My wife is in the process of sorting out her new Macbook and is looking for a straightforward photo-editing programme. My son put CS5 on my iMac - of which I only use some bits of Photoshop along with Bridge - everything else, for me, is just a waste of space. Mrs H doesn't want or need to clutter up her laptop with all of that stuff.
Can anyone on here recommend an easy to use programme? We hear that Photoshop Elements is very good, though some reviewers seem to think that it is rather complicated.
Thanks H
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For anything simple, what's wrong with the included iPhoto?
If you want a very capable alternative to Photoshop that's a lot cheaper, there's Pixelmator.
itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pixelmator/id407963104?mt=12
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Ah! Thanks for the replies......
We've just prodded around on the Mac book, and found 'Photos'. Up 'til now, I'd thought of it simply as another i-annoying Apple thing for trying to wrestle away control of your life by shoving your files wherever IT decided.
It looks as though Photos could well be enough - certainly for the time being. Is there something there for reducing file size in order to send a photo as an e-mail attachment?
Pixelmator looks a good prospect too, if more facilities are required later.
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>> Is there something there for reducing file size in order to send a photo as an e-mail attachment?
When you attach images to an email, the email client will offer you the option of images size (applies to all attached images). Option will be on the right of the mail composition window and offers:
- Actual size
- Small
- Medium
- Large
Message size will show how big the email will be with all the attachments.
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"When you attach images to an email, the email client will offer you the option of images size (applies to all attached images). Option will be on the right of the mail composition window and offers:"
Ah yes, thanks, Mrs H will be fine with that. I've always tended to ignore it because my son showed me where to 'save for web and devices' on Photoshop and I've tended to go down that route out of habit - usually needlessly.
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>> Is there something there for reducing file size in order to send a photo as
>> an e-mail attachment?
Yes Iphotos export feature
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"Yes Iphotos export feature"
Found it, thanks. I'd better search Youtube for a video describing how to find and use all the facilities on Iphotos!
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If just shooting in jpg then Photo or the even simpler Snapseed do the job. If looking for more versatility and shooting in RAW then my favourite is Lightroom. From the Adobe/Photoshop stable but without the brain ache that is required by the latter. Unfortunately Adobe has now switched to a subscription model, but if you have access to an academic email address i.e. .ac.uk, then I think it is still possible to buy Lightroom 5 on Amazon at an attractive price. Of course RAW images are as is implied unprocessed at all unlike jpg. Hence they can be very large, 10mb+. I use Lightroom on both a MacBook and Mac, but it is easier to use with a mouse rather than a pad. Be warned - it's addictive!
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"If just shooting in jpg..."
I normally shoot in jpeg; my son is a professional cameraman uses raw - but it appears that his Canon's idea of Raw is different from my Nikon's - so jpeg seems to be our common language.
Frequently I take photos from my mate's boat but then find that the horizon isn't quite level in the picture. I was able to drag/drop a file from Finder or Bridge into Photo and straighten the picture to my satisfaction but then, I couldn't save the change and drag it back into Finder/Bridge. Surely that should be possible?
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Obviously your son is the guru here, but as I understand it manufacturers have their own version of RAW. I use an Olympus OMD micro 4/3 and also a Panasonic Lumix tz80, both using different formats of RAW. To get them into Lightroom I first convert to DNG, digital native format, using the Adobe DNG converter. A free download easily installed. This then uploads easily into Lightroom and is a sort of universal format of RAW.
I stopped using Apple software when iPhoto became Photo following Aperture being discontinued. But in Lightroom there is a really handy levelling tool. Just go into Crop mode then click the spirit level tool, click and hold stretching a line on the horizon or a convenient horizontal or vertical and then when releasing the mouse it just snaps to it.
Alternatively If you drag and drop into Snapseed it would be straightforward to level the image and then export it. No need to faff around with Photo just to do this. I usually set up a folder on the desktop to import/export images from/to and then delete and/or re-file from there to keep things tidy. I am sure there is an answer to your question about Photo but it is some time since I even opened it.
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"Obviously your son is the guru here"
My second son is a graphic designer and he is also adept at using Photoshop - and therein lies the problem - if I manage to get hold of them and ask for advice, they dive into layers and "if you do this, then this becomes available etc". That's why I'm only looking for something that can easily be used for basic tasks such as straightening, cropping and adjusting light/contrast levels.
I googled for 'Snapseed', but it doesn't appear to be currently available for Mac.
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I understand your problem, my daughter can lose me very quickly too. These kids are so nonchalant about it too. Photoshop is great, but you need to do the course to become anywhere near competent.
Odd about Snapseed as I have it on my Mac, just opened it to make sure! I did a bit of googling and it looks like Nik Software Inc who built it were acquired by Google in 2012 and I suspect it was then taken off the App list. If you look for the TechCrunch article it will give you more details.
I have tried googling "snapseed mac download free" and came up with a number of sites including second on the page a link to iTunes, which then offered me an update of the version I have. I guess you have to have int installed first. There were various sites offering a Mac download, such as Cnet. If you use one of these just be very careful what you click on and agree to as you can end up with cr@pware such as MacCleaner and spurious virus/health checkers. I think, but am not sure, it might well be possible to get it if you instal Chrome and then download Snapseed as it is/was a google product.
if all this is too much faff then perhaps download some of the free photo processors from the app store and play around with them. Or alternatively have another go with Photo. I have just opened mine up and selected a photo at random, gone into edit mode and adjusted the angle of tilt using the protractor like scale on the right hand side. I then exported the image to the desktop and it saved and transferred across just fine.
If you can get Snapseed it really is a great tool, just sorry to have led you down a blind alley. Good luck!
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Photo-editing software for Macbook ..... - rtj70
