# iPhoto 08 blurry photos!



## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

Since i've upgraded to iPhoto08 I noticed that all my pictures sudden have turned blurry! Anyone have any idea how to fix this??? I also moved from a 17" to a 20" iMac at the same time I moved to 08... errr not liking this new version at all!


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

The first thing that comes to mind is that your resolution may be off. LCDs produce really blurry and ugly images if left at "non-native" resolutions. Go into your system prefs and make sure you are at the max resolution your monitor can handle.

Also note that the image often loads blurry (just an effect to make the system appear responsive) then becomes clear after a few seconds (depending on the system speed, image resolution, format, etc). And of course, it's entirely possible that it's just because you're zooming in too much to a low resolution picture.

Saying something is "blurry" is a little vague and subjective, so it may not be either issue, but without seeing it myself, it's hard to offer advice.


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

Never noticed that myself at all. Are they blurry when you view the photo full screen or just in the browser? What if you change the photo size in the browser?


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

iPhoto does a quick render for the screen before loading the whole image in the library. this is probably a dumb question but that isn't the sitution, is it?


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

here a screen shot of what it looks like within iPhoto (not full screen mode) ... this shoot was crystal clear when using iPhoto 06


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## irontree (Oct 28, 2006)

so what's the resloution of the pic? I know it blows up smaller pics and can make them look blurry and or pixelated.


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

Any chance you imported the thumbnails (that now appear as actual full-size shots) when you upgraded?


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

*two suggestions*

I'm still on iPhoto 6 but two things that might help. Check the preferences menu to see if they added a Thumbnail resolution preference. I can't tell by the photo if you have the slider cranked up all the way to largest. Or is there some other way you are making your photos appear one per window like that? 

The other thing would be try rebuilding your thumbnail cache by launching iPhoto holding the command and option keys.

edit: the above was posted while I was replying... it's a good suggestion, it's actually something I accidently did when I upgraded to leopard. Click on the get info button and check the size of the image to see if that's what you did.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

have you tried moving the slider back to the left to make the preview smaller?
not saying it's a fix, but maybe to see what's going on..


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

darkscot said:


> Any chance you imported the thumbnails (that now appear as actual full-size shots) when you upgraded?


This is the answer I think... Why would iPhoto create separate events for my thumbnails though??? arrrrrrrrrr I really miss iPhoto06... How do get rid of all these thumbnails without having to go through one by one?

Also I have all my pics backed up is there a way I can wipe the photo library clear and start over without importing all the thumbnails???


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

DDKD726 said:


> This is the answer I think... Why would iPhoto create separate events for my thumbnails though??? arrrrrrrrrr I really miss iPhoto06... How do get rid of all these thumbnails without having to go through one by one?
> 
> Also I have all my pics backed up is there a way I can wipe the photo library clear and start over without importing all the thumbnails???


Do you still have original iPhoto folder at your disposal? Just reimport the folder iPhoto Library>originals.


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

that should work, what cap10subtext wrote. also import the Modified folder (any red-eye reductions and other mods would be here). But you will have duplicates from doing so. 

Thumbnails are in the Data folder.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

One of the reasons I detest iPhoto.

Try GraphicConverter - get control back....litter less  ( no thumbnails as separate files )


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

MacDoc said:


> One of the reasons I detest iPhoto.
> 
> Try GraphicConverter - get control back....litter less  ( no thumbnails as separate files )


Yeah, the guys at Apple have fallen asleep at the wheel on this one. It should be this simple: Import from previous iPhoto Library folder, locate the folder labeled "iphoto library" and rebuild the library just as it was, no duplicates and no thumbnails of thumbnails. Why it isn't that simple is beyond me.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Yeah, mindless bashing of things I don't understand well is FUN! My inability to grok "Events" is APPLE'S fault! They shouldn't ever change things! It disrupts my preconceived notions! GRRRR!

Buncha grumpy old men, you lot sound. IMHO, of course.


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

It's not the change that bothers me, it's more that there seems to be less ease of use for the idiot consumer (yours truly)in this new version of iPhoto. One of the things I love the most about my Mac is that it just works. That is until I moved my photo library into iPhoto 08...

now all my albums from iPhoto 06 are gone and my photos are grouped by events - by date, the dates are not always correct and now I have pics from 1 and 2 years ago in with some shots I took last week. I have over 12,000 photos do they expect me to go through every one of them and change the date and event? I'm sorry, but I have to think that something was overlooked here, both on my part and on Apple's part... maybe it's my camera's fault for not having the correct date when I took the shots, I dunno! I just don't see the benefit of the whole "events" thing...


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

Chas_m: that contributed absolutely nothing to the topic. Care to try again?


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

DDKD726 said:


> It's not the change that bothers me, it's more that there seems to be less ease of use for the idiot consumer (yours truly)in this new version of iPhoto. One of the things I love the most about my Mac is that it just works. That is until I moved my photo library into iPhoto 08...


I think the last part of that sentence is where the problem actually lies ... YOU moved your photo library into iPhoto 08 instead of letting it upgrade the 06 library by itself.



> now all my albums from iPhoto 06 are gone and my photos are grouped by events


See above. In a normal upgrade, your albums would have been just as they were before, and viewable via the "Photos" view. If you don't like/want to use "Events" just ignore it -- the "Photos" view is always available.




> I have over 12,000 photos do they expect me to go through every one of them and change the date and event?


Do you actually believe that this is the way it worked for everyone else? Seriously?

Or IS IT JUST POSSIBLE that most people DID NOT EXPERIENCE THIS AT ALL and therefore the cause of your problem is SOMETHING YOU DID? Hmmm, I wonder ...



> maybe it's my camera's fault for not having the correct date when I took the shots


Wow, given that iPhoto organizes things based on date, YA THINK?? 

(I too had a camera that had a dead internal battery that I couldn't figure out how to replace, so for a year my cam had the wrong dates on it as well, but iPhoto has a simple "batch change" feature to correct this problem as you probably know)



> I dunno! I just don't see the benefit of the whole "events" thing...


As Steve said when he introduced it, most people TEND to take a lot of photos of particular events, and "Events" automatically groups them together (by date usually, though this can be overridden manually of course). It's main benefit, however, is that the Event is now represented by ONE photo (you can choose which one) that "represents" the others. This has the effect of cutting 12,000 photos down to let's say 100 "events." Believe me, 100 items is a LOT faster to search through than 12,000 photos!

Sorry if I seem harsh, I'm just tired of people blaming (insert Apple product here) when the slightest amount of quizzing routinely (almost invariably) reveals that in fact it was the USER doing something _specifically cautioned against_ that was the actual problem. Apple doesn't idiot-proof their products because their users AREN'T IDIOTS, but a little common sense and open-mindedness to how the program is intended to work goes a loooooong way.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

_Big Brother does not approve of one's taking control of one's computer...conform to the masses._ ( cue doom drum )










I've detested iPhoto's my way or the highway approach since day one and it just gets worse.

Maybe embedding iTunes has some merit but photos!!??.....


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

chas_m said:


> I think the last part of that sentence is where the problem actually lies ... YOU moved your photo library into iPhoto 08 instead of letting it upgrade the 06 library by itself.
> 
> See above. In a normal upgrade, your albums would have been just as they were before, and viewable via the "Photos" view. If you don't like/want to use "Events" just ignore it -- the "Photos" view is always available.
> 
> ...


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## ShotNiCam (May 23, 2007)

DDKD726 said:


> I don't recall seeing an option to let iphoto update itself... obviously if I saw that option I would have picked it. But once I installed 08 I opened iphoto and nothing, no photos. So natural I assumed (being the self proclamed idiot that i am) that I needed to import the pics myself from the library...
> 
> Anyways how about a solution now? What is the best way to correct this? Should I wipe my library clear and reinstall iphoto with the hope that it will upgrade it self this time???



I didn't get the option to update iPhoto when I installed it either. However, when I launched the new iPhoto 08, I held down the OPTION key. I was then presented with the option to QUIT, CREATE NEW LIBRARY, or CHOOSE LIBRARY. I chose the old iPhoto 06 library and then iPhoto proceeded to convert it so that iPhoto 08 would understand.

If you still have a copy of the old iPhoto 06 Library then you could try choosing it with the OPTION key pressed down while launching iPhoto 08.

I have over 25,000 photos in my library. I happen to like the new iPhoto 08 and the way it handles events. Oh well, I guess that's just me. :baby:


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

ShotNiCam: THANKS! That's awesome.


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

thanks for the tip ShotNiCam, i'll give that a try tonight!


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## ShotNiCam (May 23, 2007)

DDKD726 said:


> thanks for the tip ShotNiCam, i'll give that a try tonight!



Come to think of it, I'm not sure if that will solve your problem or not. I just remember that that was how I updated my library. I don't remember if it imported the thumbnails from the old library as actual photos or not. Even if it did, it wasn't painful for me to manually delete them.

Let us know how your update went..


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

DDKD726 said:


> thanks for the tip ShotNiCam, i'll give that a try tonight!


Before you do that, delete the 'bad' library and the iPhoto preferences file(s?) so that when iPhoto8 starts up it will 'think' it is a new install. If you don't clean out the bad stuff first 1) the process may not work at all, or 2) for even more fun, you may end up with a lot of duplication and then you'll have the problem of sorting out all the sheep from the goats, so to speak (not that I'm suggesting that you are into, uh, 'animal husbandry'  ).


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

1. I should have clarified that iPhoto 08 will automatically update the 06 library *if it's where it should be.* That may be the root cause of your problem.

2. ShotNiCam has the solution for you in his post above. High-five, snc.


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

Thanks again for your helpful suggestions. ShotNiCam's solution worked perfectly! And my hate for iPhoto 08 is dwindling...


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Cool beans.

(I don't think anyone says "cool beans" anymore. Except me, apparently.)


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