If you own a digital camera (or a mobile phone with a digital camera), you probably already have dozens of digital photographs scattered all over your computer.
To get photographs into your iPad, you'll need to synchronize them using iTunes (see Chapter 16) or buy Apple's optional camera connection kit, which lets you plug a digital camera into an iPad through a USB port or through a Secure Digital (SD) card. No matter how you get your pictures onto your iPad (or even if you just take photos with the iPad itself), you'll be able to view and use them in different ways.
Remember, you aren't limited to storing just digital photographs in your iPad. You can store any type of graphic image that's in the JPEG, TIF, PNG, or GIF file format. That means you can store artwork that someone has created using a program such as Photoshop or Corel Painter, or engineering drawings created by a computer-aided design (CAD) program.
In this chapter you will learn how to view pictures (digital photographs, graphic images, and so on) on your iPad.
To view and share pictures on your iPad, you need to use the following:
The Photos app provides several ways to view your pictures:
Photos Lists every picture individually
Albums Groups pictures into categories
Events Groups pictures based on the date they were captured
Faces Organizes pictures based on the people in them
Places Organizes pictures based on where they were taken
Note
To take advantage of the Faces feature covered in this chapter, you'll need to use iPhoto or Aperture (on a Mac) to tag pictures with each person's face. If you're using a Windows computer, you won't be able to use the Faces feature. Most digital cameras capture the date a picture was taken (Events) and some of the newest ones can even identify the location where a picture was taken (Places). If none of your pictures are tagged with Faces, Events, or Places, you won't see those tabs in the Photos screen.
To see all the different ways of viewing your pictures, make sure you have loaded some pictures onto your iPad, and then follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap the Photos tab at the top of the screen. Thumbnail images of all your pictures appear, as shown in Figure 22-1.
Tap any picture. Your chosen picture expands to fill the screen.
Tap the screen to display controls at the top and bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 22-2. (After a few seconds, these controls automatically disappear.) Notice the thumbnail images of pictures that appear at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the screen to display the controls, and tap the button in the upper-left corner of the screen to return to the Photos screen.
Tap the Albums tab at the top of the screen. Thumbnail images of your photo albums appear.
Tap any thumbnail. All the pictures stored in your album appear on the screen. You may need to scroll up and down to see them all.
Tap Albums at the upper-left corner of the screen to return to the Photos screen.
Tap the Events tab at the top of the screen. Thumbnail images of all different dates appear, showing pictures taken on each date, as shown in Figure 22-3.
Tap any event. All the pictures stored in your album appear on the screen. You may need to scroll up and down to see them all.
Tap Events at the upper-left corner of the screen to return to the Photos screen.
Tap the Faces tab at the top of the screen. Thumbnail images of all your defined faces (using iPhoto or Aperture) appear.
Tap any face. All the pictures that contain that person's face appear on the screen. You may need to scroll up and down to see them all.
Tap Faces at the upper-left corner of the screen to return to the Photos screen.
Tap the Places tab at the top of the screen. A map with red pins appears, showing the locations where you captured pictures, as shown in Figure 22-4.
Tap a pin to view photos taken at that location.
Being able to find and view all the different ways your iPad has organized your pictures is the first step to looking at them, but once you've chosen a particular way to find a picture (Photos, Albums, Events, Faces, or Places), you need to learn how to navigate your way through multiple pictures. To view your pictures, you can choose the following commands:
Tap Selects a picture from a group of thumbnail images of multiple pictures
Swipe Displays the next or previous picture in a group
Slide Lets you scroll through multiple images quickly
To see how these three ways of navigating through groups of pictures work, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap the Photos tab at the top of the screen. Thumbnail images of all your pictures appear (shown earlier in Figure 22-1).
Tap a picture to view it. Your chosen picture appears on the screen.
Swipe your finger left or right to see the next or previous picture.
Tap the screen to make thumbnail images of all the pictures appear at the bottom of the screen, as shown earlier in Figure 22-2.
Tap and hold any thumbnail image and slide your finger left or right to quickly scroll through your pictures.
Lift your finger off the screen when you've found a picture you want to view.
Viewing pictures by yourself can be fun, but it may be more enjoyable to show your pictures to others. With your iPad, you can create a slideshow to display pictures one at a time, with various transitions between each picture or even background music.
You can create a slideshow in two ways. First, you can create a slideshow within the Photos app. This can be handy for showing off your latest vacation pictures or pictures of your child's birthday party.
A second way to create a slideshow is to turn your iPad into an electronic picture frame, which can display pictures when you're not using your iPad, such as when you've put your iPad in a recharging dock.
Creating a slideshow within the Photo app can be handy for impromptu presentations. To create a slideshow, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap a tab at the top of the screen, such as Photos or Albums. If you choose the Photos tab, thumbnail images of all your pictures appear (shown earlier in Figure 22-1). Otherwise, different groups of your pictures appear, which you'll need to tap to display all the pictures stored inside.
Tap Slideshow in the upper-right corner of the screen. A Slideshow Options window appears, as shown in Figure 22-5.
(Optional) Tap the Play Music on/off switch. If you turned the switch to read ON, tap the Music button to choose from a list of the songs you have stored in the Music app.
Tap Transitions and then tap a transition, such as Cube or Ripple.
Tap Start Slideshow. Your slideshow starts playing using all the pictures stored in the group you selected earlier. The slideshow automatically ends after it has displayed all of your pictures or when you tap the screen.
Apple sells an optional recharging dock where you can prop up your iPad in a base that holds it upright. If you have this optional dock or if you just like the idea of propping your iPad up while it's plugged in, you can turn your iPad into an electronic picture frame and display pictures stored in the Photos app.
To turn your iPad into an electronic picture frame, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap Picture Frame. The Picture Frame screen appears, as shown in Figure 22-6.
Tap a transition in the Transition category, such as Dissolve or Origami.
Tap the Zoom in on Faces on/off switch.
Tap the Shuffle on/off switch.
Tap All Photos, Albums, Faces, or Events. If you choose Albums, Faces, or Events, an additional list of items appears at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 22-7. (You may need to scroll down to see all the listed items.)
If you chose Albums, Faces, or Events in the previous step, tap one or more listed items to check (or uncheck) which groups of photos you want to display as part of your electronic picture frame.
Press the Sleep/Wake button at the top of your iPad to put it to sleep.
Press the Sleep/Wake button at the top of your iPad to wake it up. The Picture Frame icon appears at the bottom-right corner of the screen, as shown in Figure 22-8.
Tap the Picture Frame icon. Your picture frame settings now display a slideshow of your chosen pictures.
Tap the screen to pause your picture frame slideshow. The slider and Picture Frame icon appear again.
Tap the Picture Frame icon again to turn off the picture frame slideshow.
Before you can send a picture by email, you need to set up an email account and make sure your iPad has an Internet connection. After you have set up an email account, you can email single pictures or send a whole group of photos.
To send a single picture by email, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap one of the tabs at the top of the screen (Photos, Albums, Events, Faces, or Places). If you tap Photos, you'll see thumbnail images of all your pictures. If you choose any of the other options, you'll need to choose an album, event, face, or place to view thumbnail images of your pictures.
Tap a picture that you want to send. Your chosen picture fills the screen.
Tap the screen to display controls at the top and bottom of the screen. Then tap the Action icon that appears in the upper-right corner of the screen. A menu appears, as shown in Figure 22-9.
Tap Email Photo. (You can also tap Message or Tweet to send your picture as a text message or a Twitter tweet.) An email message appears with the virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 22-10. Your chosen photo is included as an attachment.
Tap the To text field, and type an email address to receive your photo. (If you tap the plus sign icon to the far right of the To text field, a Contacts window appears, letting you choose a name of someone whose email address you have already stored in the Contacts app.)
(Optional) Tap the Subject and Message text fields to type a subject and any text you want to send along with your photo.
Tap Send to send your email message with your chosen photo.
If you want to send someone two or more pictures as an email, it's easier to send a group of pictures as a file attachment by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap one of the tabs at the top of the screen (Photos, Albums, Events, Faces, or Places). If you tap Photos, you'll see thumbnail images of all your pictures. If you choose any of the other options, you'll need to choose an album, event, face, or place to view thumbnail images of your pictures.
Tap the Action icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Share and Copy buttons appear in the upper-left corner of the screen. (If you tapped the Photos tab, you'll also see a red Delete button next to the Copy button.)
Tap one or more pictures that you want to send by email. Each time you select a picture, a checkmark appears to let you know which pictures you've already selected, as shown in Figure 22-11.
Tap Share in the upper-left corner of the screen. Choose Email and a new message appears with your photo attached (see Figure 2-10)
Note
Instead of tapping the Share button, you can tap the Copy button to copy a picture, which you can later paste into another app, such as Pages or Keynote. You can also tap the Print button to print your selected photos if you have a wireless printer that works with your iPad.
When you start storing names and other personal information about people in the Contacts app, you might also want to store a picture of that person (or a picture that best represents that person) in the Contacts app.
To assign a picture to a name in the Contacts app, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap one of the tabs at the top of the screen (Photos, Albums, Events, Faces, or Places). If you tap Photos, you'll see thumbnail images of all your pictures. If you choose any of the other options, you'll need to choose an album, event, face, or place to view thumbnail images of your pictures.
Tap a picture. Your chosen picture fills the screen.
Tap the screen to display the Action icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Tap the Action icon. A menu appears (shown earlier in Figure 22-9).
Tap Assign to Contact. The All Contacts window appears, as shown in Figure 22-12.
Tap a name. The Choose Photo window appears, as shown in Figure 22-13.
Move or resize your picture. When you're happy with the size and position of the picture, tap Use. Now if you open the Contacts app and choose this person's name, you'll see your chosen picture.
You can also view the videos you take with the iPad's camera in the Photos app. Just select the video you want to see, press the big play button, and you can relive the magic. To view a video, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Photos. The Photos screen appears.
Tap the Photos tab at the top of the screen. Thumbnail images of all your pictures and videos appear.
Tap the video you want to view. Your chosen video fills the screen.
Tap the screen once so that the controls are visible, as shown in Figure 22-14.
Tap the Play button to view your video, or tap anywhere in the Preview pane to jump to a specific frame in your video.
(Optional) To trim down a longer video, tap and hold either end of the Preview Pane. It turns yellow to indicate that you can now trim your video.
Drag the ends of the box to your desired start and end points, as shown in Figure 22-15.
Tap Play to preview your new, slightly shorter clip. When you're satisfied, tap Trim.
With so many different types of pictures that you can store on your iPad—from digital photographs to artwork created or modified with programs such as Photoshop or Corel Painter—you can use your iPad as a portable picture frame or a storage device before sending your pictures to others by email.
Taking, viewing, organizing, and sharing pictures may not be the only reason you got an iPad, but it's one of many ways you can make your iPad more useful.