Question for Photoshop mac users...

[mdwsta4]

how should photoshop CS3 look? i always thought it was an 'enclosed' app (sorry, don't know how to better explain that) that would look more like safari/iphoto/etc. i just purchased it and there are tool bars on the sides, but nothing in the middle.
i've always used Digital Photo Professional to edit my raw files/photos and Photostudio to do extra cloning and whatnot. i thought PS would look more like DPP, but instead it looks more like photostudio.
is this how it should be? is there a way to make it appear differently? how are you supposed to view/edit a whole memory card worth of photos?
and lastly, while i'm hardly new to photography, i'm brand new to PS. any websites or books on where to even start in this app would be greatly appreciated!!

for the question above, here is how PS looks on my MBP. tool bars on sides, but if i clicked in the middle off a picture, finder comes up. also no way to view a whole memory card worth of pictures.

by 'enclosed' i was kind of referring to everything in a main window like DPP and most other apps. you can click anywhere in the app. to view a memory card or folder worth of pictures, it has a list so you can view/select whichever ones you want to edit easily.

 

[thinkband]

It is fine. That is how it looks on Macs at my school as well. The big difference between the PC version (I own it) and the Mac version (school has it) is that in the PC version, a whole new window covers the screen and you need to work inside that window whereas with the Mac version, photoshop is 'hidden' if you will so you can multitask better.

 

[richard.mac]

thats the way Photoshop looks. i like it this way and i presume so do all the professionals and designers who use Macs.

in any application in OS X if you click your desktop background it takes you to the Finder. Photoshop is just toolbars and menus with the image windows in the center. this is why you can close all your photos and still have it open… the good ol' Mac way. so if you click the desktop background it takes you to the Finder and the toolbars and menus will disappear just leaving the images windows.

having just image windows is useful becuase you can change the zoom size of the image in the bottom left of the window and then click the green zoom button to automatically resize the window to fit the zoomed image. i think this is the best example to show users exactly what the green zoom button does. the windows way is to just have a grey backdrop with the toolbars on the sides but i quite like the look of photoshop of the Mac. remember Photoshop was originally made for the Mac.

 

[Driver]

I think you need to look into Adobe Lightroom &/or Adobe Bridge. Use it in conjunction with Photoshop. It may be the missing pieces you are needing.

 

[apfhex]

1. That's how Photoshop is supposed to look, but in CS3, if you press F (cycles between various screen modes) it will bring you into a more Windows-like environment.

2. Use Bridge, which came with it (right?) to browse your files. Photoshop is not a photo organizer.

 

[Fiasco]

Yeah use Bridge to view and transfer files from your memory card. Bridge comes with Photoshop, and acts as a sort of photo library application.

Honestly, from your post, I think what you were looking for was something more like Adobe Lightroom or Aperture. At any rate even with those apps you still need Photoshop for detailed work.

 

[johnsy]

It is normal. I hated such look at the beginning. I remember Gimp times on windows. Such stuff was primary thing I gave up on Gimp. Now I got used a little bit.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Adobe Bridge is the place to view thumbnails of all the files on your memory card. It comes with CS3 and can be accessed by clicking on the "Br" icon in your PS toolbar all the way to the right.

SLC

 

[nburwell]

I too was a thrown a bit off guard when I in CS2 for Windows, and then I bought my PowerBook and purchased CS2 for that. It is normal like the others said, but now that work exclusively with Mac only now, I'm used to it.

 

[ChrisA]

is this how it should be? is there a way to make it appear differently? how are you supposed to view/edit a whole memory card worth of photos?
and lastly, while i'm hardly new to photography, i'm brand new to PS. any websites or books on where to even start in this app would be greatly appreciated!!

So you bought Photoshop and you didn't know how to use it? Most people won't drop that kind of money on a product that can't use. I would have recommended starting to Photoshop Element 6.0 first, It's only $89. Learn that then upgrade. But you've got it alrady so.....

The most painless why to learn how to use PS and Bridge is to buy a $25 subscription to http://www.lynda.com For $25 you get all the training video you can watch. Their Photoshop series takes 20 or 30 hours to watch. So spend a few hours a night and after just the first month you will understand Bridge and PS CS3. Yes, this is a full-on profesional tool and you don't learn this is 10 minutes. Expect weeks or months of study.

The videos will explain how to import from the memory card and organize your work. The Bridge/PS ombo works for many people. Some prefer Lightroom/PS and others Aperture/PS

For simple stuff iPhoto works well. I'd say moat beginners should use iPhoto for organization and Photoshop Element 6.0 if they need to make extensive edits to a photo.