How to Use Face Recognition in iPhoto '09

With iPhoto '09 you can now organize your photos by who is in them, as well as the arbitrary photo albums you create. Built in to this release of iPhoto is a powerful face recognition software that requires minimal setup to get going. Once you start labeling names in your photos, you'll be able to find photos of your favorite people in no time. Here is how.

Things You'll Need

• Apple Mac Computer running Mac OS 10.5+
• iPhoto '09 (Part of the iLife '09 package)
• Digital Photos

Instructions

1. 

   Launch iPhoto '09 from the Dock or by going to the Applications folder and locating the icon there.

2. Import photos if you don't have any in iPhoto. You can drag and drop photos from your computer or hook up a digital camera.

3. 

   Click on a photograph with a person in it. Shots where you can see a person's whole face are usually best for the initial setup.

4. 

   Click on the "Name" icon on the bottom of the screen.

5. 

   Click on the box that says "Unknown Face."

6. 

   Click on the area with the text "Type Name" and enter in the name of the person in the photograph.

7. 

   Repeat this task a couple times for each person. Two to three identifications of the same person should be enough for iPhoto's Faces to recognize this person. Occasionally, iPhoto will ask if the face it identified is a specific person. You can either accept or reject this identification by clicking the check mark or the "x" respectively.

8. 

   Add a face that iPhoto missed by clicking on the "Add Missing Face" button.

9. 

   Drag the square around the face of the person who hasn't been identified by iPhoto and click "Done."

10. Name the person as you did in Step 5.

11. 

    Click on "Faces" on the left-hand side of the iPhoto '09 window.

12. 

    Double-click one of the people you just identified.

13. 

    Hit the "Confirm Name" button on the bottom of the iPhoto '09 window.

14. 

    Click once on "Click to confirm" on the photos that match the person you selected and double-click on "Click to confirm" on the photos that do not match the person you selected. The more you do this, the more easily iPhoto will automatically recognize the majority of the people in your photos!

Resources

• Photographs used in this eHow Article are by Andrew C.