Mac computers and post production question: I have a Mac computer (OS X 10.10.4) with Photos. I would like to be able to go easily to and from my photos to Elements 13 or some of the...

taj334 Loc: Long Island

I have a Mac computer (OS X 10.10.4) with Photos. I would like to be able to go easily to and from my photos to Elements 13 or some of the free programs out there. Is this possible or should I just get Lightroom and download everything there? And would doing that simplify things enough for the technically challenged?

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

taj334 wrote:

I have a Mac computer (OS X 10.10.4) with Photos. I would like to be able to go easily to and from my photos to Elements 13 or some of the free programs out there. Is this possible or should I just get Lightroom and download everything there? And would doing that simplify things enough for the technically challenged?

Before you go the Lightroom route Check Affinity Photo in the apple Store. It is designed for Macs and seems to be as good as Lightroom & Photoshop for only $49.95. That is only 5 months of cloud use and less then half the price of Lightroom 6 stand alone.

taj334 Loc: Long Island

Thanks jethro779. Will look into it. It's frustrating when my windows friend goes seamlessly back and forth between Picasa and Topaz or Photoscape.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

taj334 wrote:

Thanks jethro779. Will look into it. It's frustrating when my windows friend goes seamlessly back and forth between Picasa and Topaz or Photoscape.

Photos does not yet provide an "open with external editor" option. I wonder if anybody over there in Cupertino is giving any thought to how this might affect the customers this?

There is no need to envy PC users as that type of thing can also easily be done on the Mac.

But you need to set up your own external editing/photo management programs. There are several options, a few have been named already and more will be forthcoming from other UHHers. Whatever you decide I recommend you try it using the free trial offers, make sure it does what you want before buying.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

taj334 wrote:

I have a Mac computer (OS X 10.10.4) with Photos. I would like to be able to go easily to and from my photos to Elements 13 or some of the free programs out there. Is this possible or should I just get Lightroom and download everything there? And would doing that simplify things enough for the technically challenged?

I think that your first step is to replace PHOTOS with something that has the ability to add external editors so you can use Photoshop Elements or other programs.

Lightroom is a professional program and is top notch, the current Creative Cloud subscription for Lightroom AND Photoshop is a super deal at 10.00 per month. Even though it is called Creative CLOUD, the software is installed on your computer and your images remain on your computer under your complete control. Editing is on your computer as well. The only thing on the cloud is licensing, and you must connect to the internet every now and then to keep the licensing current.

There is a learning curve with Lightroom, but it can be mastered, and once done is a fantastic management and editing system for your image library.

Most of the problems with new Lightroom users are getting used to the catalog system - but Photos is similar since everything must be imported to be worked on.

Now, to get back to Photos - currently not supported for "edit in", however you can manually do it, but it is messy.

http://www.imore.com/how-use-external-editor-photos-os-x

BobbyT Loc: Southern California

I have an iMac and seamlessly use Photos and Elements 13. It is very simple to drag and drop a thumbnail into PE 13 from Photos. I like the organizer and basic PP in Photos and only use PE 13 for pixel editing and some of the other tools. I don't use the organizer in PE13 although I guess I could if I had to. I like the combination. Works good for me, but I'm not a Pro!

BobbyT Loc: Southern California

BobbyT wrote:

I have an iMac and seamlessly use Photos and Elements 13. It is very simple to drag and drop a thumbnail into PE 13 from Photos. I like the organizer and basic PP in Photos and only use PE 13 for pixel editing and some of the other tools. I don't use the organizer in PE13 although I guess I could if I had to. I like the combination. Works good for me, but I'm not a Pro!

Oh yeah! and I forgot, there are no monthly subscription charges to that will creep higher and higher at regular intervals as Adobe will eventually do to keep investors happy with their stock price and more profits. Photos is free and PE13 a reasonable 70 or 80 dollars and is very adequate for PP editing.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

If you already have Elements 13 import all of your photos and use this as your library, then your already there to edit your photos..
I still use aperture and edit from there.

taj334 wrote:

I have a Mac computer (OS X 10.10.4) with Photos. I would like to be able to go easily to and from my photos to Elements 13 or some of the free programs out there. Is this possible or should I just get Lightroom and download everything there? And would doing that simplify things enough for the technically challenged?

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

BobbyT wrote:

I have an iMac and seamlessly use Photos and Elements 13. It is very simple to drag and drop a thumbnail into PE 13 from Photos. I like the organizer and basic PP in Photos and only use PE 13 for pixel editing and some of the other tools. I don't use the organizer in PE13 although I guess I could if I had to. I like the combination. Works good for me, but I'm not a Pro!

SEEMLESSLY? HOW do you get the image from PSE back into Photos and have it stacked with the original?

I understand how drag and drop works, but then you must reimport it into Photos if you intend photo as your digital asset manager right?

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

BobbyT wrote:

Oh yeah! and I forgot, there are no monthly subscription charges to that will creep higher and higher at regular intervals as Adobe will eventually do to keep investors happy with their stock price and more profits. Photos is free and PE13 a reasonable 70 or 80 dollars and is very adequate for PP editing.

That was the big complaint last year when I was joining the CC program - so far, it has NOT happened.

BobbyT Loc: Southern California

Dngallagher wrote:

SEEMLESSLY? HOW do you get the image from PSE back into Photos and have it stacked with the original?

I understand how drag and drop works, but then you must reimport it into Photos if you intend photo as your digital asset manager right?

After PE processing, I save. Easiest to desktop, then drag back into the Photos icon which will import to Photos. then, the photo can be dragged into the original "date" location since it still has the "original" date marker and will integrate with similarly dated photos.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

taj334 wrote:

I have a Mac computer (OS X 10.10.4) with Photos. I would like to be able to go easily to and from my photos to Elements 13 or some of the free programs out there. Is this possible or should I just get Lightroom and download everything there? And would doing that simplify things enough for the technically challenged?

I think one thing to keep in mind is that Lightroom (and Aperture, RIP) is as much about digital asset management as it is about post processing, whereas Photoshop et al are aimed an individual image processing. This is, I believe, what Mr. Gallagher refers to when he points out that LR is made for pros - because a pro might take hundreds or thousands of shots at an event or venue and needs a way to cull through them quickly, mass-change things like color balance or exposure, keyword them for easy retrieval later, etc.

Which is not to say LR is not the answer - I plan to move to it from Aperture myself (having checked out Capture 1 and not liking it at all).

SO for one thing, you might want to think ahead a bit and cogitate on the possibility of you having many thousands of images to dig through years from now - if so, unless you have a robust way of naming and filing them, you might want LR. Mind you, LR has plenty of post processing features in it already (and Adobe keeps adding more) so at some point the difference between LR and Photoshop may become nil.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

BobbyT wrote:

After PE processing, I save. Easiest to desktop, then drag back into the Photos icon which will import to Photos. then, the photo can be dragged into the original "date" location since it still has the "original" date marker and will integrate with similarly dated photos.

Not quite as seamless as Lightroom would allow it. Even from Aperture it was pretty easy, just edit in external editor, then when you close the external the image is automatically imported into Aperture or Lightroom and stacked with the original file, so you know what you have.

I looked at Photos - did not care for it, but thats just me. I like the nitty gritty lightroom/photoshop give me.

Rileychas Loc: San Diego, California

I just bought a Macbook Pro and have spent hours trying to figure out why I can not find Photos library to import into LR and Affinity. It never occurred to me that it was not possible. Glad I happened to read these posts otherwise I'd still be trying.
I'll just import directly from card to LR and forget about Photos.
Hard to believe that Apple has overlooked this basic function.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Rileychas wrote:

I just bought a Macbook Pro and have spent hours trying to figure out why I can not find Photos library to import into LR and Affinity. It never occurred to me that it was not possible. Glad I happened to read these posts otherwise I'd still be trying.
I'll just import directly from card to LR and forget about Photos.
Hard to believe that Apple has overlooked this basic function.

On a Mac, the default PHOTOS library is in the PICTURES FOLDER where IPHOTO's library used to be, unless you moved it.

LR has a plugin for Aperture and iPHOTO to import directly into it, but not for Photos, at least not yet.

I am thinking Lightroom 5.7 had that feature, 6.x definitely has it.