Images distort while editing

Having exactly the same issues here since upgrading to Snow Leopard. The effect occurs in full screen during zoom - often the corruption is only apparent in the small zoom area navigation window, but as I zoom in and out, the effect will also occur in the same window at certain magnifications.

This is in a bog-standard iMac using a Panasonic FZ38 in fine quality jpegs.

Same issue here, looks exactly like that but sometimes different colours.

Sometimes when performing adjustments the distortions disappear once the calculation is complete but often they do not.

Is anyone noticing this on 10.5, or in iPhoto 8 on 10.6?

I have exactly the same problem. It occurs with latest update of IPhoto09 (updated yesterday) and with Snow Leopard (loaded a few days before). When using enhance image editing feature I occasionally get a completely distorted image, with one dominant color and a triangular arm through it. So far, the only way I can correct by next going into image adjustment and changing auto adjustment that took place until I get a good image. This is clearly not a hardware problem, but a problem with software most likely a poor quality recent update by Apple to IPhoto-09. I can go back to earlier version, but would prefer Apple software experts to address this issue. Hope they are reading this.

Richard B

Upgraded to Snow Leopard, using iPhoto 8.1 (415).

Problem: Scanned numerous photographs at color 600 dpi on Canon Pixma500, then exported scans to jpeg, then imported into iPhoto

Result: Many will not edit. Here are the symptoms:

(1) Using full screen edit, the screen becomes blank.
(2) If while screen blank, "resize" slide is moved, then small preview screen shows up, with the thumbnail in it, but still major edit screen is blank.
(3) On some photos, if choose "crop" then entire photo will show up, but some will jump back to their original size, even after being cropped.
(4) Some images show up in the edit window, but will simply not edit, e.g., no sharpness, saturation or any other change will appear.
(5) For photo that is cropped, and then "jumps back" to its original size, an export file to tiff and re-import of the tiff shows a cropped file.
(6) For some photos, if the crop is a non-standard dimension (custom), then instead of cropping the image, iPhoto actually distorts it! For example if a photo was cropped into a 1 by 7 strip, the image would stretch out into that small strip.
(7) Exporting to tiff and then re-importing to edit does not work for color photos.
(8) same problem occurs for scanned (600 dpi) black and white photos.
(9) Attempts to edit older photos imported from iPhone, which previous before Snow had beed editable, failed, with the same results.

(10) Reading the discussions, there is plenty of discussion on this. The following do NOT appear to have any effect on the problem: (1) rebuilding the iPhoto library, (2) doing crazy stuff like reinstalling the system, (3) building a new Preferences file, (4) Building a new library, (5) using a back up copy of the photos.

Conclusion: Upgrade to Snow Leopard has temporarily destroyed ability if iPhoto to edit.

I'm having the same issue as well. I keep running into the problem when "enhancing" the photo. I have been able to "correct" the problem by Apple+Z'ing back to original then going to the next photo, then coming back. It works sometimes, but certainly not often.

I did a fresh install of Snow Leopard. I imported old iPhoto pictures from iPhoto 06 from my Time Capsule (or whatever the currect version was from that time period). However, I am still running into the issue with new pictures I load onto my Macbook Pro.

I was having the same problem described by some above whereby when I would go to edit mode the pictures were black and I couldn't do any editing. What I discovered was I was having permission problems. When I changed the images to be "rw" by all then iphoto went back to working properly.

Same issue here. Had upgraded to iPhoto '09 before Snow Leopard and problem started after upgrading to Snow Leopard.

Btw, where did u change the images permissions? I tried the 'Modified' subdirectory but still the same issue.

Scott:

You can use BatChmod to change the permissions on all of the files inside the library. Launch BatChmod, drag the library into the field next to the File button and set the permissions as shown in this screenshot:

Click to view full size

Having this same problem. Upgraded to 10.6.1. Did a new install of iPhoto from the disc after deleting the old files. Tried Batchmod to set permissions. No results yet.

Details on distortion:

Some distortion when editing in main window. Moderate to large contrast shifts and some color shifts. Occurs sporadically. May not do it at all, or may do it a LOT. Close and open the picture and it may go away -- or get worse. Same for closing and reopening iPhoto or restarting the computer. No detectable patterns of failure. Happens about 80% of the time.

Huge distortion when attempting to edit in full screen mode 100% of the time. Major color shifts. (Different color patterns may appear on same picture in separate editing sessions.) Usually the appearance of a diagonal line from upper left to lower right.

Began immediately after going to 10.6.1. Had been using iPhoto 09 successfully prior to that.

Quite frustrating. Am a semi professional photographer and my business is in the weeds until I can return to editing at a normal pace. Currently iPhoto is almost unusable, but possible to do some editing in main window if persistent.

Digitog

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

Currently iPhoto is almost unusable, but possible to do some editing in main window if persistent.

You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.

Using an external editor will allow you to keep working without the distortion issue until a fix is found.

In order of price here are some suggestions:

Seashore (free)
Graphic Coverter ($45 approx)
Acorn ($50 approx)
Photoshop Elements ($75 approx)

There are many, many other options. Search on MacUpdate.

Regards

TD

I, too, am experiencing this exact problem of image distortion whenever I try to edit a photo. The photo itself is not damaged, but I am unable to edit the pictures with any consistency.

Quick background: I updated to Snow Leopard and iLife '09 at the same time. I ran into the editing problem immediately after the upgrade. At the Genius bar, they had not encountered this issue and thought I might be a corrupted graphics card (I don't). They then recommended deleting/reinstalling iPhoto, which I did. No change.

I downloaded the iPhoto software update earlier this evening hoping that might correct the problem. It hasn't.

Waiting to hear what solutions others have come up with... Thanks!