Besides getting your Buddy pic from iPhoto, you can also
drag and drop
a photo from any other source like the Finder, a Mail attachment or a Safari page. A buddy pic doesn't have to be a photograph of you— it can be an image that represents you or really any image at all. One of my buddies currently has a baseball for a buddy picture and had a jack-o-lantern on Halloween.
Find the photo that you would like to make into a buddy pic.
In iChat, go to Buddies / Change My Picture from the menu bar to open the Buddy Picture window.
Drag the photo you want to use onto the picture area.
Use the slider to zoom the photo and drag it to move the cropping.
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