Pro Show Gold for Mac?

[climbguy]

So I use to use Pro Show Gold on my PC but I am finding iPhoto's slideshow capabilities to be extremely limiting. Does anyone know of better more professional oriented slideshow software?

thanks!

 

[C J Adamik]

I am also a fan of Pro show Gold. In May when I switched I called the the company ans asked about a Mac version and I was told "at this time we have no plans for a Mac version." That just broke my heart.

 

[MacBurg]

Fotomagico is probably the most professional offering for the mac, I've made a few good slideshow's now and really like the program. I was just getting into ProShow Producer when I left the PC, so was pretty keen to find a replacement for OSX, and although ProShow Producer was a bit more advanced, once you get used to the UI in Fotomagico, you can output top quality shows.

 

[climbguy]

I'll check out Fotomagic, the iPhoto slideshow tool is worthless. Generally speaking I am very disappointed in iPhoto in general. I may end up just running proshow through parallels.

I also called to ask about the Mac version, I am hoping they log calls/requests like that so maybe if enough of us ask for it they'll do something about it.

 

[MacBurg]

iPhoto is useless altogether, delete it from your system before it weakens your way of working. I too hope ProShow bring out support for the mac.

 

[C J Adamik]

MacBurg, what do you use for your photo organization and touch up?

 

[MacBurg]

I always shoot RAW files with a Canon 5D, then import from camera using Canons own Image Capture, because it is simple and easy to choose exactly what you want to import, RAW files get imported to -

Photography>Work>Client Name>Raw Files

Image Capture -



From there I open CS3 Bridge, and go through the shoot, deleting any unwanted images, and selecting the ones I want to edit further. After I have selected what I want, I open them in Camera RAW which is built into Photoshop, here I make minor adjustments to the RAW files which then get processed into Tiff files that go here -

Photography>Work>Client Name>Original Tiff

CS3 Bridge -



Next I take files into Photoshop for Global and Local editing, and if necessary I'll save a layered version as well as a finished, flattened and sharpened version into -

Photography>Work>Client Name>Finished>Large Tiff

Most of my work is for the web so I also use "Save for Web" in photoshop to save a Jpeg version of the finished files which end up here -

Photography>Work>Client Name>Finished>100k Web


This may all seem irrelevant, but its very important to have a well organized work flow if you shoot RAW files, as you will end up with anywhere from 4 to 8 different versions of each file, it also pays to have lots of external storage!

iPhoto is a very, very basic photo viewing program that does everything in the background, which teaches you bad habits and can end up in a shambles. Its better off you start early and start organizing your files how you want them. Everyone shoots photos for different reasons, so my workflow may not necessarily apply to the next person, but its crucial to get a well thought out folder structure in place early on. You may remember where you have that photo of the cat you took last week, but in a year's time when he rolls over and dies, where's that photo now?




To simply view files I use iView Media Pro, and because I have an easy to follow folder structure, its easy to create catalogues in iView for different clients or my personal shoots. Catalogues are simply just sets of images that you determine, and once in iView you can scroll through catalogues very easy and change/create new catalogues easily. Similar to iPhoto, but much more advanced, and according to most, one of the fastest image viewers available, which is crucial when some folders may contain 10-20 images that are over 200mb each.

iview Media Pro -



Anyway, I hope I made sense and that you can see how important it is to be in control of your image files and also have a personalized way of sorting them.

 

[C J Adamik]

Thanks for your help. I am switching from Photo elements 5 (For PC) to PE4 for Mac.The mac version uses something called bridge. I could not figure that thing out. IPhoto is alright, but i do not want to leave the app just to edit the photo. I just don't want to spend all this time importing photos just to find out there is a better system out there and have to do this all over again.

I have a Canon rebel XT. I am not a photographer, i just take take picutres. My goal is to become a photographer.

 

[MacBurg]

Well, if your goal is to become a photographer, then it would be best for you to pick up good habits and figure out a good workflow early on. Working on images using the workflow and seperate programs like I do may be a bit over the top for you at the moment, but as you progress you'll soon reach the limits of simple programs like iPhoto.

I could probably suggest you check out either Aperture from Apple, or Lightroom from Adobe, both these programs are kind of an all in one solution. Both of these apps are similar in function, and take you through the workflow of processing a photo from basic color and brightness adjustments, to output for printing/web or slideshows.

They are not replacements for the applications I use however, and even though they use similar background engines for certain functions, Bridge and Photoshop are further advanced and are seperate programs altogether.

Bridge is basically just a photo viewer/organizer, and should work well with PSE 4 if thats the software you decide to go with.

 

[C J Adamik]

Thanks a bunch