How to scan photos / images by using iPhoto on a Mac

IPhoto is part of the Apple suite called iLife, a combination of programs like Garageband, iMovie and of course iPhoto. iLife is a free part of every new Mac you buy. Although iPhoto has many great features to stock and edit your complete photo-library, scanning directly into iPhoto is not one of them. But there are workarounds for that!

Before we move on, you must check if your scanner is properly installed. You can do this by opening Image Capture (in your Applications folder). If your scanner appears in the left column, everything is ok. If not, you must (re)install the driver that is specifically for your scanner.

Scan as you are used to, and import the file into iPhoto

• Place the photo you want to scan face down on the glass in the scanner, and scan your picture as you normally do. For details about this you may consult the manual of the scanner.
• Check if the scan is performed as intended. Check file details, dimensions and the suitable DPI. If not, than simply rescan with the new settings.
• When you are prompted to save, save the scan in a folder on your desktop.
• Open iPhoto from your dock or from your Applications-folder
• You can now click in the iPhoto menu File and Import to Library, select the image(s) you want to import in iPhoto and click ‘import’.

• Another way is to drag and drop the files onto the iPhoto window.
• You can find your pictures in iPhoto when you click in the left column of iPhoto on the album ‘last import’

Use Image Capture to scan images directly into iPhoto

• Open the program ‘Image Capture’ from your dock or from the Applications folder.
• In the screen, select ‘iPhoto’ from the ‘Scan To’ menu on the bottom side and verify if your scanner appears in the left column.

• Place the photo you want to scan face down on the glass in the scanner.
• Optional: If you want to adjust the settings like DPI, size and Format, you can hit the button ‘Show Details’. The scanner will show you a preview and you can adjust the settings as you wish.

• Hit the button ‘Scan’
• After the scanner is finished, the image is automatically imported in iPhoto.
• You can find your picture(s) by clicking on the album ‘last import’. (Left column in iPhoto)

After your pictures are imported in iPhoto, you can make advantage of the nice tools like the slideshow-tool. This will display the selected images as soon as you hit the ‘play’ button. You can adjust the settings for display time, transitions and (background) music from iTunes.

The iPhoto editing tools are also great to enhance your images. You can resize, rotate and crop the photo. Other features are red eye-reduction, aligning the horizontal position and improve the color-balance of the picture.

Just try and experiment with all the awesome iPhoto tools. Don’t be afraid, because you can always return to the original image!