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Can anyone recommend better software to browse, edit pictures.

K

kdk030180

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 31, 2014
3
0
Hi all.
I am using iPhoto and Preview to browse photos but don't really like it :(
Do you have any better software to do that?
As I see I need to import photos to browse one-by-one in iPhoto and in Preview I can see one each time (I need to open and close all the time).
Please help as I bought my Mac mini 2 weeks ago and I wish to have more fun than on my Windows computer.
Thanks al..

Also I need to find some good to replace the Finder, I use 30days free trial with Path Finder, but I hope there is something better than this.

TA DA
 
You can browse photos in iPhoto either as single-photo, filmstrip or thumbnail views, you don't need to open each photo in preview.

With Finder, what are you missing?

Which OSX version are you running? (look in About This Mac at the top left corner of your screen in the menubar)
 
find yourself ArcSoft Photo+ the best/fastest image browser (I´ve tried about 999000 browsers on Mac) :cool:

whats wrong with PathFinder?? if u find any better, let me know..
 
Take a look at Aperture, it will do what you're looking for as for a Finder replacement, I prefer Path Finder but there's also Total Finder
 
Last edited:
simonsi said:
You can browse photos in iPhoto either as single-photo, filmstrip or thumbnail views, you don't need to open each photo in preview.
Which OSX version are you running? (look in About This Mac at the top left corner of your screen in the menubar)
Click to expand...

But do I need to import photos each times I want to see them?

My OSX is 10.9.4

Thanks

----------

Please ignore all my concerns with Finder....
I go for Path Finder 6 subscription as it is only 2GBP/month which is alright.
 
http://www.camerabits.com/try-photo-mechanic-for-free/
Take a look at Photo Mechanic. Not sure what it costs since my newspaper buys it but a ton of photojournalists use this to edit their takes. Very easy to use and customize (you can set it up to open a photo in pretty much any photo editing/correction software you use with one click). Put your pics in a folder then just open that in photo mechanic and all your photos appear and you can then add dates, names, slugs or whatever you do to keep,them organized.
 
Take a look at Xee to view photos. It does not edit, just a simple and fast photo viewer.
Click to expand...
As is Quicklook. Select all the photos, press the space bar and then either use the arrow keys to cycle through them, or go full screen and start the optional slideshow.
 
Take a look at Lyn. It's a photo browser.

FYI, something like iPhoto is a photo manager. So is Aperture, Lightroom, etc. They import photos and then allow you to do all sorts of stuff with them. It seems like you're looking for something more like File Explorer or the Finder, but with better photo viewing. Lyn is like that. Graphic Converter also has a nice photo browser, and can do much more.
 
kdk030180 said:
But do I need to import photos each times I want to see them?
Click to expand...

No, you don't.

Maybe this is your problem. When I moved from Windows to OS X years ago, it took me a while to wrap my mind around what OS X meant by "import" -- it's not only "importing" from a camera or card into your Mac.

It also means "taking control of," and that might be where you're confused. Once you've "imported" all your images to iPhoto, you then use iPhoto to look at them as a group. Putting it crudely, iPhoto "owns" your images and, maybe part of your problem, hides them from you.

iPhoto will show you all or most or just some of them, depending on how you set it up and what you want to do.

And if you don't want iPhoto to control all your images, making the image files effectively invisible to you, you don't have to let it. The default is to let it have its way with the files, and you'll find many, many people here who believe that that's the best procedure.

If you want to have your image files "in the clear," you can set that up. But if that doesn't matter to you, let iPhoto handle them. That's what Apple wants you to do.

If you start with a particular image file -- never mind how you found it -- then OS X is going to open it up in Preview for you, just as you've discovered. It sounds to me as though that's not what you want.

I don't use iPhoto much, and I don't really like the way it works. But indeed it does work and does do what you seem to be wanting it to do. So give it a shot before looking for alternative software.
 
kdk030180 said:
But do I need to import photos each times I want to see them?
Click to expand...

No, you would only need to import them once.

The purpose of iPhoto is to help to organize your photo collection (and then allow you to edit them, turn them into books, calendars etc too but primarily to organize).

If you are happy to organize the photos into folders yourself then you can do so, then browse them with any of the various tools listed above.

Given that you have to copy them from the camera/source device somehow, the overhead of using a manager like iPhoto is quite small IMHO - and then it lets you organize them in various ways as you like.
 
Hasselblad's "Phocus" will let you open and browse through folders with pics.

It's a full-fledged editing app (with some features only available to those with Hasselblad cameras), BUT -- it's freely downloadable and usable for everyone, and much of the app's capabilities will work on photos from any camera.

You can also apply edits, save versions, etc.

Might prove worthy for your needs.

Link:
http://www.hasselbladusa.com/products/phocus-.aspx
 
I wouldn't bother buying Aperture right now as it's been discontinued. iPhoto will allow you to import and manage photos, but is has limited editing capabilities.

Apple are going to replace both Aperture and iPhoto next year with a new app called Photos. Little is known about it yet, but it appears to be different to what has come previously. This could be good or bad. It's probably worth living with iPhoto for now until we see the new Photos app.

If you don't like the new Photos App then there's always the offerings from Adobe. Lightroom is very good at organising photo's and has some editing features. Photoshop Elements is okay at organising, but has more editing capabilities. There's also the Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions that will give you lightroom and the full version of photoshop for just under £9 a month, but for most that will be overkill.

You can always download trial versions of lightroom and photoshop too.
 
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