Article:		Top Ten iPhoto Tips
Subject:		Tip 9 - necessary?
Date:		2002-07-12 07:30:08
From:		mkinzie
If you can always revert back to the original photo, why do you need to duplicate it before editing? Is the revert function limited in some way (only works until you exit the program or something?)

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

• Tip 9 - necessary? - No, but a good idea.
  2002-07-12 08:56:47  ethanbrand [View]
  
  
  Is it necessary? No. A good idea? Yes. Everytime I'm going to edit a picture that changes the nature of the original, I duplicate. In iPhoto, such changes would include cropping, b&w, brightness, & contrast. I do this because often times I need to use both the unedited version and the edited version independently. With cropping, it's not unusual for me to have multiple duplicates. If you use a tool like PixelNhance, which can edit & save pics in the library by dragging them from iPhoto, it's also a good idea to keep a copy of the original. The only time I don't duplicate is for red-eye correction.
• Tip 9 - necessary? - No, but a good idea.
  2002-07-12 22:11:58  Derrick Story | [View]
  
  
  I agree with ethanbrand. Here's just one reason why. Let's say that you don't duplicate because you know (hope) that the original will always be there. You spend 5 or 10 minutes making some nice adjustments on the shot, including cropping. You print it and like the results. Then you decide you want to do something else with the picture that requires some of the area you previously cropped away. Now you have to toss away all your adjustments to get back to the original proportions. If it were me, I'd have the original there that I'd duplicate again, allowing me to keep the work I did earlier on the clone. And there are other reasons for duplicating first ...
• Tip 9 - necessary? - No, you gain nothing and waste disk space, slow down iPhoto
  2002-07-26 01:04:43  laird [View]
  
  
  You don't need to make duplicates before editing, because (as others pointed out) iPhoto already does this for you. If you want to go back to the original without losing your edited version, it makes more sense to duplicate the edited image, then restore the original.
  
  If you duplicate all photos that you clean up, you end up with at least one extra copy of the photo, and at 1 MB per image, that adds up. Also, you end up with a really cluttered iPhoto library, making it harder to keep track of things, and slowing the app down.