151 CHAPTER Using Bridge to Organize and Process Photos IN THIS CHAPTER Organizing files using the Bridge application Importing images from camera and memory cards Viewing and modifying image metadata Batch processing images using Bridge and Photoshop Using Mini-Bridge to find and select files in Photoshop O ne of the most important yet least loved tasks that is necessary when working with images is organizing and managing the image files. It is difficult to keep files organized in an effective manner, especially with the number of images that get generated by digital cameras. Adobe tries to solve the problem of organizing files by providing the Bridge application. Bridge is designed to simplify the process of importing, organiz- ing, and finding files. Bridge also provides a direct interface to Photoshop that allows you to take advantage of Photoshop image-processing capabili- ties. The following sections discuss the Bridge application, how to configure it, and how to use it to quickly organize and manage your image files. Working in the Bridge Workspaces The Bridge utility is a versatile application that allows you to create work- spaces that allow you to easily navigate, organize, and process your images. The purpose of this section is to help you understand how the Bridge utility is organized and how to customize it to best fit your needs. Understanding the Bridge utility The Bridge utility, shown in Figure 6.1, is divided into four main areas: the main menu, toolbar, window panes, and content view controls. The follow- ing sections discuss each of these parts of the Bridge utility. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15110_584743-ch06.indd 151 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM Part I: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop CS5 152 FIGURE 6.1 The main areas of the Bridge utility are the main menu, the toolbar, the window panes, and the content view controls. Toolbar Window panes Content view controls Window pane Main menu The Bridge main menu provides access to functions of the Bridge utility that you cannot reach eas- ily through the toolbar or the windows in the window panes area. The following is a list of the main menu headings with a description of the types of commands that are available in them. Many of these commands are discussed later in this chapter: l File: Allows you to work with the filesystem to create folders, move files, import files, view file information, and interact with Photoshop. l Edit: Provides options that allow you to select and copy files, duplicate files, rotate files, and set preferences for the Bridge utility. l View: Provides settings to configure how files are viewed in the Bridge utility. You also can sort files, change to full-screen preview mode, and start a slideshow from this menu. l Stacks: Provides options to create and configure stacks. Stacks are discussed later in this chapter. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15210_584743-ch06.indd 152 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM Chapter 6: Using Bridge to Organize and Process Photos 153 l Label: Allows you to add, remove, and change labels and ratings files. You can use labels and ratings to filter files later. l Tools: Provides options to interact with Photoshop, batch process files, manage metadata templates, and manage caches of files. l Window: Allows you to control which windows are displayed in the window panes. You also can use this menu to quickly switch which workspace to use in Bridge. Another option available in the Window menu is New Synchronized Window, which launches a second instance of the Bridge utility that is completely synchronized with the first, so that if you change images or windows in one, the other changes as well. l Help: Provides access to the Bridge help and the online support for Bridge at adobe. com . You also can update Bridge, launch Adobe’s Extension Manager, and get information about the version of Bridge from this menu. Toolbar The Bridge toolbar, shown in Figure 6.2, provides quick access to many of the features in Bridge without having to navigate the menus. The following list describes each of the major areas of the toolbar and what tools can be found there: l Navigation tools: The navigation tools provide some shortcuts to navigating through the filesystem to find files. The left and right arrows allow you to navigate forward and back- ward through previous navigations. You also can click the down arrow to select any of the favorite locations or one of the subfolders in the current path. The Reveal Recent File or Goto Recent Folder button provides several options to navigate back to recent locations and files. The navigation bar, below the others, shows you each folder in the current path; you can select any folder to go back to that level. Tip If you click just to the right of the navigation path, a text box appears and you can manually type in a file- system path. This can be much faster than navigating by clicking folder icons if you know the name of the path that you want to select. n l Import/export tools: The import/export tools provide options to import a file from a cam- era, open a file in Camera Raw, and batch rename and output files to PDF or for the Web. l Workspace selection: The workspace selection area allows you to quickly select the workspace option that Bridge is using. This is useful when you want to switch between options when you change from navigating to images and working with them. l Search: Allows you to limit the files displayed by restricting them based on the text typed in the search field. Bridge matches the text against the filename and keywords. Only the files that contain the specified text in the filename or keywords are displayed. This is extremely useful if you are searching for a specific set of files. l Thumbnail options: These allow you to quickly configure how Bridge builds thumbnails to display in the content pane. Bridge can use the thumbnails embedded in the image for faster preview; however, these thumbnails are not as high quality as the ones Bridge gen- erates otherwise. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15310_584743-ch06.indd 153 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM Part I: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop CS5 154 l Sort and filter: This area provides buttons to filter files by rating and labels and to sort files by name or different items in the file metadata. l Rotation: This allows you to quickly rotate images 90 degrees to the left or right. This is useful if you are processing images taken with a camera tilted on its side. l File and folder control: This area allows you to quickly create folders and delete folders and files. You also can open files from the Adobe Photoshop Recent File list. FIGURE 6.2 The toolbar in Bridge provides quick access to most of the features without having to navigate the menus. Import/export tools Navigation tools Sort and filter tools Workspace selection tools Search tool File and folder tools Rotation toolsThumbnail options Window panes The window panes area of the Bridge utility provides an area for window panels to dock. This area actually contains five different windows panes (refer to Figure 6.1). Each window pane can contain one or more Window panels. Different Window panels in a pane can be accessed by clicking the tab at the top of the window pane. You can drag Window panels between panes by clicking the Window panel tab and holding the mouse button down while moving the Window panel to the new pane. Also, window panes can be resized by using the control handle in the middle of the pane bars that separate the panes. Window panels are added and removed from the window panes by selecting/deselecting them in the Window menu. The following is a list of the Window panels that you can choose to view in the window panes: l Folders: Displays a folder tree view. Use this panel to navigate and find files in the filesystem. l Favorites: Displays a list of favorite folders. You can drag folders from the Content panel to this panel to add them to the list. This allows you to configure a set of folders that you use often to speed up navigation. l Content: Displays a list of contents of the selected folder in the Folders or Favorites pan- els. You can double-click folders in this panel to navigate into them to find files. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15410_584743-ch06.indd 154 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM Chapter 6: Using Bridge to Organize and Process Photos 155 l Preview: Displays a preview of the image(s) selected in the Content panel. You can use the pane controls to change the size of the preview pane, which changes the size of the image displayed. l Metadata: Displays the metadata information contained in the image selected in the Content panel. Each of the main metadata areas is divided into collapsible/expandable areas. To collapse an area, click the downward triangle next to the area title. To expand an area, click the rightward triangle next to the area title. l Keywords: Allows you to create new keywords and add keywords to the file(s) that are currently selected in the Content panel. l Filter: Allows you to quickly limit the files that are displayed in the Content panel based on ratings, keywords, creation date, and last modified date. l Collections: Allows you to create and manage collections of files. A big advantage of using collections is that the files in a single collection do not need to be in the same folder on the filesystem. l Export: The Export panel is used to add and manage modules and export presets used to export images from Bridge to other applications. Content view controls The content view controls shown in Figure 6.3 allow you to change the view of the Content pane. These tools are useful when you need to switch between viewing lots of images in a folder to more detailed information about a specific set of files. The following list describes the different views for the Content pane: l Thumbnail size slider: Allows you to quickly change the size of the thumbnails dis- played in each of the content views using a slider or the smaller/larger button on the left/ right side of the slider. Tip When working with large number of files, use the thumbnail size slider to shrink the thumbnails so that more images are displayed in the Content panel, and then scroll down to the area where the files you want to work with are located and use the slider to increase the size of the thumbnails to more accurately select images. n l View as thumbnails: Shows only a thumbnail of the image and the filename. l Lock thumbnail grid: Similar to the View as thumbnails option; however, the images are locked into evenly sized grids. This feature is useful if you are working with images that are not the same shape. l View as details: Displays the thumbnail, filename, creation date, modification date, file size, document type, and some of the metadata such as ISO, focal length, and color profile. l View as list: Displays the files in a more traditional list form with columns for each of the metadata items. This view is useful because you can click the top of any column to sort the images by the values of that column. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15510_584743-ch06.indd 155 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM Part I: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop CS5 156 FIGURE 6.3 The content view controls in Bridge allow you to quickly change how files are displayed in the content pane. View as thumbnails View as list Thumbnail size slider Lock thumbnails in grid View details Using the Bridge workspaces The Bridge utility provides several different workspaces that give you a different look at the files you are working with. Each workspace automatically sets the number, size, and shape of the win- dows panes and the window panels that are available in each pane. The different workspaces com- pletely change the look and functionality of the Bridge utility. Note Changes you make to a workspace by adjusting window panes and window panels are persistent. The same settings are in effect the next time you switch to that workspace and when you close and reopen Bridge. n Each of these views has advantages over the others. You likely will find yourself switching between the different workspaces to accommodate your current workflow. The following are the work- spaces defined in Bridge: l Essentials: The Essentials workspace is the best overall workspace to navigate and find files and do general organization. It provides a large content panel in the middle from which to select files. l Filmstrip: The Filmstrip workspace is great for previewing files. It provides a large Preview panel to view the images. l Metadata: The Metadata workspace is great for viewing the metadata of images. A large content panel allows you to quickly select different files, and a metadata panel allows you to view the metadata. l Output: The Output workspace is designed to help when you want to output a series of files to a PDF file or to the Web. l Keywords: The Keywords workspace is designed to help you quickly add and manage keywords for images. l Preview: The Preview workspace provides the largest area for previewing images. The Content panel is narrow and vertical, which is sometimes difficult to use. l Light Table: The Light Table workspace displays only the content panel. This is excellent for selecting files after you have already navigated to the files you need. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15610_584743-ch06.indd 156 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM Chapter 6: Using Bridge to Organize and Process Photos 157 l Folders: The Folders workspace is designed to help you navigate the filesystem to find the folders and files that you need to work with. Organizing Files in Bridge The true value of the Bridge utility is in the ability to quickly find and organize images. Bridge pro- vides direct access to all metadata contained in the images file and allows you to add additional metadata in the form of keywords, labels, and ratings. Bridge also allows you to organize photos in a more usable fashion than a traditional filesystem by arranging them in collections and stacks. When you keep your files organized, you save lots of time looking for images. The following sec- tions discuss how to use Bridge to organize your image files. Importing images from cameras and card readers An extremely useful feature of Bridge is its ability to import files from a camera or card reader directly to your computer filesystem. Most cameras and card readers allow you to easily copy files to your computer, but Bridge offers many more options than just a file copy. To import images from your camera or card reader to Bridge, select File ➪ Get Photos From Camera from the main menu or click the Get Photos from Camera button in the toolbar. The Photo Downloader, shown in Figure 6.4, is displayed. You can click the Advanced Dialog button to also display the images on the device, as shown in Figure 6.4. This allows you to select which images to download from the device. FIGURE 6.4 The content view controls in Bridge allow you to quickly change how files are displayed in the content pane. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15710_584743-ch06.indd 157 5/3/10 10:21 AM5/3/10 10:21 AM . 5/3/10 10 :21 AM5/3/10 10 :21 AM Part I: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop CS5 154 l Sort and filter: This area provides buttons to filter files by rating and labels and to sort files by name. discuss each of these parts of the Bridge utility. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15110_584743-ch06.indd 151 5/3/10 10 :21 AM5/3/10 10 :21 AM Part I: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop CS5 152 FIGURE 6.1 The. to sort the images by the values of that column. 10_584743-ch06.indd 15510_584743-ch06.indd 155 5/3/10 10 :21 AM5/3/10 10 :21 AM Part I: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop CS5 156 FIGURE 6.3 The