Skip to Content
Skip to Table of Contents

← Previous Article Next Article →

ATPM 12.04
April 2006

Columns

Segments

How To

Extras

Reviews

Download ATPM 12.04

Choose a format:

How To

by Tom Bridge, tbridge@atpm.com

Making Calendars in iPhoto ’06

One of my favorite new features in the upgraded iLife ’06 is the iPhoto Calendar option. You can now make an elegant calendar based on not just your iPhoto Library, but also your iCal and Address Book. Calendars are one of those ultimate craft items; they’re near universal office tchotchkes, as well as excellent family gifts at birthdays or holidays.

calendars-2
calendars-1

iPhoto guides you through the process of creating the calendar, much the same way it guides you through creating a book. When you select a group of photos to make a calendar, it will ask you when you want the calendar to begin, how many months you wish to have in it, and whether or not you wish to add a list of holidays from a default group. You can also include your iCal calendars. So if you have one set up for family birthdays or memorable dates, or even your school schedule for the next semester, it can be integrated into the process.

calendars-6

Photo selection is a hard process. I would recommend picking out 50 possible photos for use in your calendar, as it’s easier to have more options than too few. Each calendar’s top page has space for many as seven photos, or as few as a single large image. Depending on the theme you choose, the configuration of the photos will be different. Adding a photo to the page is as simple as dragging it from your sidebar into the hot zone on the top. And changing the number of photos on the page is as simple as changing a pop-up menu.

calendars-4

What’s really great is that iPhoto allows you to add your own text to any given day. Click on a day to add or alter the text that is already present. A window will appear, allowing you to enter text for that day. If you’re not happy with the fonts for the calendar, you can edit them, too. Most of the calendars use Helvetica Neue, but if you’re a fan of other fonts, go for it; iPhoto handles the switch with aplomb. If you’re not textually inclined, feel free to drag any photo onto a day, and it will resize the photo to fit the day’s box on the calendar.

calendars-5

If you’re not that picky, you can have iPhoto run the Autoflow feature, which will propagate photos into all the hot zones for you automatically. If you haven’t selected enough photos, though, it will leave several of the photo hot zones blank, so you’ll want to check your pages before firing them off to Apple. You don’t want to be surprised when you receive your calendar.

calendars-7

At $20 for a twelve-month calendar, Apple has made an attractive price point for something you can customize to your own specifications. Give it a try; it’s worth the experience.

Also in This Series

Reader Comments (16)

Jason Madore · April 3, 2006 - 01:55 EST #1
Isn't there a way to print this at home?
Sergio Carmona · April 3, 2006 - 11:46 EST #2
I guess you can print it to pdf, as you can do with photo books, and then print the pdf file to paper.

The only thing missing will be the spiral...
Ashley ♥ · June 28, 2007 - 15:12 EST #3
Do they cost money?
ATPM Staff · June 28, 2007 - 15:20 EST #4
Ashley - well of course they do. Apple's web page has a section detailing the cost of books, calendars, cards, and prints.
will larson · December 4, 2007 - 00:45 EST #5
how do we resize this so that it prints on normal 'letter' paper?
ATPM Staff · December 4, 2007 - 00:50 EST #6
Will - If you export to a PDF and use that to print, there is an option in the print settings to fit the sheet to the paper on which you are printing.
Cari * · August 3, 2008 - 18:32 EST #7
Can you do any touch-ups to your pics?
ATPM Staff · August 3, 2008 - 19:05 EST #8
Cari - iPhoto is certainly no Photoshop, but there are, indeed, several tools to perform respectable touch-ups to photos. http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/#editing
Eileen Haddad · October 28, 2009 - 15:48 EST #9
Is there a price break if you order in bulk. I am making them for both sides of my family...one side I will be needing 8 copies...the other side I will be needing 10 copies.
ATPM Staff · October 28, 2009 - 17:00 EST #10
Eileen - having reviewed Apple's Print Products web page, there is nothing on the pricing section that suggests volume discounts. And even if there was some sort of volume discount, I suspect you'd have to be talking about more (perhaps many more) than 10. Note also that volume discounts always apply to multiples of the exact same thing. The fact you have an 8-count job and a 10-count job would not qualify as an 18-count. If there is any kind of price break for multiple copies, it would be reflected in the order information within iPhoto at the time you set up the print order. You can confirm that info before actually placing/purchasing the order. So if there was a volume discount, it would show up there before you paid. Nontheless, I'm nearly positive the answer is, no.
Tom · November 15, 2009 - 19:25 EST #11
I make up several calendars for my family. Is there a way to combine the orders to save on shipping?
ATPM Staff · November 15, 2009 - 21:46 EST #12
Tom - Just as the answer above indicated there are no bulk quantity discounts, I believe the answer also applies to shipping. Suggestion: contact Apple via one of the retail stores to confirm.
Sharp Sorensen · November 21, 2009 - 19:00 EST #13
Is there a way to choose the layout for a particular page. For example, if I select a page layout that will take 6 pictures, that means that there will be one long picture (half page). Is there a way to control whether that long pictures is horizontal on top or bottom, on one hand, or vertical on left or right, on the other hand? The program seems to decide randomly, most of the time with the picture vertical.
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · November 22, 2009 - 00:42 EST #14
Sharp - although I've not used iPhoto to make a calendar, I've made several books and have seen the scenario you describe. I'm not sure I can probably explain what I did, but with a certain amount of finagling, by way of saving cropped versions of otherwise vertical photos and using those instead, I have, at times, managed to get iPhoto to arrange the multiple pictures for a single page into a more desirable layout. I fully agree there should be better control of this, but it seems Apple is intent on letting the program try to figure it out for you, so you just have to be a little smarter.
Patty Reske · December 18, 2009 - 21:10 EST #15
Hi:

When I save my calendar as a PDF, the dates on the calendar do not print. Can someone help me?
Ashish · January 4, 2010 - 08:20 EST #16
I am in India where online print services don't seem to exist. I have created a calendar and saved as PDF but Kodak print lab in my neighborhood is using PhotoShop to process and print. They are asking for .ps file.

is it possible to save the calendar as .ps file?

Thanks,
Ashish

Add A Comment





 E-mail me new comments on this article