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PC's and Photo Storage/Albums

Thank you both so much! @mollyc and @Rikki That lightens my learning a little up front. :)

Rikki... when you say presets... is that another word for the thumbnails? If not, what are presets?
 
With presets I mean thumbnails of PS presets. Everything brushes, styles, shapes etc.

I have copied what they say about Argus (not Argos, I misspelled) on the website.
Argus works within the Windows Explorer interface make full featured thumbnails a part of the regular Windows browsing experience. Once it is installed, Argus works with Explorer so the thumbnails are available every where you go. Even Photoshop's load dialogues use the Windows Explorer interface, so you'll never again have to wonder if you are installing the right preset!
 
Rikki said:
With presets I mean thumbnails of PS presets. Everything brushes, styles, shapes etc.

I have copied what they say about Argus (not Argos, I misspelled) on the website.
Argus works within the Windows Explorer interface make full featured thumbnails a part of the regular Windows browsing experience. Once it is installed, Argus works with Explorer so the thumbnails are available every where you go. Even Photoshop's load dialogues use the Windows Explorer interface, so you'll never again have to wonder if you are installing the right preset!
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oooo... good info. I like being able to see, when the thumbnail represents a teeny image of what it is! Thank you!
 
jk703 said:
Between Photoshop and RadLab, I love how my pictures come out. I'm not all technical and just want to make them look pretty and PS/RL do that, so I won't use the photo processing in LR.
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Don't discount LR. I ignored it for a long time, or used it in a really basic sense when I wanted to do more than PS would do. when I finally started playing with it seriously, I was amazed at how fabulous it was and was kicking myself I didn't use it sooner. Personally, I think it's head and shoulders above what PS could do.
 
Tree City said:
@jk703 ah, that makes sense! A Mac will unzip for you and you don't worry about the actual zipped folder. Huh. The term "exploding Zips" makes a lot more sense now, too, lol!
So both PC and Mac people DL files but only PC people seem to actually deal with a Zip file. Interesting!
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mollyc said:
My zip files don't automatically unzip. That must be a preference somewhere.
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Yes, it's a preset. On my old Mac, I unzipped manually. Then the new Mac did it for me. And now, I think I did something and it's back to manual.

@jk703. I LOVE LR. I've never used RadLab so that might be a complicating factor. I keyword my photos and have everything organized by date. It's not quite the same as Photos but you can set up collections in the database. It's nice because the back end is more transparent than the Apple iPhoto/photos deal. It leaves the photos on the hard drive and you reads from there. You only need to remember to move folders/individual photos from inside LR, otherwise the database can't find the photo. At some point, if you want, we could chat and I could screen shot/share my screen and let you explore my organization and see if it's something you'd like...
 
I've used LR since version 1 and find anything else for basic editing to be overly cumbersome. I do still use PS for a more full portrait style edit or if I need to do cloning, etc. Sometimes the vision I have of a photo when I take it requires more extensive manipulation. But for about 95% of my photos I do all editing in LR, and then syncing is awesome if you have similar photos from the same location/time frame.

It really isn't hard to learn the basics of LR.
 
mrs2a50 said:
Don't discount LR. I ignored it for a long time, or used it in a really basic sense when I wanted to do more than PS would do. when I finally started playing with it seriously, I was amazed at how fabulous it was and was kicking myself I didn't use it sooner. Personally, I think it's head and shoulders above what PS could do.
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I won't. I will want to learn it, since I'm paying for it. At least the basics, and then how to edit a little. But for me, I think transitioning to a new PC from mac, and then getting everything loaded - add trying to learn new software would just become frustrating to me. I'm not a photographer, so most of my editing is actions that I have, adjustments and RadLab. :) At least it has been since I started scrapping. I will evolve, lol, just need time. :P

enjoyyourpix said:
@jk703. I LOVE LR. I've never used RadLab so that might be a complicating factor. I keyword my photos and have everything organized by date. It's not quite the same as Photos but you can set up collections in the database. It's nice because the back end is more transparent than the Apple iPhoto/photos deal. It leaves the photos on the hard drive and you reads from there. You only need to remember to move folders/individual photos from inside LR, otherwise the database can't find the photo. At some point, if you want, we could chat and I could screen shot/share my screen and let you explore my organization and see if it's something you'd like...
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I will see. I'm going from Mac to PC, so I'll transition and get settled there first. :) I like my organization now, I'm just trying how to accomplish this with the windows based laptop, sand a software learning curve to start. (only since that will lead to frustration, I fear!)


mollyc said:
I've used LR since version 1 and find anything else for basic editing to be overly cumbersome. I do still use PS for a more full portrait style edit or if I need to do cloning, etc. Sometimes the vision I have of a photo when I take it requires more extensive manipulation. But for about 95% of my photos I do all editing in LR, and then syncing is awesome if you have similar photos from the same location/time frame.

It really isn't hard to learn the basics of LR.
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I agree, I will learn at least the basics. I'm not a true photographer, and my edits are way less detailed than I'm sure yours are. :) I have only used actions, adjustments, and RadLab for any of my photos/scrapping. I just don't anticipate learning a new software when trying to figure out the nuances of a new laptop. I will watch Cheryl's classes to at least give myself an idea before I start importing/organizing.


I promise to you all, lol, I will try...
 
mrs2a50 said:
Don't discount LR. I ignored it for a long time, or used it in a really basic sense when I wanted to do more than PS would do. when I finally started playing with it seriously, I was amazed at how fabulous it was and was kicking myself I didn't use it sooner. Personally, I think it's head and shoulders above what PS could do.
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This!! I know you will have a learning curve and not want to jump into anything immediately, but when you have time Lightroom is amazeballs for photo editing (and organizing all the things). Totally Rad (makers of RadLab) also have very similar Preset packages that you can purchase for Lightroom. They have some based on the RadLab edits, but their Replichrome (film emulation) packs are by far my favorites.
 
@jk703 In addition to watching the Lightroom videos, I don't mind jumping in a Google Hangout to give you a live walk through of Windows File Explorer, ACDSee, and Lightroom . . . that may give you an idea of how you want to proceed . . . everyone has different preferences and what might be helpful to me might not help you at all! LOL
 
Rikki said:
Are you aware that the photography program also comes with Bridge? Bridge is like a file viewer that works with your folder structure and it works perfectly together with PS.
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Unless they have changed it, you actually get Bridge free just by having a free Adobe account :-)

jk703 said:
LR for editing, ACDSee for organizing supplies, Bridge for organizing photos.
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I think this was addressed, but you might have some overkill going on here!

jk703 said:
so most of my editing is actions that I have, adjustments and RadLab.
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Like @scrappyjedi said above, Totally Rad makes Lightroom presets. Basically, I open the file in Lightroom, and then I can hover over the preset and see how it would look in a little preview. Click and I've added the edit. Just as simple as Radlab (at least when I did the trial of Radlab).

@Tree City Do you have issues with Photos not reading black word art? I ended up changing my default from that to the "Windows Photo Viewer" because I couldn't see black word art on the black background.
 
bestcee said:
@Tree City Do you have issues with Photos not reading black word art? I ended up changing my default from that to the "Windows Photo Viewer" because I couldn't see black word art on the black background.
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Uh, nope. :) There was an update: in Settings you now have the option of a Light or Dark background. I usually keep it black cuz I think it saves a bit of energy. But it is nice to be able to change it when I want to view cut files/WA! Having said that, I used to use Photo Viewer for those files. I forgot about that already!
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Also, @jk703 Jenn, this shows that you can have Albums AND Folders. But I don't use the Albums so I'm no help with explaining how they work. :blush I just like my Folders cuz ALL my pics are in Pictures, and then I have a subfolder for each month (labeled 2017-01, 2017-02, etc).
 
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Sorry, I haven't taken the time to read through all of this, but you can install icloud for windows for free on your pc. It allows you to access all the photos in your icloud on your computer. My son who's on a mission uses his ipad to put his photos on a shared icloud drive for us and then I can access them from my pc. Windows 10 makes a folder called icloud photos in the pictures folder. I just access the photos like a normal from there. If your CC subscription includes lightroom, you could view there and bring them into PS like Cheryl shows in her LR videos.
 
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