Browsing for a File

Most of the time, though, you won't be starting with a blank image. Instead, you'll have a photo that you want to work with. If you know where it is, you can press Command-O, click on the Open icon, double-click the file, or do whatever you generally do to open a file. If you don't know where on the hard drive your picture is, you'll turn to the File Browser. Open the File Browser by clicking its tab in the palette well, by choosing it from the File menu or the Windows menu, or by typing Shift-Command-O.

You can select the thumbnail size from the More menu or by clicking the View By button. The File Browser can also show you the file hierarchy and the creation data or camera file info, as well as a larger thumbnail of a selected image, as in Figure 22.3. Normally, all information about a file is displayed in the info window; to display only camera/scanner information, select EXIF from the menu on the lower right. As I mentioned the previous chapter, you can change the sort order using the options on the Sort By menu.

Figure 22.3. The info window includes creation date, camera used, and so on.

Use the top pop-up menu to locate the disk and folder you think the file is on, and just start scrolling through the folder list on the left until you find it. Drag it into an Elements window or double-click it, and it will open on its own.

To rotate the selected image 90 degrees to the right, click the Rotate button. To delete the file from your computer, click the Delete File button.

Task: Browsing and Opening an Image

Time for a little practice. The following steps will walk you through the process of browsing for some picture files on your hard drive:

1. Go to the palette well and locate the File Browser tab. Click it once. If you don't see the File Browser in the palette well, choose Window, File Browser to open it.

2. After the window opens, use the scrollbar to review what's on the desktop.

3. Use the pop-up menu at the top of the browser to navigate to a different hard disk, disk partition, or other external storage device. Again, scroll through to see what's there.

   

   Remember, you can customize iPhoto so that images in your photo library open directly in another photo editor, such as Photoshop Elements. Simply open the iPhoto preferences and change the Double-click setting to Open in Other. In the file browser that appears, navigate Photoshop Elements and choose it. Now, when you double-click an image in your iPhoto Library, Elements will start up and your image will be available for editing.

   
   

4. The top-left browser window shows the file hierarchy. Scroll down until you locate the folder where a photo you'd like to select lives. Then click the file when it appears in the list on the right. It should be highlighted.

5. Read through the image information in the bottom pane. If it is a digital photo that you've shot and saved to the computer, you can find out a lot about it. What was your shutter speed? Did you use a flash? If you scanned it in, when did you do so? What's the resolution?

6. Double-click the file to open it, or drag it into the Elements window.

7. Notice that the File Browser remains open. If you like, explore your hard drive(s) and locate more pictures you want to come back to and work on later. When you're done, close the File Browser.