Apple Help Needed: Basic Photo SW for Mac

wt21

Hall of Famer
Mac Users --

I use LR for editing. Love it. But it's complicated for my wife. She'd like something much more lightweight. Something that allows her to do basic management and some very basic editing -- crop, maybe some levels adjustment.

iPhoto is struggling with the 13K photos she has, and it's penchant to try and identify faces and other things means it's really bogged down. She finds LR too advanced. Also, her computer is older, and I don't want to have to upgrade her HW to keep up with my toy addiction. She wants to keep the laptop she knows and loves.

I was thinking -- what about Bridge? Doesn't that come with PS elements? Can I get it standalone?
What other basic tools are there for her on a Mac?

I suppose I could also look at Aperture.

Any help is appreciated.
 
You might also try just creating a new iPhoto library once a month, or as it starts to bog down. That should speed it up, since it wouldn't be trying to load ALL her photos all the time

I only use aperture, which isn't much help to you otherwise :) but mebbe the above tip will keep you going a bit longer till better option comes along!
 
Thanks Eliot, though I'm a bit confused. Do you mean to create an iPhoto library in segments. Let's say a library for each year? Or do you mean somehow recreate the entire library each month?
 
You should be able to just create a new one as needed. The others will still exist on your machine and be accessible. They just won't be forcing iPhoto to load all their photos when you open them up.

File
Switch to library
Create new

Then import some photos and see if it feels any faster with just those photos

Anytime you need to use the photos contained in the other libraries, just go back to

File
Switch to library
Choose one from the list

So it's kind of like your closet
When you open it, you aren't forced to look at all the clothes you've owned yer entire life
It just shows you the clothes you've bought recently


Make any sense?
 
Oh, yes, in segments. But not necessarily yearly. I'm on a retina pro and haven't shot much, but I still make a new one mebbe envy three months, since the silly rx1 has to have gigantic files! Lol

The total size of the library plus the hardware running it will determine how fast it starts to bog down, and at that point, create a new library.

Also, I'm assuming since it's older, it's a standard hdd. How full is the drive space? If you don't have enuf free space, it can slow your machine down a lot as well. I keep all my old libraries on an external drive(since they are 90% of my storage needs) to keep my machine running nice n fresh
 
I stumbled upon instructions on how to "rebuild database" and that has REALLY helped. Might be able to stick with iPhoto after all!!

Though I still don't like the "Events" mode of organizing.
 
How silly is it that iPhoto does not permit turning off facial recognition?

Before Lightroom existed, years and years ago, I used photo mechanic Homepage - Camera Bits, Inc. and enjoyed that, but I see it costs even more than Lightroom now.

Lyn has some interesting reviews: Lyn and could be a very good alternative, but I have not tried it. Lifehacker wrote about it here: The Best Photo Management App for Mac OS X

My wife doesn't enjoy any of the photo organizing software, but I got her to at least try Picasa and she used it more than any other program. Moving on from Picasa

This also popped up, but I haven't seen much of it in action: Fotonauts NameBright - Coming Soon
 
I suppose I could also look at Aperture.

.

Aperture also wants to ID faces, and on my computer, at least, its like a great blob, its slow and ponderous and takes ages to do anything... and I have 16GB RAM as well as plenty of space. iPhoto's current set of editing tools is pretty good. I have been playing with them lately and finding them adequate for basic tasks. I'd also recommend using multiple libraries, and theres a tool somewhere which allows good management of many libraries. I'll go find it and put a link here when I have. Stick with iPhoto is my recommendation for anyone who doesn't want complicated.

And here's the link... its called (Not surprisingly really) iPhoto Library Manager.
iPhoto Library Manager – Merge iPhoto libraries, find duplicate photos, and more

Just found another called iPhoto Buddy but I don't know much about it
iPhoto Buddy Home Page
 
iPhoto forces one use face recognition?:confused:

P.S. Good to know about the different libraries. Although I don't use iPhoto now, I can see using it on my yet to arrive iPad.. And I do use it on my computer when someone sends me a photo that I want to keep...it's so easy with the Mac mail program.
 
Unless you have my workflow. I import 100s of pics to my wife's iPhoto (from Lightroom) which then bogs down her computer. If you are only bringing them in occassionally, then it doesn't matter.

But it also eats up database space, and we have 13K photos, many with multiple people, so there are little thumbnails generated for all those faces. There should just be an option to turn it off. No reason to force it.

I just tried Picasa. It stinks. Lyn (mentioned above) is very lightweight and easy to use. Might try that, or stay on iPhoto.
 
iPhoto forces one use face recognition?:confused:

P.S. Good to know about the different libraries. Although I don't use iPhoto now, I can see using it on my yet to arrive iPad.. And I do use it on my computer when someone sends me a photo that I want to keep...it's so easy with the Mac mail program.

I tried to convince iPhoto that it could recognize landscapes too since I don't really shoot many faces; it balked at separating New Zealand from Scotland so I gave up....:doh:

Seriously for BB, I use the desktop IPhoto just to hold jpgs exported from LR in named albums; these then automatically sync to the iPad so that the iPad always has a current photo portfolio. It has become how I show photos for many people....
 
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