The latter it does not do too well, hence the others do what iPhoto can’t do. Another thing iPhoto can’t do is provide improved reading comprehension.
pixel pete said:
Geddy, you just totally missed the point. None of those apps are “alternatives” to iPhoto. They merely do what iPhoto does not do well, and it’s a good list. You’re right that iPhoto is a repository, but those other apps all do what iPhoto DOES NOT do. Duh.
Geddy said:
I’m really trying to like Mac360 but with articles like this one it’s hard. Pixelmator is an alternative to iPhoto??
The PRIMARY function of iPhoto is that of a central image repository. It will initially duplicate images already on your drive but from then on you plug in your camera and click import.
That’s it.
Yes, it’s quirky and has plenty of flaws but it’s for consumers, not pros. Apple makes that clear.
None of the apps listed here match iPhoto’s main function, and while they can do this or that they singularly fail to accomplish what Apple designed iPhoto to do: Organize.
The closest functioning app is Picasa and it is absolutely NOT ready for prime time.
All of this goes to show that what Apple achieved with iPhoto is made a complex process simple, and if it were soooo easy to make a good photo organizer there would be tons of good alternatives out there. But there are not.
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Kate Mac said:
I gotta agree with blondie, Funtastic Photos is far more than meets the eye and is a nice add on to do so many things that iPhoto does not.