Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers - Martin Evening [41]
Bridge output modes
Up until version CS4, Bridge had always had to rely on Photoshop to use the Contact Sheet and Web Photo Gallery automate functions. These were done away with in Photoshop CS4 and replaced with the Output workspace tools that are now found in Bridge. On the plus side, this makes the contact sheet and web Gallery generation easier to access and is certainly an improvement over what went on before. Bridge CS5 does now also include a few extra Lightroom-style, ‘Airtight’ Web Galleries. Even so, Adobe have not yet done anything to speed up the output process and Bridge is still as dog slow as ever when it comes to processing contact sheets or a Web Gallery output. If you regularly need to prepare a lot of contact sheets or Web Galleries, there is no doubt that Lightroom is the better program to use. The tools in Lightroom are much better suited for these kinds of tasks, and the contact sheet generation in Lightroom in draft mode is roughly 100 times faster than Bridge CS5.
New to Bridge CS5 is the addition of the ‘Airtight’ gallery styles in the Output panel (mentioned in the accompanying sidebar). The other new features are IPTC extensions in the File Info dialog, an improved Batch Rename dialog as well as a brand new Mini Bridge extension panel for Photoshop (see page 81).
Custom workspaces in Bridge
The Bridge panels can be grouped together in different ways and the panel dividers dragged, so for example, the Preview panel can be made to fill the Bridge interface more fully and there are already a number of workspace presets which are available to use from the Application bar. In the Figure 1.97 example you can see Bridge being used with the Output workspace setting, which offers a special Output Preview panel for previewing print layouts or Web Galleries directly in Bridge before you proceed to make a print or generate a complete Web Gallery.
Figure 1.97 You can use the different workspaces to quickly switch Bridge layouts. This example shows the Output workspace in use, which one can use to edit print or Web Gallery layouts.
Slideshows
You can also use Bridge to generate slideshows. Just go to the View menu and choosing Slideshow, or use the keyboard shortcut. Figure 1.98 shows an example of a Slideshow and instructions on how to access the Help menu.
Figure 1.98 You can use the Bridge application View Slideshow mode to display selected images in a slideshow presentation, where you can make all your essential review and edit decisions with this easy-to-use interface (press the key to call up the Slideshow shortcuts shown here).
Mini Bridge
The main Bridge program now has a little cousin called Mini Bridge, which, rather than being an alternative, standalone application, is added as a Photoshop Extension panel (see Extensions panels on page 28). This can be viewed as an add-on feature for Bridge rather than a replacement as such. I see this as offering a simpler user interface for doing the types of things photographers need to do most. It provides a simplified interface for image browsing, but without offering refinement features such as keyword sorting, metadata editing, or Web and print output. While Mini Bridge is unlikely to replace all your main Bridge needs, it arguably allows you to browse more conveniently from within the Photoshop interface. Hopefully, it will encourage more Photoshop users to work with Bridge.
Launching Mini Bridge
To launch Mini Bridge you can go to the Window menu and choose Extensions Mini Bridge. Or, you can click on the Launch Mini Bridge button located in the Photoshop application bar and circled below in Figure 1.99.
Figure 1.99