I take a lot of photos. So many that Aperture is starting to bog down. I was talking with a fellow photographer and he said that he splits his Aperture library every six months. Sounds like a good idea. How do I create a new Aperture library or, better, move a project into a new library?

When I plug in my Apple iPhone 4s into my Dell Windows 7 laptop, it automatically imports all the photos and videos into Windows Live Photo Gallery. It's driving me crazy! I don't want to use this particular program for managing my photos! How can I change it or, better, have Win7 simply ask me what to do when I hook up my iPhone?

I have finally figured out how to post a photograph from my Apple iPhone to Facebook and am wondering if there's a way to also post a picture to Google Plus in a similar way? That is, from the Google Plus app. Doable?

I'm enjoying my new Kindle Fire, even if some of the industry pundits are saying it's a fail when compared to the iPad. I don't care, I'm a Kindle fan. Anyway, I'm wondering if you can offer up some tips on how to copy photos to my Fire so I can share them with my friends?

I've seen your earlier article about using Image Capture to get photos off an iPhone 4 onto my Mac OS X system, but it doesn't seem to work right. Sometimes I hook it up and it just doesn't see the newest photos, as if it's remembering a previous version of my photo library on the iPhone. Is there an alternative?

I take tons of pictures with my iPhone and upload them to Facebook, Google Plus and Flickr. Nice. But what I'd like to do is some rudimentary cropping and color correction since sometimes they're not quite what I want. Suggestions? I have an iPhone 4, not a 4s.

I know I can upload photos and photo albums to Google Plus, but I'd like to try using Google's Picasa program instead. Can you give me some tips on how to upload my photo gallery to Picasa? Thanks.

My friend and colleague Drew, on Google Plus, asked: What did Google do to Picasa? It is now part of Google Plus but I can't figure out how to embed those photos on my blog like I used to be able to do. IT is not an option. Can anyone help me figure this out?

I find myself in a situation where I want to share a few galleries of photographs with clients, but don't want to send them the originals -- that's my lifeblood as a pro. In the old days, I'd be showing them a contact sheet or proof sheet, but now that it's all digital, I'm a bit stuck. Can I produce a contact sheet within Aperture?

I know how to add people to Circles in Google Plus and I, of course, know how to add status updates, but I haven't figured out how to easily add a bunch of photos from my computer as a "gallery" to share with my G+ friends. Help?

I've had all sorts of problems with my photo upload tool and now have a bunch of orphaned and one-picture photo albums on my Facebook account. How can I fix that or just delete the unwanted albums?

I've just started using Aperture on my iMac rather than iPhoto because I have been told I have too many photos for iPhoto to work well and I was definitely seeing a slowdown in performance. I really miss the output options in iPhoto though, most especially the ability to make photo books and order prints. Can I do any of that in Aperture?

I read your article yesterday about how to set up Picasa [soon to be renamed "Google Photos"] so you can email a photo to your Picasa account, but you sort of skipped the step of how to actually send that message from the phone. When I go to send a message, there's never an "add attachment" or "add photo" button on my iPhone. Am I missing something?

I want to add some photos to my Picasa album from my iPhone. I believe you can do that by emailing yourself the photos - which is pretty easy to do on the iPhone - but I don't know what address to use on Picasa [soon to be renamed "Google Photos", btw]. Help!

A friend just pointed out to me that because my iPhone 4 has a GPS built into it, it always knows where I am, and that it records that information in every picture I take with the phone. Since I often post pictures online, I don't want them to all have my exact location hidden within. Is there a way to turn this off?

I have a new iPod Touch which is awesome, but one thing has stumped me: how do I add photos to my iPod? My friends on Mac systems can somehow hook it up so that their newest albums in iPhoto are automatically copied across, but I don't have a Mac, I have a Toshiba running Windows Vista, so am I stuck?

This is a guest review by photographer Paul M. Bowers.

There are a many reasons you should buy Create Great iPhone Photos by Allan Hoffman, but only one can be the Number One.

I've been a commercial photographer for about 30 years, brung up in the briar patch of large-format transparency photography. You've seen my studios similar to mine in movies and TV- hardwood floors, industrial building, big windows and people running around everywhere. And then there was the darkroom, brimming with hazardous chemicals in which we splashed and played. But I've always had an affinity for small-form factor cameras, beginning with the Canon AF35M (the first real point-and-shoot) and the famous Olympus XA. I've carried these small cameras around the world, and have created some of my favorite images on these. My latest site, JustTheCoolStuff.com is based entirely on small form factor cameras and the iPhone.

Then I got an iPhone [cue chorale] . It became immediately obvious the power this small camera has, especially when combined with the large number of apps available for post (or pre) production. Controls and effects photographers used to drink, drug and teeth-gnash to perfect are available in real-time and in very controllable (and uncontrollable) ways.

I really like Aperture, but I have to say that it's pretty crazy slow when I start it up, often taking a few minutes before I can use it on my iMac. That can't be right, even with a lot of photos in the library. Are there any ways to speed Aperture up??

Most photos we take are subjective to our own tastes - what we like, and what we think other people will like. There's nothing wrong with this, but if we are shooting for our viewers, editors or stock photography purposes, then we need to plan shooting photos differently. We need to shoot to get attention.  This means learning how to shoot conceptually, to incorporate concepts as a foundation to our photos.  Pretty pictures on their own are are just, well, pretty pictures.

Conceptualize the image and it grabs attention; it illustrates, and it sells.



The first step is...

Dave, help! How do I post pictures taken with my iPhone to my mobile facebook?

My friend sends me photos from his late night parties via text message [actually, it's MMS, the multi-media message service that he's using] and I want to send him pics too, via text message, but I don't know how. Got some tips for me?

I want to email a really cute photograph of my cat to my girlfriend while she's on a business trip. We communicate via Facebook. Is there a way to email her the photo in Facebook?

As a professional photographer in the field every week, I'm curious about how the new Apple iPad works as a photo import and management tool. Can I pull photos directly off the SDcard, and if so, how do they show up on the device itself? It'd be great to preview them with clients, that's for sure.

I've been experimenting with different photo management applications on my new iMac system and am impressed with Aperture. Except for one little glitch: sometimes when I plug in my camera it automatically shows up in Apple's Aperture, and other times it doesn't. When it isn't showing up, how can I find my DSLR digital camera in Aperture?

Ok, I get you like small form-factor cameras because having one with you is better than having a pro rig that's in the closet at home, but which camera do you suggest for an advanced amateur photographer? I take a lot of pictures of our [dog, cat, ferret, parakeet, hamster, kids] to send to grandparents and post on Facebook, but want to be able to shoot really good quality pictures too, not just snapshots. What do you recommend?