Rating: 

The first part of this book goes outside the iPhoto application itself and presents the basics of digital photography with brief discussions of camera selection, terminology and image capture techniques (in roughly 60 pages). Nice for a digital photography newbie, but fluff for those who already own any one of a multitude of books on digital camera photography.

Parts 2 and 3 cover the majority of iPhoto’s features in enough depth and detail to represent the missing manual moniker perfectly. This is great for relative newcomers to iPhoto, but some chapters will seem like a re-hash of the basics to an iPhoto veteran. Part 3’s chapters cover the sweet spot of iPhoto 6’s new features and their integration within the iLife ’06 suite of products. It also makes a compelling case for purchase of iLife ’06 if you don’t already have it.

Some of the most valuable information for the beginner and experienced user alike, can be found in the sidebar topics that cover gotcha’s, FAQ’s and power user tips. These are sprinkled throughout the book, and keep the reader’s interest.

Part 4 covers more advanced topics like using iPhoto to generate desktop backgrounds correctly, automation & scripting, and file management. I was hoping for much more depth on creative ways of using Automator and AppleScript with iPhoto 6, but then again this isn’t a book on AppleScript or Automator.

The last chapter on iPhoto file management skips talking about one of the biggest mistakes that many iPhoto users make. That is; mucking around with the iPhoto library files by renaming, relocating, and deleting files and folders directly in the Finder. Thus breaking the iPhoto database. From a troubleshooter’s standpoint, I’d like to see the authors advise readers to resist the temptation to do this. It’d make a nice sidebar to their core discussion of managing iPhoto libraries and archiving. The appendix covers techniques to recover and/or rebuild the iPhoto database once broken and misbehaving.

This book is a great reference to have at your side when working in iPhoto, especially when using it as part of an iLife ’06 workflow. Highly recommended!