Downloading photos from a camera

Downloading photos from a camera

When you use a digital camera, your photos are stored on a removable memory card — most likely a CompactFlash (CF) or Secure Digital (SD) card.
Rather than having to tether your camera directly to a computer, you can remove the memory card and insert it into a card reader device, then download your photos from the card reader to your compute via a USB cable or Firewire cable, depending on
which connection your camera supports (Firewire is the faster of the two).
When you start downloading images from a camera, your system’s default application or dialog for acquiring images may launch automatically.
Instead of using the system dialog, we recommend using the Photo Downloader application that is included with Bridge. Instructions are provided here.

To download photos via a card reader andPhoto Downloader:

1. Take the card out of your camera and insert it into the appropriate slot in the card reader.

2. Plug the card reader into your computer. If the default system application for acquiring photos launches, exit/quit it.

3. Launch Bridge, then click the Get Photos from Camera button at the top of the Bridge window. Th e Photo Downloader dialog opens.A If an alert dialog appears and you want to make Photo Downloader the default capture application, click Yes (as we do); if not, click No.

4. From the Get Photos From menu in the Source area, select your card reader.

5. In the Import Settings area, do the following: To change the save location, click Browse/ Choose, then navigate to the desired folder.Click OK/Choose again to assign that folder and return to the Photo Downloader dialog.
To create a new subfolder within the folder you just selected, choose a naming convention from the Create Subfolder(s) menu, or choose Custom Name and enter a folder name (or choose None for no new subfolder).
Optional: To assign your digital images recognizable names and shorter sequential numbers in lieu of the long default number, choose a Custom Name option from the Rename Files menu, then enter a name and a starting number. A sample of your entries displays in the Example fi eld.
Check Open Adobe Bridge to have the photos display in Bridge when the download is
completed.
Keep the Preserve Current Filename in XMP, Convert to DNG, and Delete Original Files options unchecked.
We recommend that you check Save Copies To then click Browse/Choose to send copies of your photos to a designated folder on an external hard drive, as a backup.

6. If you want to download select photos (instead of the whole batch) from your memory card, click Advanced Dialog to display the larger Advanced dialog.A Below the thumbnail window, click UnCheck All, then check the box below each photo to be downloaded. Or click,then Shift-click a sequence of photos, then check the box for one of them; a check mark will appear below each selected photo.
Optional: In the Apply Metadata area, enter Creator and Copyright info to be added to the metadata of all downloaded photos. Th is data will display in Bridge.
➤ To switch back to the smaller Standard
dialog at any time, click Standard Dialog.

7. Click Get Photos to start the downloading process. When the downloading is fi nished, the Photo Downloader dialog is dismissed automatically. If you checked the Open Adobe Bridge option, your photos will display in a new window in Bridge. Don’t worry about previewing or opening them just yet. We’ll step you through that process later.

8. Now that you’re done using the Photo Downloader, you should insert a blank DVD
and burn the copies of your photo fi les to the DVD as a permanent backup copy. In the Mac OS, you can do this via drag-and-drop in the Finder. If you need to learn how to copy fi les to a DVD, consult the Help fi les for your operating system.

Launching Adobe Bridge

Th e Bridge application ships with Photoshop and is aptly named because it serves as a bridge to programs in the Adobe Creative Suite.

In Chapter 1, you learned how to use Bridge to synchronize the color settings for your Creative Suite programs. With its large thumbnail previews of fi les from Adobe Creative Suite applications, Bridge is the best vehicle for opening fi les, and it off ers a host of other useful features.
Th is chapter begins with instructions for downloading photos from a digital camera. Following that, you will use Bridge to preview, examine, label, rate, sort,
and fi lter your fi le thumbnails; customize the Bridge workspace; organize thumbnails into collections and collapsible stacks; search for, move, copy, and assign keywords to fi les; and open fi les into Photoshop. You will also use Mini Bridge, a panel that lets you access the Bridge features in Photoshop. Th ere’s a lot to learn in this comprehensive chapter — progress through it
at your own pace.

Launching Adobe Bridge

To launch Adobe Bridge:
To open the Adobe Bridge window, do one of the following:
In Windows or in the Mac OS, on the Application bar in Photoshop, click the Launch Bridge button (Ctrl-Alt-O/Cmd-Option-O).A In Windows, click the Start button, choose All Programs, then click Adobe Bridge CS5.
In the Mac OS, double-click the Adobe Bridge CS5 application icon or click the Bridge icon on the Dock.
➤ Th ere is a Bridge feature that lets it launch automatically at startup and stay in the background in stealth mode. We suggest that beginning users turn this feature off by going to the Edit/Adobe Bridge CS5 > Preferences dialog for Bridge (Ctrl-K/Cmd-K), Advanced panel, and unchecking Start Bridge at Login.

Ending a work session

Ending a work session
To close a document:

1. Do one of the following:
Click the on a document tab.A Choose File > Close (Ctrl-W/Cmd-W).
Click the Close button in the upper right corner of a fl oating document window in Windows, Bor the upper left corner of a fl oating document window in the Mac OS.C

2. If you try to close a fi le that was modifi ed since it was last saved, an alert dialog will appear.D Click No (N)/Don’t Save (D) to close the fi le without saving it, or click Yes (Y)/Save (S) to save the fi le before closing it (or click Cancel to cancel the close command).
➤ An asterisk on a document title bar or tab indicates that the document contains unsaved changes.
➤ To quickly close multiple open documents, press Ctrl-Alt-W/Cmd-Option-W. In the alert dialog that appears, you can check Apply to All,★ if desired, to have your response apply to all the open documents, then click Don’t Save or Save.
➤ In Photoshop, to close a fi le and launch or go to Bridge, choose File > Close and Go To Bridge (Ctrl-Shift-W/Cmd-Shift-W).
To exit/quit Photoshop:
1. In Windows, choose File > Exit (Ctrl-Q) or click the Close button for the application frame. In the Mac OS, choose Photoshop > Quit Photoshop (Cmd-Q).

2. All open Photoshop fi les will close. If any changes were made to any open fi le since it was last saved, an alert dialog will appear. Click No (N)/Don’t Save (D) to close the fi le without saving it, or click Yes (Y)/Save (S) to save it before exiting/quitting Photoshop (or click Cancel to cancel the exit/quit command).