Sharing Photos and Movies Through iPhoto and MobileMe

Sharing Photos and Movies Through iPhoto and MobileMe
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How Its Done

Want to share photos and movies from your iPhoto library? One way is to use a MobileMe account and your MobileMe gallery.

First you’ll need a MobileMe account. This is $99 from Apple, or if you look around the internet you’ll find it cheaper. I recently purchased a MobileMe retail package for $65 from an Amazon.com vendor.

Once your MobileMe account is set up you’re ready to go. The process is very similar to the process of sharing movies in iMovie that I outline in my article “Uploading Movies to MobileMe from iMovie.”

First, you need to select the movies and/or photos you want to share. You can do this by clicking an entire event or by opening an event and selecting specific items by holding the command key.

Second, go to the “Share” menu and choose “MobileMe.” (figure 1)

Like in iMovie a window with options will come down. (figure 2) Your first option allows you to set a password for the gallery. If you choose viewable by “Everyone” no password will be applied. However, if you want a password the drop down menu allows you to make a username and password. If you have created a username/password combination in the past that username will be in the list for you to choose again. If you use a password/username, a window will drop when the website asking for the username and password.

Next you decide how, if at all, you want to share your gallery. Do you want the movie or photos to be downloadable? If so check this option. Do you want others to be able to add to the gallery? If so check the next two options. The first allows uploading through the webpage. The second provides a unique email address on the screen of the gallery. People can email content to that address and the items will be added automatically to your gallery. Be careful with these options, especially if your gallery is open to the public. You can choose to hide the email address and only give it out to people you want uploading, as a safety precaution. This option becomes checkable when you check the email option.

Finally, click “Publish” and your items will be sent to a gallery. When uploading completes, a window will drop down telling you the gallery is ready. It will also present you with the option of viewing gallery, or “Tell a friend.” Telling a friend will compose an email with the website for the gallery, a little form letter, and the username/password combo if you have one. The email is editable, so you don’t have to go with the standard wording.

If you click the “Advanced” button you get two more options. (figure 3) The first allows for more privacy by hiding the new gallery on your MobileMe gallery homepage. With this option selected only those with the website address will be able to access the site.

The third option allows you to set the quality of downloads, if you allow downloads on the page.

That is all there is to it. It isn’t to hard to start sharing you iPhoto library with the world if you have a MobileMe account.

Images

Figure 2

Figure 3