How to organize your photo album in Iphoto

If you take photos of certain subjects, such as wildflowers, or in particular categories, such as street scenes, you can create albums for those interests.

Albums can also be used as temporary collecting areas, when you’re thinking about printing certain photos, or you’re creating a slideshow or a project such as a book. An album allows you to see all the photos you’re considering in one place.

You can add photos to your albums and rearrange the photos in any order you want.

The original photos remain in your Events, and can be used in as many other albums, slideshows, or projects (such as books and cards) as you want.

Create an album to group photos based on a subject of interest

1. Click to select Events or Photos at the top of the Source list (along the left side of the iPhoto window).
   
   In Events, your photos are grouped by the date and time they were taken. In Photos, thumbnails of all your photos are shown.
2. Select one or more photos that you want to include in your album.
   To select a single photo, click it. To select more than one photo, drag to enclose adjacent photos or hold down the Command key as you click photos that are not next to one another.
3. Click the Create button in the toolbar (A, shown below), and then choose Album from the pop-up menu that appears (B, below).
   
   The album appears in your Source list below Albums.
   
4. Click the placeholder title (shown above) and type a name for your album.

Add photos to an album

1. Click to select Events or Photos at the top of the Source list (along the left side of the iPhoto window, shown below).
   In Events, your photos are grouped by the date and time they were taken. In Photos, your photos are shown without Event groupings.
   
2. Select one or more photos that you want to add to your album.
   To select a single photo, click it. To select more than one photo, drag to enclose adjacent photos or hold down the Command key as you click photos that are not next to one another.
3. Do one of the following:
   • Drag the photo or photos to the album title in the Source list.
   • Click the Add To button in the toolbar, choose Album from the pop-up menu, and then click the album you want to add the photos to.
     

Rearrange photos in an album

1. Click to select an album in the Source list (along the left side of the iPhoto window).
   
   The photos in the album appear in the main viewing window.
2. Select a photo and drag it into a different position in the album. Repeat for other photos until all the photos are in the order you want.

You can also create a Smart Album. As you import new photos in iPhoto, Smart Albums automatically gather photos based on criteria you specify.

For more ways to view and organize your photos, click the Browse Help button above and see the topics in “View and organize photos.”