Photos in iPhoto are suddenly VERY Dark

Question

I have over 4,000 photos in my iPhoto library and up until a few days ago everything seemed to be working perfectly. But all of a sudden - literally one minute the application was open and everything was working fine and the next minute all my photos looked very dark. In video terminology, they all looked as though the "black was crushed." In other words, where there was once detail was now almost completely in shadow or dark. What would cause something like this to happen? Everything else on my Cinema Display looks fine… in other words I can open the same photo in Photoshop and the image looks the way it should. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I might add, that around the same time this happened, my second monitor, and older Apple 17" with the lucite legs, suddenly began displaying EVERYTHING on it slightly darker. I tried running color sync but that didn't seem to help. Repaired permissions. Ran Disk Warrior. Nothing. I just chalked that problem up to old age, but now I wonder if the two aren't somehow related.
Thanks in advance.
John

Answer 1

John:
Do the photos display the same using another application, like Preview? If yes then boot into another account and view some of the same photos in Preview or a temp iPhoto library.
If the other account displays them OK then there may be some preference file in your primary account that is bad. Here's a way to week them out.
Trouble Shooting Preferences in Tiger
Go to HD/Users/Your_name/Library. Move the Preferences folder (in its entirety) to the Desktop and make a second copy of it so you have Copy A and B. Now try the the application again and determine if problem is fixed.
If the problem IS fixed, go to the new Preferencess folder that the OS will have created and open it up.
Open Copy B on the Desktop and select all of the items inside. Drag them into the open new library folder. When the Copy window comes up check the Apply to All check box and then click on the *Don't Replace* button as seen here. That will keep the new files created and bring back all of the others.
If the problem is NOT fixed, trash the new Prefs folder and move the intact Copy A folder back to the Library folder .
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.