Can anyone PLEASEEEEE help me, my iPhoto app keeps taking face shots of any photos I put on and loads them into preview ! From 311 photos, I now have 1,1300 shots! How can I stop it??

> "my iPhoto app keeps taking face shots of any photos I put on and loads them into preview"

It's probably just my usual lack of comprehension, but I haven't got the faintest idea what that means.

Please post a step by step description of what is happening.

that is a bit of a confusing post, but I wonder if there's an issue with file association, are you trying to double click the files on the memory card to get them into iphoto?

Act like you're on the phone with someone trying to help you, and they've asked you to walk them through what you're doing, step by step. Tell us what you are expecting to see at each step, as well as what you're actually seeing happen.

I am not sure when it is happening. To try to get rid if the 5,000 odd photos, I deleted all my photos and went back to 'original' library and imported that again into iPhoto, there was 311 photos. When I then went into preview and the photo library they had increased to 926 - the extra photos were all 'face photos' of the original photos I imported! (by the way I imported the photos straight into iPhoto)

wanabee50,

Might you be using iPhoto '09?

If so, might the information you are reporting be accounted for by the use of Faces?

See: iPhoto - Faces, Places, and other new features.

I am using iPhoto 9. I did put two faces on the corkboard but it has continued to take snapshots of every face in my photos every time I use iPhoto without me asking it (it is even taking shots of hands, arms and legs and other obscure objects now!)

I'm going to go in the mundane direction and suggest that you try moving /Users/Your short name/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoto.plist to your desktop, then restart your Mac; OS X will create a new file as needed.

If your problem is resolved, trash the original file and reset any associated preferences; if not, restore the original to from whence it came by overwriting the new one.

I did that and got rid of the 5,000 odd photos created and just imported the original 311 photos. then next time i went into 'preview' there was another 900 or so faces that had been created from the 300 photos! In the meantime I am not going to try to import any more photos.

Have you tried logging in to a test user account (Post back if you need help.) to see if your issue follows you across account lines?

Have you trashed iPhoto's cache at /Users/Your short name/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto/Cache.db?

If you find no joy with either, and if you're not seriously into trouble-shooting, I'll throw trashing and reinstalling iPhoto onto the table.

wanabee50,

Thanks for the updates.

If you have not already done so, go to System Preferences > Software Update to make sure your version of iPhoto is current.

You might also take a look at this link to: iPhoto '09 (#2): Problems with faces, places.

If I am understanding correctly, you have already tried option 2 in the link above by reimporting the library. Therefore, you might try option 3: Remove the Faces database.

Thanks for all the help, I have tried most of the ideas suggested and have still got more faces being photographed! It is randomly re-photographing faces so now have several copies of the same faces! As I delete them it takes them next time I go into iPhoto! I am working away from home until Dec so shall just not use iPhoto until I get home. I will then backup all the original photos, trash iPhoto and re-install the programme so wish me luck! Thanks again:)

> [...] I have tried most of the ideas suggested [....]

Most isn't very telling; have you tried logging in to a test user account, and if not, what else haven't you tried?

trouble is , I'm not great with computers so am learning as I go along! I don't understand how to do some of the things you have said so I will continue to learn as I go along.....Ta!

..for instance - what is a 'test user account'?

A test user account is a pristine account you maintain on your Mac to log into to see if an issue in your regular account remains an issue; whether or not an issue in your main account remains an issue in your test user account gives us an idea of where the root of your issue may lie.

(The following assumes that you're running Snow Leopard.) The easiest way for you to test is to navigate to /Applications/System Preferences > Accounts, make sure the padlock is unlocked, and activate your Guest Account. (I'm assuming you're not already using it, and I'll have to give you further instructions if you are.)

Log in to your Guest Account, and tell us if iPhoto exhibits the same behavior in it as it does in your regular account.

Please also feel free to ask about any other suggested troubleshooting steps you don't understand so we can maybe resolve your issue before New Years.

OK, I did what you said and logged into guest account. I then loaded 11 photos from a usb pen into iPhoto and noticed that as the photos were loading, there was a blue widget spinning beside the 'faces' icon down the left side of the page. The 11 photos loaded successfully into the events page. I then opened 'preview' and there were 61 images, 11 original photos I imported and 50 'faces' taken from the photos (some taken more than once)! So, Yes, it is doing the same.

That's essentially what we all do here: there is a puzzle (like your problem), and we're trying to figure out what's going on. The question is: where do you start? Without going into great detail right now, Artie's suggestion represents a standard troubleshooting approach. The general idea of testing something in a fresh user account is that you start there with default settings. Quite frequently computer problems are caused by incorrect or corrupted settings of one or more programs, and such settings are user-specific. You can eliminate (or confirm) this possibility by testing if a clean user account also suffers from the problem.

If the problem persists there, that would indicate that it is at a higher, non-user dependent level, and that includes applications and the System itself.

If the problem is restricted to one user account, it tends to be associated with a corrupted preference ('.plist' file) or cache there, and the question then becomes which one(s).

Assuming your Guest account was clean (I don't know if it was used previously), your test result suggests we're dealing with option 1: an issue with an app (iPhoto) or the System.

So as the problem persists in my guest account, it means it is a higher fault which could be the system?

Indeed.

Soooo, what next??

Contact Apple Tech Support or if you are using a laptop make a Genius Desk appointment at the nearest Apple Store.

I have a laptop so I will find my nearest store and make an appointment, thanks for the support.