New here with a few questions

[Philip]

Hi all-ver. 4.6.6 Demo. Windows 7.
I've been looking for any alternative to Adobe since my first foray into CS.
While photoshop remains a great tool for image manipulation, editing in Bridge
is slow and slower. I've tried as few others and just got tipped to PM.

I shoot a lot of sports, architecture, design work....a professional making my living at it for over 20 years.

I'm not the most computer savvy person but getting more proficient.

My workflow for handling large folders (300-700 images, jpeg and raws) in the past is
to open folder in bridge, edit and double click into Adobe Camera Raw where, in the case of my sports biz,
pre-crop everything to 5x7, adjust exposure, saturation and whatever else the image might need and on to the
next one. Time is of the essence in my sports biz as I shoot lots of games and need to post them to my sales
template in a timely fashion. So far, I love the editing speed of photomechanic but haven't discovered any image
manipulation capabilities. Also, when cropping I can't make subtle adjustments to level my horizon
if needed.
Do I need to set up a work through to other software to manipulate my images?
Any thoughts on PM incorporating this in the future?

As a real novice to this software I hope I'm not being completely ignorant in
suggesting that if PM incorporated some of the basic "sliders" contained in Adobe Camera Raw
then this would possibly be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Not every image needs the full tweak of Photoshop but I find many of my images will need
the slight tweak available in ACR.

Ideas? Suggestions?

I thank any and all in advance for considering replying to this.

Phil

[Kirk Baker]

Phil,

I shoot a lot of sports, architecture, design work....a professional making my living at it for over 20 years.

I'm not the most computer savvy person but getting more proficient.

My workflow for handling large folders (300-700 images, jpeg and raws) in the past isPhil
to open folder in bridge, edit and double click into Adobe Camera Raw where, in the case of my sports biz,
pre-crop everything to 5x7, adjust exposure, saturation and whatever else the image might need and on to the
next one. Time is of the essence in my sports biz as I shoot lots of games and need to post them to my sales
template in a timely fashion. So far, I love the editing speed of photomechanic but haven't discovered any image
manipulation capabilities. Also, when cropping I can't make subtle adjustments to level my horizon
if needed.
Do I need to set up a work through to other software to manipulate my images?
Any thoughts on PM incorporating this in the future?

As a real novice to this software I hope I'm not being completely ignorant in
suggesting that if PM incorporated some of the basic "sliders" contained in Adobe Camera Raw
then this would possibly be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Not every image needs the full tweak of Photoshop but I find many of my images will need
the slight tweak available in ACR.

You'll still need a RAW converter (such as the ACR plugin for Photoshop) to make adjustments.  You can setup PM to allow your images to be sent to Photoshop for RAW editing, and you do this in the Launching tab of the Photo Mechanic Preferences dialog.  Once you have it setup, you can select an image (or several) and choose Edit Photos... from the Image menu.  You can also right-click on a photo (brings up a contextual menu) and use the various options there for sending your photos to your favorite editing applications.

If you save in the DNG format, then ACR can update the preview built into the DNG file and PM then show you what your adjusted file looks like and will allow things like Save As, Export and Printing to output very high quality images.

Let me know if you have any questions and I hope you enjoy your demo of Photo Mechanic.  If you'd like to read the manual, you can get it here:

http://www.camerabits.com/download/

-Kirk

[Philip]

Hi Kirk-
I really appreciate your quick reply.
I understand what I need to set up.
Do you have any thoughts on potentially including
this next level type of image manipulation in the PM software?

Thanks again,

Phil

[Kirk Baker]

Phil,

Do you have any thoughts on potentially including
this next level type of image manipulation in the PM software?

No, but it is an oft-requested feature that is somewhat controversial since nearly as many people exist that don't want such features in PM as those who do.

-Kirk

[Philip]

Seems kind of odd-couldn't those who don't want the feature simply ignore it if image manipulation was included in your software?? I mean photoshop is loaded with features that I haven't even explored after 5-6 years yet they exist if I ever am curious and want the feature.

Anyway, when I'm in the Launching menu how do I specifically proceed to allow an image that I'm viewing in PM to open in ACR? When I do it now it opens the entire folder in Bridge?

Again, thanks Kirk for your help. This is a great editing tool-very fast and smooth. I don't mean to be an ingrate but I don't know a photographer alive that wouldn't love this editing capability combined with the basic features of ACR rather than having to work through to another software. ACR is a really great feature for those images that simply do not need the full capabilities which photoshop provides.

[Kirk Baker]

Phil,

Seems kind of odd-couldn't those who don't want the feature simply ignore it if image manipulation was included in your software?? I mean photoshop is loaded with features that I haven't even explored after 5-6 years yet they exist if I ever am curious and want the feature.

There is a perception/opinion that adding any such features would slow Photo Mechanic down at worst and at best clutter up the interface.  We don't necessarily agree with those opinions, however and know how the internals of Photo Mechanic work.

Anyway, when I'm in the Launching menu how do I specifically proceed to allow an image that I'm viewing in PM to open in ACR? When I do it now it opens the entire folder in Bridge?

There are two ways.  One is to use the 'Default application to edit photos:' section and 'Assign default application:', clicking on the button to the right of the path field and then choosing Photoshop.  The second more flexible way is to assign editors to each individual file type that Photo Mechanic supports.  You can do this by clicking on the 'Set...' button to the right of the text that says 'Assign specific editing applications for each file type' and in the dialog that appears you can find your specific file types and assign any editor application that you wish to use.

HTH,

-Kirk