Aperture

Darren Lewis · 09-10-2007, 02:42 AM

Are any Mac owners here using Aperture? If so, what do you think about it?

As I'm getting ready to switch to Mac, I'm starting to look at what software I might need. I'm not a pro photographer, but I am a reasonably serious amateur.

On my old Windows setup I used a combination of Breeze Downloader Pro and Breeze Browser Pro to download (and auto rename including directory distribution) my photos, process the RAW files and proof them. I would then use Photoshop Elements to do any touch-up and I was starting to look at iMatch for photo cataloguing and archiving.

Unfortunately, only PS Elements is avaialble for the Mac (and even then only at v4.0 and not in Universal format yet), so I'm starting to think again about my photo workflow.

I'm quite fussy about my naming and storage. I rename them as YYYYMMDD_Number.jpg, and I want a cataloguing app that will allow photos to be stored in more than one "collection" or "album" with the ability to store photos off my main drive (eg on a DVD). I'm not sure iPhoto will be powerful enough for my needs.

I had a play with the demo of Adobe Lightroom but it looks and feels horrible to me, and it's renaming feature didn't seem to work properly.

The demo videos for Aperture make it look good, but then again I suppose they would do!

Any thoughts?

Aaron Reynolds · 09-10-2007, 06:31 AM

You'll probably want to look at iPhoto first. Aperture is great for several things, and if you do any of them you'll want to look seriously at Aperture:

- working with RAW -- it's really, really easy in Aperture
- batch processing image changes -- applying the same colour correction to a very large group of pictures
- making multiple variations from a RAW file without taking up much disk space
- stacking images -- putting together a pile of pictures that are all variations on the same thing and putting your selection on top of the pile

iPhoto allows for easily putting an image in many different albums at the same time. It also allows your library to not be on your boot drive -- just pick a drive for it and it'll work fine. It won't allow your library to be on DVDs, but you can create archives directly from iPhoto onto DVDs that will retain all of your arrangement and alterations to the image. Then these discs appear just like a shared library in iPhoto when you put the disc back in the computer.

You can't have your Aperture library on DVDs either (since these libraries are supposed to be live -- quick changes on the fly aren't so easy on DVDs), but you can keep parts of your Aperture library offline.

iPhoto has a deceptively simple interface -- if you have an Apple Store nearby, I'd recommend going in for one of the free workshops on iPhoto (and also one on Aperture -- compare them!).

What's your workflow like now?

ErichH · 09-10-2007, 09:05 AM

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/aperture/

Darren Lewis · 09-10-2007, 11:28 AM

Thanks guys. Eric, that link looks like a good one. Aaron, I currently use Breeze software to download from my memory card onto my PC and process any RAW files and make quick proofs. I store any edits by adding a suffix onto the filename of the original. Unfortunately Breeze don't make their products for Mac users which is a real shame.

I was looking around for a good photo management and cataloguing app so hadn't decided on one particular one.

I'm going to wait for my new iMac to arrive before making a final decision. It may be that I like the way iPhoto handles things. If I don't, then I'm pretty sure I'd prefer to go with Aperture than Adobe Lightroom.

Sam Posten · 09-10-2007, 03:00 PM

I'd bet you really want Lightroom not Aperture. I'm sure Aperture has a lot of really cool features, but unless you are running a Mac Pro and have a bajillion years to learn aperture, Lr seems to be the way to go.

Check out how easy AND powerful it is with the free videos at:
http://www.whibalhost.com/_Tutorials.../01/index.html

iPhoto? Just doesnt have the depth of capabilities that Lr does. If you are taking a couple hundred shots a year maybe, but if your image collection is over 1k or more you might need a heavy duty tool.

Sam

**HTF Ads**

DaveF · 09-10-2007, 05:35 PM

Macworld did a Lightroom vs Aperture comparison.

Craig S · 09-10-2007, 07:50 PM

Note that you can download a 30-day trial of Aperture from Apple. I believe you can do the same with Lightroom. Both programs have received good reviews, but reviewers agree the workflow on each is very different and some folks are going to prefer one and some the other on that basis.

Here's Apple's Aperture site:

http://www.apple.com/aperture

The free trial is there, and there are tons of demo & tutorial vids.

I'm about 10 days in to my eval period on Aperture right now.

Quote:

but unless you are running a Mac Pro and have a bajillion years to learn aperture, Lr seems to be the way to go.

Aperture runs fine on my iMac. You may be right about the 2nd point - it's a little overwhelming to me at this point. Not sure if I need all that power.

Craig S · 09-10-2007, 08:03 PM

And here's Adobe's Lightroom site, and yes, they have a 30-day trial as well:

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/

As there are people who swear by each, might as well try both out and see for yourself (that's what I'm doing).

Aaron Reynolds · 09-10-2007, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

iPhoto? Just doesnt have the depth of capabilities that Lr does.

Sam, while they're different tools I'd bet that you'd be really surprised at the things you can do with iPhoto -- it's not the joke it was three or four years ago.

What it doesn't do fantastically is handle RAW -- I mean, it makes it easy in the workflow, but it's converting to 16 bit TIFF pretty much immediately. You can get a better radical alteration to the file by working directly with the RAW data in a program like Aperture or Lightroom, but if you're not making radical changes you actually won't see much or any difference to the final image.

Darren -- you can use iPhoto to do the import, and changes are non-destructive. What iPhoto does when you make a change is duplicate the image and store the original in a different file in the library (which you don't go into -- file management and organization is all in iPhoto's main window), allowing you to revert to the original at any point in the future. You can also hit the shift key to see the original when viewing a changed file.

iPhoto also does this when using Photoshop as an external editor -- it makes a new copy and sends that to Photoshop. After working on it, you just hit Save in Photoshop and iPhoto updates its thumbnails to reflect the change. You can now also use the shift key to see before and after and revert back to the original at any time in the future.

Where Aperture used to kill it was keyword tagging and batch changes, but both are remarkably improved in iPhoto '08 -- you can even lift and stamp colour and contrast corrections from one photo onto another.