I can no longer open an image from Adobe Bridge to Photoshop

[rpcrowe]

Although I can open Adobe Bridge CS3 and can open Photoshop CS3 independently but, I can no longer open an image into Photoshop which I have previously opened in Bridge. I used to be able to double click the Bridge image and it would open as a Photoshop image. That no longer happens.

Any magic ideas to help me? I could probably solve the problem by removing the entire CS3 creative Suite from my harddrive and then re-installing it. However, that is a big PITA. I am hoping for a more simple fix.

I am a lot better photographer than computer operator...

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Richard,

I think this has probably far more to do with your computer's operating system than the Adobe software. That said, re-installing probably would fix it, but is far more than I suspect you need do.

Please advise what computer (e.g. PC or Mac) you are using and more importantly, the operating system; e.g. Vista, XP, OSX 10.4, etc.

Unless Vista, I probably won't be able to help, but others will with that information.

Oh, and we also need to know what file extension/picture type you are having problems with; e.g. .tif, .jpg, etc.

I suspect something else, another bit of software, has re-assigned itself to be the default (double click) programme that opens.

Cheers,

[Colin Southern]

Try this ...

Open Bridge

Ctrl + K

Go to File Type Associations

... double-check the appropriate entries

Hope this helps !

[carregwen]

1. Can you load Photoshop (not Bridge) and open a file direct using the open command from the menu?

2. Have you tried rebooting your machine? That often fixes many minor problems.

[rpcrowe]

I am going to have a technician look at my computer tomorrow. I obviously have more problems than just the file associations. When I reboot the computer, the computer doesn't recognize that it has just been rebooted. I find that I have several program upgrades waiting to be installed by rebooting.
When I reboot the computer, I still get the message that I need to reboot in order to have the updates installed.

I have wanted to get a card instelled so I can use two monitors since I have just purchased an NEC EA 231 monitor and would like to use it along with my present 19" dell which I will use in the portrait position to view images in that format. I also want to see if I can add a bit of RAM to the computer.

Thanks for your help guys...

[Maritimer1]

I need more RAM, too. Often, photoshop will just cease working. When that happens, I have to go in and delete files to "make room".

Hope everything is up and running well, soon. We're all too used to depending on these things!


Myra

[Colin Southern]

I need more RAM, too. Often, photoshop will just cease working. When that happens, I have to go in and delete files to "make room".

Hi Myra,

I suspect that you're talking about different things here; deleting files frees up disk space, but those files don't use any RAM unless the program is actually running. The only exception is if your system doesn't have enough RAM and then tries to use the hard drive as virtual RAM by way of a swap-file.

My advice is ... if you have a 32 bit operating system ... to just stick 4GB RAM in the system and be done with it (32 bit systems can't use any more than 4GB RAM). If you have a 64 bit OS then around 8GB RAM is a good starting point these days (especially under Vista); XP64 & Windows 7 64bit are "OK" with 4GB, but windows 7 64 bit appreciates more (I run 12GB on my post-processing PC).

In terms of Hard Disk Drive sizes, it doesn't matter much from a performance point of view, so long as it's not above around 2/3 full.

[revi]

What also helps is having 2 hard disks: one for the system and one for personal data: disk I/O can be the greatest bottleneck (at least 1000x slower than RAM), so having two HDs allows system access and data access in parallel. Note that I said disks, not partitions: you need the two sets of reading heads...

As for RAM: you'll notice when you have not enough: your hard drives start doing over-time ('virtual' memory over what you have in your system is actually hard disk space, so when you start overloading your RAM, the excess goes to your hard drive, and that's slow, especially when changing program/module regularly...)

Regards,

Remco

P.S. I run my linux system with 6 GB, and that's not excessive for 16-bit editing in digikam (but enough for now).

[proseak]

There are a lot of factors affecting Photoshop performance, and some of them are purely hardware related. The first one is the amount of RAM available - for 32-bit systems, the limit is 4Gb, so that's what to get. If you're not sure what to get, visit crucial.com and use their online scanner.

The other main factor is the use of "scratch discs", Adobe's term for virtual memory. It's important to set these(or at least one) to a physically separate drive. I've seen it use both the "root" directory, and a "Temp" folder so it's important that they're both empty - nothing in the "Temp", or the root of the drive. Thus if you're using "D" for this, everything should be in folders. If there's loose files, create a folder, call it something like "from root" and put the files in there.

Having acquired the RAM, you need to set the amount accessible to Photoshop via the Preferences dialogue - press Ctrl+K, and head for the "Performance" tab. Here, you'll see "Available RAM", and an "ideal range". Set this near maximum. Next, go to "Scratch discs", and make sure that No.1 is set to your second hard drive. make sure that "C" is set as the very last one.

There are a lot of other factors, but these are the major ones.

HTH

proseak

[proseak]

Did you ever get the problem sorted out?

If so, what caused it?

[rpcrowe]

I never got the problem sorted out... I changed computers and the technician who helped me set up my new system assured me that if I removed the hard drive from my old (Dell) computer and installed it into my new (Gateway) computer, I could access all the programs I had on my old computer using the hard drive from my old computer.

He was WRONG! Although I can access the data from the old computer, I cannot run the programs.

I really want to upgrade my editing software. I was running Adobe Photoshop CS3 which is packaged along with several other applications in the Adobe Creative Suite CS3. I originally bought Creative Suite CS3 under a student discount when I was taking a Photoshop course at the continuing education department of a local community college. I didn't really need the entire suite but, the price of the suite in the student bookstore was a lot less than a stand alone Photoshop CS3 program on the open market.

The problem is that I cannot upgrade only the Photoshop component of Creative Suite and the upgrade to Creative Suite CS5 would cost me $500 (USD). Since I am no longer earning from my photography, this is too high a price. I plan to do the following:

1. I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop Elements 8 which seems like a pretty capable program. I will play around with this for a while. My local discount store (COSTCO in California) has PSE-8 for $49 (USD) after an instant rebate and that is really a bargain.

2. I do like Capture One 5 for RAW conversion and a LOT of other manipulation. The Capture RAW 5 costs right at $100 but, there is a free trial version online which I will download today.

3. If I like the combination of PSE-8 and capture One 5 for my editing purposes, I will have an editing system for about $150 (USD) which is even better than the student price of Photoshop CS5.

4. However, if I am not comfortable with the PSE-8 and the Capture One 5 combination, then it is back to school for a couple of free or low cost courses at one of my local community colleges and then I will purchase a new copy of Photoshop CS5 at a student discount...

[proseak]

a few questions...do you still have the old machine? If so, and if you can find a technician worthy of the name, there is a chance that you might be able to get it working again, and it's something I should have thought of earlier.

CS is very easy to modify, customise, if you prefer and sometimes the settings can get so tangled that things go awry, or just stop working altogether. Reinstalling is a fairly major procedure, and there is something to try first - reset the preferences. I'm going to copy and paste the next bit;

"There is a way to reset all your customization back to the Photoshop default factory setting. Your preferences and customizations are stored in a Photoshop CS3 preference files. If you hold down the three modifier keys Ctrl-Alt-Shift in Windows (Command-Option-Shift in the Mac) while starting up Photoshop" then you will see a screen "Delete the Adobe Photoshop settings file?". Click yes, and it will revert to the factory defaults. (this from http://www.learnwebdesignonline.com/...references.htm)

the technician who helped me set up my new system assured me that if I removed the hard drive from my old (Dell) computer and installed it into my new (Gateway) computer, I could access all the programs I had on my old computer using the hard drive from my old computer.

He was completely wrong - it's like saying that a Bronica lens will fit a Mamiya(I seem to recall that this is impossible..!) Perhaps you could get a student to help instead. These days most are fairly computer-literate, and often very helpful.

About RAW capture, there is quite a lot of free programs "out there"; Raw Therapee springs to mind, and Scarab Darkroom. There are a lot of others; I've just used these enough to feel happy with them.

Best of luck!

[Colin Southern]

the technician who helped me set up my new system assured me that if I removed the hard drive from my old (Dell) computer and installed it into my new (Gateway) computer, I could access all the programs I had on my old computer using the hard drive from my old computer.

What a bizarre (and totally incorrect) thing to say; The files may be physically accessable, but there will be no registry entries for them as they won't have been through any installation process. Occasionally one can get a relatively unsophisticated program working by copying/pasting it across, but 9 times out of 10 it doesn't work (or at least not without a lot of stuffing around).

Out of curiosity, I'm wondering why you'd spend $100 on Capture 1 when you have "the good bits" of Adobe Camera RAW included with PSE 8 for free? I'm not trying to knoce Capture 1 - I've used it - I just didn't think it was anything special, and didn't do anything I couldn't do just as well in ACR.

[Klickit]

Richard, if you do decide to go with Photoshop Elements, there are some excellent extras available at low, or sometimes no cost. Just Google "hidden power photoshop elements" and you will get various sites and books that outline how to unlock these areas, how to get around things that Elements appears not to have and some software add-ons that also help. I think there is also a Yahoo Group devoted to this.

[rpcrowe]

I may not need Capture One at all, I didn't know until I started playing with Elements 8 that it had such a seemingly good interface with RAW images. This looks very capable ( http://www.photoshopelements.net/ind...id=7&Itemid=54 )

The last time I played with Elements was either Version two or three and I didn't think too much of the program at the time, which is why I started with Photoshop 7, However, I am quite impressed with the sophistication of Elements 8. It seems like I can do just about everything with Elements 8 that I was doing with CS3.

In fact it seems like I can do many things better (well, easier anyway) with PSE-8 that I could do with CS-3. I am quite interested in the Exposure Merge ( http://www.photoshopelements.net/ind...id=7&Itemid=54 ). I haven't tried it but, it looks pretty neat.

I have decided to purchase PSE-8 and play with it. After-all, $50 USD, or so isn't a terrible lot of money to spend on an editing program, especially one with the capabilities that PSE-8 apparently has. This is the price at U.S. Costco discount store after a instant rebate. ( http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...arch=photoshop elements 9&Mo=1&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=m ode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogNa me:BC&Ne=4000000&D=photoshop elements 9&Ntt=photoshop elements 9&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s= 1 )

BTW: regarding add-ons for Elements. I was given a new copy of Corel KnockOut 2 which seems like it has some pretty neat selection capabilities, especially for difficult subject matter such as hair. Since, I fully expected to get a 16 bit editing program for my new computer, I never installed KnockOut 2 for my old CS3 program.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Richard,

I believe that the RAW converter has the same engine as it's bigger brother, but it's limited to the first 2 tabs ... having just said that, it's very seldom that I use the other tabs anyway ... and the fuctionality that the other tabs provide can be pretty much emulated with other tools anyway.

[carregwen]

Hi Richard,

I believe that the RAW converter has the same engine as it's bigger brother, but it's limited to the first 2 tabs ... having just said that, it's very seldom that I use the other tabs anyway ... and the fuctionality that the other tabs provide can be pretty much emulated with other tools anyway.

Am I correct in saying that PS8 RAW also lacks the Grad tool and the adjustment brush, both of which are extremely useful?

[Dave Humphries]

Am I correct in saying that PS8 RAW also lacks the Grad tool and the adjustment brush, both of which are extremely useful?

Rob,

As I don't know what you're talking about, the answer is probably 'yes'.

Richard,

One thing to be wary of with Elements is that only whole, flat picture adjustments are 16 bit. As soon as I need Layers, masks, cloning, et al (in Elements 6) I have to convert to 8 bit

The good news is that if you buy a pukka version and register it, Abobe may offer you a half price upgrade - I had 3 chances to upgrade to CS4, but didn't.

One year later and I am beginning to wish I had - I don't think it was a scam, but now I'll never know as they stopped offering when Elements 8 and CS5 came out (which probably means it was legitimate).

Cheers,

[carregwen]

Rob,

As I don't know what you're talking about, the answer is probably 'yes'.

Tools in CS4 are

zoom
hand
WB
colour sampler
target adjustment (selective contrast/exposure/colour) < Not in PSE6 >
crop
auto leveller
spot removal (clone) < Not in PSE6 >
red eye removal
adjustment brush (like target adjustment but more specific) < Not in PSE6 >
graduated filter (works like an ND grad filter, but can also brighten one side of an image) < Not in PSE6 >
options
rotate left
rotate right



sliders are

general (as shown below)
tone curve < Not in PSE6 >
sharpness & noise reduction.
HSL/greyscale < Not in PSE6 >
split tones < Not in PSE6 >
lens corrections < Not in PSE6 >
camera profile
presets < Not in PSE6 >
snapshots < Not in PSE6 >

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Rob,

As you'll see, I took the liberty of editing your post with " < Not in PSE6 >" where appropriate.

I gather you need Lightroom or CS to get the full set.

Thanks,