Image Browser for external editor

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Are there any image browsing apps that can be used to sort through images and select them, one by one, for editing with an external editor?

I know there are a great many workflow tools for the Mac including Lightroom, CaptureOne, DXo's Optics Pro, OnOne Photo suite and others and that these all contain browser sections that are used to browse through photos and select ones to be processed but if I don't want to use those tools, and if I am not using Photoshop or Elements, are there any browsers that allow me to send an image to a 3rd party app for editing? For example, if I wanted to use PhotoLine or some other single image editor, what could I use to browse through a folder of images, select an image and send it to PhotoLine for editing?

I already have ArcSoft's Photo+ which is a very nice browser, but it does not contain any way to send an image to an editor for processing. I know I could use Photoshop Elements browser app, but that is really designed for Elements. Are there any other browsers that will do what I want?

Thank you.
 

IWT


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Mike,

I'm at risk of misunderstanding your post, so apologies in advance if that is the case.

Why not use iPhoto or the more recent Photos app, native to OS X?

It not only stores your pictures, as a library, but within the Edit function, it allows for external editing by a fairly large number of apps - Affinity Photo, Dx O OpticsPro, Pixelmater, Snapheal, Macphun, come to mind.

Ian
 
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Why not use iPhoto or the more recent Photos app, native to OS X?
No, I do not think you misunderstood my question. Your question indicates that you understood my post correctly.

As to Photos, that was my first thought but I could not find any way to send an image to an external editor in a way that would allow me to edit that image. I did see that I could add an extension and, in the edit mode, call that extension, but all that seems to do is to send the image to the specified editor function, apply some pre-cooked changes and return it. That is not what I want to do. I want to use some app as a browser, be able to select each photo I want to edit, send it to the editor and adjust it, manually, in that editor and then return it or save it. Perhaps there is a way to do this in Photos and I just have not found it as I have to admit that I did not play with it for more than about 10 minutes before deciding it was not going to do what I wanted.

I can do this using some of the workflow tools like Lightroom, but I don't want to use LR or any other workflow tool. My copy of LR is very old and I do not wish to join the Adobe subscription program.

UPDATE:

Just to clarify - I can see how to edit using Affinity Photo in Photos, but not tools like Photo Ninja, Dxo Optics Pro and CaptureOne. It looks like I can call specific parts of the OnOne Suite (Portrait, Enhance) but I do not see any way to get to Layers. It seems to me, and perhaps I am wrong as I have little experience with Photos, that only that functionality written to work almost as a plugin for Photos is accessible. Thus I could not call PhotoLine or Acorn if I wanted and presumably I could not call any other new editors unless they had an "extension" for Photos.

Perhaps I am wrong about that. I just am not sure but that is the way it appears to me.
 
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IWT


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Mike,

You're quite right. Extensions is designed for in-Photos-app adjustment.

What you could do, cumbersome though it is: Open Photos. Select 1, 2 or whatever number of pictures you wish to adjust > File > Export > Export as Original > Desktop (for example).

Then Open your favoured Editing app and Drag/Import each picture, edit, then Save the edited picture where you wish.

This is a tedious workaround, I know that.

I'm still trying to understand what you mean by a "Browser" in the photo-editing sense.

Anyway, that's my best shot. It falls short of what you asked for, but maybe others can chime in with suggestions.

Ian
 
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I "believe" the issue is with "single image editor", meaning it will only open and work with a single image at a time.
 
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Mike,

You're quite right. Extensions is designed for in-Photos-app adjustment.

What you could do, cumbersome though it is: Open Photos. Select 1, 2 or whatever number of pictures you wish to adjust > File > Export > Export as Original > Desktop (for example).

Then Open your favoured Editing app and Drag/Import each picture, edit, then Save the edited picture where you wish.

This is a tedious workaround, I know that.

I'm still trying to understand what you mean by a "Browser" in the photo-editing sense.

Anyway, that's my best shot. It falls short of what you asked for, but maybe others can chime in with suggestions.

Ian
What I mean by using a browser as a front-end for an editor is a setup something like that used for most workflow tools. For example, Lightroom presents a film strip that allows the user to select one image after another, each selection bringing that image up for editing. It is a quick way to process through images. Similarly Dxo's Optics Pro and CaptureOne also allow the user to select photos to be edited in either a filmstrip (single screen setup) or a full-screen browser display (multiple screen setup) and users can click on the next image to be edited. Click on image -> image shows up in editor -> user edits image -> user clicks on next image to be edited.

I was trying to find some way to do this for an editor that does not have this "front end" selection tool. One possible solution is to use Photoshop Elements Organizer which can be setup to allow the user to select an image and then call an editor to process that image. That presumably would work but I do not have a current version of Elements and don't want to buy one just for this "front end" functionality. In any case I hope that clears up what I am trying to do.

As to the workaround, I appreciate the effort you took to detail it but the whole idea is to simplify editing and all of the steps necessary to save, load, edit and re-save images seems to defeat the whole purpose of the exercise. Still, I am grateful that you took the time to respond. Thank you.
 

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