Easily Add Images from Picasa Web Albums Directly into iPhoto [Mac Tip]

I prefer to share photos with friends using the Picasa Web Albums service from Google. Locally, however, I manage my photos using iPhoto. I also use the Picasa software which has gotten very good with the release of version 3.5. This newest version includes creepily good facial recognition and photo location features but I still prefer iPhoto. Picasa allows one to download entire albums from Picasa Web Albums into the Picasa software with the click of a button which is great. See this link for more information about this feature. This, however, requires a two step procedure to then get those downloaded photos into iPhoto. This is fine but somewhat of an annoyance. Recently, I discovered an easier solution while using Snow Leopard and Safari. Once you have a photo open in Picasa Web Albums that you’d like to download simply click the magnify button:




Then right click (crtl-click) on the image and select add to iPhoto. The ‘full quality’ photo will then be imported into iPhoto and you can move on to the next photo. Super easy. Clicking the magnify button first is important to gain access to the photo at full resolution.

Obviously this will probably work with other services such as Flickr, etc.