Yes, Virginia, you DO have an image editing tool!

[xairbusdriver]

Am I the only one who doesn't use F U L L - S C R E E N views of every app? Apparently most people here do. at least 75% of the images I see uploaded require horizontal scrolling to see both sides. Of course, even then, one does not get the whole view... Full screen images can be beautiful! Some times they are simply a waste of bandwidth for the creator abs everyone who (tries) to view it.

I'm sure everyone here does NOT have Photoshop installed. I certainly don't! But there are other very powerful image editors around, many are even free!

But, seeing as how this is a site mostly made up of Mac users, I'm surprised that so few seem to be aware that every single Mac already has a great, if basic, image editor already installed! Plus, being a Mac, you know there won't be hours of learning needed to learn how to use it!

The app? None other than Preview! It's not your grand-fathers Preview! Apple has built in so much text and image editing capabilities into the OS! My pet peeve about massive images comes from making apps that needed to fit on the 40 character display of the Apple ][. Sure, not many of us still use or even have that kind of monitor, but one basic web design mantra is to allow the user to decide what they want to see. Wed designers are 'guests' on my computer. If they don't make a site I can view in 1,000 pixels wide, I will probably not bother making the browser full-screen just for them (image portfolios, excepted, of course). You're a guest on my computer, if you can live by my rules, you are welcome to the trash can/delete button. Maybe that's just me, so be it.

OTOH, using 493+ kB to show a 2800+ pixel wide screen shot is simply a waste of bytes and storage space. Some forums have the capability of storing the image in a separate space than on the post that refers to it. I often upload my images to one of the dozens of sites that give free space for storing images, so hey don't take up space at WC at all.

At last the point of this rant... Please, please, take a few seconds and drop your massive (over 1,000 pixel wide) images into Preview and scale it down a bit. It's so simple even a... OK, my wife might have a problem at first... Just for grins, check out this article (actually a series of them) at TidBITS for how simple it is to <crop or re-size an image in Preview>.

Thanks!

xABD (aka, the old, grumpy, multiple-windows-at-the-same-time viewing guy)

[elagache]

Dear X-Air and WeatherCat OS X toolbox maintainers,

Thanks for the discovery.  I had also learned about Preview's ability to do image editing.  The trouble was that back before OS 9 (I've forgotten how long,) I got hooked on GraphicConverter and I've been using that ever since:

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

So Apple's upgrade to Preview came a little to late for me to take advantage of it.

Cheers, Edouard

[xairbusdriver]

GC is great, once you learn its GUI, which I hear is improving. Great price, also! Free!

[awilltx]

Pixelmator is a great alternative to Photoshop and is only $30 USD on the Mac App Store. It also can save and import PS format.


Alan

[Bull Winkus]

All very true! There is a wealth of image editing options on the iOS's Mac Daddy. But, if all you're looking to do is crop, resize, or tweak exposure, Preview is quick and very easy to grasp.

I'm all about making programs very easy to grasp. I have to learn something three or four times before it sticks.

 

[xairbusdriver]

There are many fine apps for this job. I've not used Preview for this particular thing, but it's great to have another tool in the arsenal. Of course, if we don't use them, it really doesn't matter how easy/simple it might be.

One advantage of the other tools mentioned is that one can eliminate wasted space in an image. That's particularly helpful with a screen shot of a chart or table where the important things are at opposite ends (top/bottom or left/right) of the image. With an image editor, the middle, wasted space can be removed and the two 'ends' can be brought together making a much smaller image with a lot of the distracting stuff eliminated.

I would recommend working on a copy of the original even if you think you no what you'r dewing...

[Bull Winkus]

Thanks Xair! Just thought I'd mention, since you brought up "copy of the original," while Preview will let you butcher your image, it's not really butchered until you save it. Further, if you work in Photos, it automatically keeps the original and changes the displayed image to the edited version while you work. However, if after you've posted your modified version online you want the original back, you can simply select the command revert to original. It also allows multiple undos.

I know Edouard wont use Photos, but I do. I keep my entire photo library in it, and though I was reluctant to change when it first came out while I was still trying to decide between Aperture and iPhoto, I find it indispensable now.

I have bought and used Adobe Photoshop Elements, and used Graphic Converter for quite awhile. I liked them both for what they were, but as an all around photo manager and minimal editor, I like Photos the best. It's simple but efficient. Now, if I could only find the time and the "get-'er-done" attitude to go through them all and delete the ones I'll never use again! What a job. It's almost as bad as keeping up with my email purging.

 

[elagache]

Dear Herb, X-Air, and WeatherCat users who have "way too many things to do . . . . . "

I know Edouard wont use Photos, but I do. I keep my entire photo library in it, and though I was reluctant to change when it first came out while I was still trying to decide between Aperture and iPhoto, I find it indispensable now.

Well, I'll have you know that I asked for a copy of Adobe Lightroom for Christmas and Santa was nice enough to bring me this gift.

And, there it is, sitting next to my computer still unwrapped.  I still haven't had time to look into moving to Lightroom from iPhoto!!

*Heavy sigh*, . . . . . Edouard

[xairbusdriver]

There are lots of tutorials <Julieanne Kost's Blog> on LR at <Adobe.com>. They also have about 60 vids at YouTube! Don't be confused about the labels (Adobe Lightroom CC/CCx/etc). Adobe wants you to become a subscriber not an owner of their apps. Lightroom and PS Elements are two of the last few stand-alone apps from Adobe. At least for now, who knows what their future plans are.

Oh! I just found some more YouTube vids! You may like this series better as the instructor is also a hair designer... or he just sleeps on his side... hard to tell exactly... <Ed Greggory> 

Moving from iPhoto to LR is a bit like going from MacDraw (remember hat one?!) to Illustrator! OTOH, it's similar to iPhoto, Aperture (both no longer supported) and Photo in that they are all more for cataloging and image enhancement than image (pixel level) editing. I usually start with LR (with ON1 plugins) and end up exporting to Elements for printing/web adjustments/conversions.