Filed under: Media, Photography | Tags: Aperture, Apple, Camera, Photography
A recent Twitter post summed things up when the writer said, “Apple Aperture is like your dead-beat dad who shows up late on Christmas day. But he has EVERY present you ever wanted.”
There’s some truth in this because Apple are kind of slow at releasing updates – and they struggle to keep up with RAW formats for new cameras – much to the frustration of many a new camera owner.
I had decided that failing anything new from Apple, I would switch to Lightroom 3 when it come out of Beta in April. Aperture 3 therefore surprised with it’s “200 new features” so Apple delivered, and big time. This is really quite an impressive upgrade.
Sadly actual upgrade process was incredibly painful – there is some suspicion on web forums that there’s a memory leak – and as a result there are many posts about the amount of time it takes to complete an upgrade (and the fact that computer resources are so heavily drawn on that the computer is useless for many hours). Hopefully a fix will come soon, but if you persevere with the upgrade and cycle through a series of re-starts, things seem to come right. And that’s when all is forgiven (new users probably won’t have this upgrade hurdle of importing and converting their old files)
It’s clear that Apple have been listening – and while this is still not quite the DAM manager I’d like it to be, it’s much improved on many fronts.
While Aperture was down for me, I used Lightroom 2 to finish a project I was working on. Granted it is a while since I used LR, but it proved to me just how much more I prefer Aperture. Lightroom’s “module” based approach is frustrating – chopping and changing my workflow to suit the software is not how I want things to work. Also, the cluttered interface was annoying – urgh, you have to click so many things to get the panels out of the way. By contrast, Apertures F key (for full-screen) is sweet, and now on A3 you simply hold the shift key while making your Adjustment and 99% of the HUD vanishes (it just keeps the slider you are using). This is very cool.
There are many great new features in Aperture 3 – thanks Apple (and perhaps thanks to Adobe too, as some of the new ideas appear to have been inspired by Lightroom). It’s a pity the upgrade path is so onerous, and that updates to the RAW engine seem to take so long to be released, but all in all this is an outstanding application.
UPDATE
Hmm maybe I spoke to soon. Things slowed down again – had to crash out of an export session that A2 would have done easily (seemed the CPU creep thing was happening again). And brushes, woah those things are slow and clunky on me.
Oh well, I await a fix – am sure they’re working on it at Apple land. Just hope it’s soon as this is frustrating (and damaging for them too)
UPDATE 2
Well it is a week later as I write this and I have just had A3 crash three or four times in a row as I try to work on a clients shoot. I guess the fine print says I can’t sue for lost income and time, but professional quality this is not. C’mon, where’s some info on patch/fix please???
UPDATE 3
A major patch came out today (taking Version 3 to 3.0.1), about two weeks after my problems started. I think this is a good fast response from Apple – hopefully it addresses the issues, I’ll give it a good workout over coming days…
UPDATE 4
MUCH improved in many area (thanks!), but Faces is frozen and won’t re-start (after initially working for about 10 minutes), brushes still too clunky to be of any use, random crashes continue – and there are other “issues.” As twitter message said, “Aperture 3 was Alpha and 3.0.1 was Beta” – so hopefully we get a release candidate soon…
UPDATE 5
Another patch duly applied – this time to Apple Pro Apps (to address a “memory leakage”) so hopefully the cumulative effect of these fixes is helping. I still find the bushes too slow to be useful, and faces has given up on me – but the main features I relied on with Aperture 2 seem to be going OK. So far anyway.
UPDATE 6
A patch that upgrades Aperture to 3.0.2 came out today. According to Apple’s release notes it appears to address quite a list of bugs – and even adds a new feature (iPad support). So, kudos to Apple for continuing to address their screw-up’s – they’re making an effort to get this right and I imagine there will be more of these yet. Shame it wasn’t right when it shipped – but they’ll learn from it and someone will be updating their resume I guess. Meantime, I’m running Faces again overnight to see how it performs this time around…
Later: Well after two nights and all-day in between, Aperture picked six more faces out. As a result, I’ve once again disabled this feature…
UPDATE 7
After downloading an OS (non-Aperture) update I decided to re-activate Faces. Woah, looks like all that processing the other night did something. It seems to have located most faces, and correctly named a decent chunk too. OK, so this is progress. The only footnote to add is that I am testing this feature on a small library – hate to think how long it might have taken on my main Aperture library, but hey Faces is finally starting to make me smile.
Filed under: Media, Photography | Tags: Aperture, Apple, Camera, DAM, ExpressionMedia, IDImager, iViewMediaPro, Lightroom, Phase 1, Phase One, Photography
A few years ago, iViewMediaPro was the preferred choice for those handling large catalogs of media files – it proved especially handy for managing digital photo files. It was quick, stable, and easy enough to use. There were numerous ways to find photos in a hurry, and ample options to customize things. This was in the “early days” of DAM (Digital Asset Management), and with it’s ability to handle over 100 different media types, iViewMediaPro proved a winner.
In fact the application was so good that Microsoft acquired iView in what appeared to be an astute move at the time. They made some tweaks, re-badged it as Microsoft Expression Media 2, and life for Mac and PC users went on quite happily.
Well that was then and this is now. MS have now abandoned the product – most likely due to low sales (it is a niche product after all). While it’s still possible to download a 30-day demo, you cannot buy a license key or full version off MS. It is possible to find boxed product at online stores like Amazon, but for all intents and purposes the product has ceased to be.
I don’t mind that MS have had a change of heart – that’s their free choice – but in the absence of any word of a replacement from them, it seems criminal that they acquired iView and in subsequently abandoning it have stranded users like me from any future with the product. I wish they’d give the software code back to the original owners, or put it out as shareware or something.
Meantime, photo applications like Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Lightroom offer pretty good DAM functionality, but neither are close to what even the old iView could do – let alone the newer Expression Media. Both Aperture and Lightroom are a great start, but they struggle when your library gets into the tens of thousands of images – something pro-photographers get to in short order. Expression Media also had many other options and tools that these later offerings do not have (e.g. you can’t burn to DVD from within Aperture).
There is a Windows offering called IDImager but as a Mac user I’m hoping Adobe up the ante and make Lightroom 3 the industrial grade DAM product that Lightroom 2 is not. Or maybe someone like PhotoMechanic or IDImager for Mac will come to my rescue?
UPDATE – May 2010
Good news all round. Microsoft has sold Expression Media to Phase One. Totally brilliant move on P1′s part as clearly Microsoft had put this in the too-hard basket, and P1 have a strong track record with software – witness Capture One as a class-leading application. Talk about a win!
Read the press release here
A mighty-fine doco on the genius talent of photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004).
This is part one of nine. If you like this, the balance can readily be found at YouTube.
Filed under: Media, Photography | Tags: Camera, Drew Gardner, Flash, Light, Location Lighting, Model, Photography, Photoshop
UK photographer Drew Gardner has an interesting “behind the scenes” DVD that is sure to appeal to many photographers.
The DVD comprises two shoots, and takes you through;
- Drew’s thought process (he emphasizes the importance of pre-scouting a location with great care, his preference for softbox’s and gridded lights outdoors, setting things up one light at a time, and so on)
- His work-flow on the day
- An overview of his processing back at the studio
While there are no “OMG” moments here, and the advice is practical perhaps even obvious at times – this is a very worthwhile DVD. A key message in this is how Drew “worries” his vision into reality - and the results speak for themselves. There are not many who can post creative images quite like these.
There is an emphasis on getting things right in-camera, although of course the computer has a significant role to play post-shoot. While Drew uses professional camera and lighting equipment, there is a suggestion that an advanced amateur could use some of these ideas for creative simulation around their own photographic efforts.
When you think about marshaling a water buffalo or a badger on site, you can appreciate that there’s a level of complexity on top of the model, location, and lighting considerations. Drew somehow makes it look manageable – testament to his experience and can-do attitude.
Highly recommended.
Filed under: Media, Photography | Tags: Photoshop, polarizer, reflections
The idea was to photograph a series of pet-food packs. This seemed easy enough, but it wasn’t as simple as it might seem…
The plastic packs proved highly reflective (as seen on the left image), so a few tricks were required. Firstly I used a polarizing filter over the lens, then I experimented with polarizing gel over the flashes. This helped a lot, but the final tweak came via a simple trick – namely to take one photo, move the lights and take another. The two images were then overlaid in Photoshop, and using selective masking I could paint over most of the reflections showing a non-highlighted part of the pack in the layer below (I left some reflections on purpose to communicate the surface feel)
So far so good…
Filed under: Photography
Had an interesting experience in social media last night when I joined an ad-hoc get together thanks to a twitter post from photographer Chase Jarvis. Generous with his time (just landed in Sydney two hours before the get together) and actively seeking feedback on his blog and it’s offerings from the 50 or so who turned up. Smart. Friendly. Left a good impression. Oh, and takes a mighty fine photograph.
And doing the opposite look-and-feel of the white on whute shot below, this one obviously being all about black. But you knew that.
Filed under: Photography, Technology | Tags: D3, Flash, Manfrotto, Nikon, Photography, Sydney
An interesting shot this one – it involved securing the camera to the car with a Manfrotto suction cup and arm. The camera was fired by Pocket Wizard, roughly an eigth of a second to get the blur off the tunnel walls, and at the end of the expsoure, the hotshoe fired another PW that in turned fired flashes on the back seats and one on the dash. Sweet. If not nerve wracking.
This photo looks straightforward, but it involves a little magic. The trick is in the shadow. What I have done here is light the flower from above right, and also from below – as it is resting on some translucent white plastic. The shadow efect is simply black cardboard cut to a shape traced from another light (which was not used in the photo). That shape is called a gobo as it “goes between” the under floor light and the subject – in efect atached to the base of the white plastic – and voila, one well lit flower with depth added by trick shadow!
Filed under: Media, Photography | Tags: blu domain, bludomain, Blue Domain, bluedomain, Domain name, Web Host, Web hosting service
Sigh… A word of warning if you’re thinking of setting up an account with Blu Domain. http://www.bludomain.com/
While their templates and web hosting work fine, the back end support really lets them down…
For a couple of months I have been trying to arrange a Domain Name Transfer – a simple process. They have had me pay two minor invoices to action this, but still I wait. The customer rep has been patient and helpful, but even now she has gone silent – perhaps embarrassed by her tech people.
Enough already. Time to rant. My opinion, now tarnished, is to avoid these people.
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UPDATE – March 2nd 2010 (Note: Most comments down the page were posted prior to this paragraph – just so you understand the sequence here)
One of the things I love about this little blog is that this page is consistently amongst the most visited of mine. It’s kinda satisfying, especially after getting not one but two copies of this BluDomain invoice today – way, way after I extracted myself from their incompetence. Or so I thought.
So here’s the thing. If you’re an employer, and a potential employee presents their resume featuring prior time at BluDomain, my advice is, “Avoid.” If you work there, well maybe you want to make friends with the unemployment center staff as this nonsense can’t make BluDomain any fun to work for. If you’re sussing them out as a potential client – just send me the money instead. At least I’ll be more fun to deal with.
I thought I was fairly polite in my posting a year ago, and even now I am holding back – but I’m sure you can draw your own conclusions about this seriously hopeless company. Urgh…
UPDATE – April 27th 2010 (Note: read the “Comments” to see how others have struggled with the wankers at BlueDomain)
This gets crazier – another two invoices from Marlene at BluDomain arrived today. I have lodged a complaint with PayPal, although to be fair it’s not PayPal’s fault – but they’ve likely had other complaints about BluDomain so they can add mine to the list.
UPDATE – January 31st 2011 (As above, do recommend you read the comments for much hilarity)
OK so another BluDomain invoice from PayPal today (and one about a month ago too). See the comments section, feel the pain, avoid any dealings with this business. Today I lodged a complaint with PayPal. None of this is their fault, but maybe they can investigate..
UPDATE – January 2012 yet another “renewal” invoice. Those dumb fucks at Blue Domain don’t deserve to be in business. I so hope people google them and find this post, in fact I’ll add some more tags to make it easier for people to find this sorry story
