Step 1: Ease into It

If you're completely new to iPhoto, first launch it (/Applications), select File > Add To Library (Command-O), and then navigate to a photo on your Mac. Now select iPhoto > Preferences. In the General pane, set the Double-Click Photo option to Changes To Edit View, and close the dialog. Find the photo you want to fix in iPhoto's Library and double-click it to enter Edit mode. Click the Enhance button: It usually does a good job of adding snap to photos by increasing contrast, saturating color, and removing gray tones. In our case, however, it removed some of the gray and added a bit of contrast, but still left our photo a little flat.

The one-click Enhance button can do wonders - but we can do better.