A question about Preview, is it possible to view a jpeg and then whilst still within the Preview application delete the jpeg and move to to the next jpeg in the folder? I can do this easily in Windows, but not so in macOS 10.13.3.

You can do it in Preview, if you use the sidebar.

• Select all photos in the folder at once, ctrl-click, select "Open in Preview".
• All photos will appear as thumbnails in the sidebar in Preview.
• You can use the arrow keys to step through the thumbnails.
• Do delete a file, ctrl-click the thumbnail and select "Move to Trash".

You can open and close the Preview sidebar using the button at the left end of the toolbar.

I don't think you can delete them from within Preview. I can think of two ways to do this using the Finder:

1. Open the folder with the JPEGs in column view, and use Quick look to see the first one; you can then use the up/down keys to navigate, and Command-Delete to delete non-keepers.

2. Open the folder with the JPEGs in Cover Flow view, maximise the size of the image by dragging the divider down, and then again navigate using the cursor keys and delete the selected item using Command-Delete.

The problem with these will be the delay decoding the raws if you have raw and JPEGs in the same folder, which you may be able to circumvent by arranging the view by application (my laptop has JPEGs opening by Preview and raws by Graphic Converter); and if you want to delete the corresponding raw, there is an extra step involved.

léonie wrote:

As I was saying to Philly_Phan, I think that when large quantities of JPEGs become involved then of the available software provided within the operating system Finder and the Quick Look function appears to be the best fit for what I'm attempting to achieve.

I would not dare to discard photos based on the QuickView quality, unless the image is obviously a bad shot. In Preview I find it easier to judge subtle differences between the photos.

We each have our own levels of experience and our definitions of what constitutes a "bad shot." Also, the very concept of digital photography enourages volume and paring down is an absolute necessity. (Who in their right mind would maintain an event album of 7000 photos?) When I shot film, I'd keep 15 pics out of a 36-shot roll. Now, I keep 15 pics out of 300 or more on a memory card!

Also, in the days of film, it was really really difficult to do much after pressing the shutter button. Now, with the magic of Lightroom/Photoshop, almost anything is possible.

Since we're discussing photos, I'm going to post some that I've posted before but they do illustrate some of my points in this post. These are pics of Buzz Aldrin that I had taken about a year ago. They are NOT posed. Instead, I had made it a point to be at the right place at the right time.

Sure you can. Select an image (or images) and go to the Edit menu and "Move Selected Image(s) to Trash."

I routinely shoot "RAW + JPG" so each shot produces two files. I initially use Preview with the JPG versions as my "first Pass" to determine which shots are worth the effort of Lightroom and Photoshop. The only minor PIA is the need to subsequently trash the equivalent RAW files. NOTE: if there is only one photo left, the menu setting is grayed out.

For the record, I don't actually use Lightroom directly because I don't like its enforced database function. I use the Lightroom functions within Photoshop.

As I was saying to Philly_Phan, I think that when large quantities of JPEGs become involved then of the available software provided within the operating system Finder and the Quick Look function appears to be the best fit for what I'm attempting to achieve.

I would not dare to discard photos based on the QuickView quality, unless the image is obviously a bad shot. In Preview I find it easier to judge subtle differences between the photos.

Great pictures, Philly_Phan! You were certainly at the right place at the right time!

When I shot film, I'd keep 15 pics out of a 36-shot roll. Now, I keep 15 pics out of 300 or more on a memory card!

That is why I am always taking my MacBook Pro with me when traveling, so I can weed out the photos and select the keepers every evening, and do not have to wait, until I return home. It is less daunting to have only a few hundred photos to sort through every evening, than thousands of photos after returning home.

léonie wrote:

That is why I am always taking my MacBook Pro...

I've done that on occasion but there was always competition for my time and I ended up sorting through them when I got home anyway.

PS - Thanks for the compliment.

By the way, the shoulder patch in there second photo is a real one. When NASA made patches for the mission, they of course made many extras that were given out to those of us that worked on the program.

Preview works for me because of fewer images. I start out with maybe 100-150 images, which I pare down to a dozen or so for Lightroom/Photoshop. Finally, I end up with four or five keepers.