Feb 15
Apple released version 2 of Aperture this past Tuesday. Finally! They are touting “over 100+ new features,” which seems about right.
I’ve been playing with it for the past few days and it appears that Apple is serious about supporting this program (there have been recent doubts since they have been taking so very long to support the newest digital SLRs). Aperture is now on par with the feature set of Adobe’s LightRoom.
If you’re already an Aperture user, get this upgrade right away. It’s faster, and it’s faster.
Did I mention that it’s faster?
Oh, and if you have not already committed to either Aperture or Lightroom, Apple dropped the price to $199, which is $100 less than Lightroom.
Feb 15
Nik Software is introducing a new Photoshop plug-in, called Viveza (door prize for the first person who can figure out what that name means) which utilizes a technology called “U Point.” It’s a pretty neato way of doing great edits of pictures in Photoshop. Here’s the info from Niks’ site:
“Introducing Nik Software Viveza, powered by U Point® technology for direct on-image editing, the most powerful and precise tool available to control light and color in photographic images. For the first time, corrections and enhancements can easily be made without the need to create complicated selections and layer masks.
U Point powered Color Control Points, placed directly on colors or objects in an image (such as sky, skin, grass, etc.), reveal easy-to-use controls that photographers can use to quickly adjust brightness, contrast or color in a fraction of the time needed by other tools.
Viveza will change the way you edit your pictures.”
The best way to understand the U Point technology is to watch this video.
Nov 02
Camera RAW files need love too, you know. Here are some links to Apple and Adobe documents stating exactly which camera raw formats Aperture and Lightroom/ACR are supported.
Apple supported raw formats
Adobe supported raw formats
Helpful to determine which camera is supported by which program. Important because of the new Leopard update.
Oct 08
Mamiya is bringing out their new 645ZD Digital Camera System for $9,999. It comes with the Mamiya 645AFD II camera body, an 80mm f/2.8 AF lens, and the ZD22 digital back. All in all, it sounds like a great deal to me. They are also throwing in a copy of Adobe’s Lightroom, just to sweeten the deal a bit.
Read the full product release here.
Oh, and I wouldn’t worry about that noise about Mamiya throwing in the towel. Just read this.
Oct 02
Head on over to the Aperture Users Professional Network for some neat tutorials on Aperture.
Check out the rest of the site while you’re there.
Sep 26
So you go around boasting to others about your 22 megapixel camera and the stunning images that it can take - unfortunately, that megapixel count pales in comparison to the efforts of big-brained researchers at Carnegie Melon University and NASA Ames’ Research Center, who developed an image that contains more than a billion pixels. They found a method to capture multiple images of a single landscape, combining them into one gigantic panoramic photo that you can view in total or zoom all the way into in perfect clarity. All you need is a standard digital camera and a robotics tripod, and you can begin snapping across the entire landscape while stitching them together later. Neat!
Sep 18
From Photoshop News:
PhotoPresets for Adobe Camera RAW by Jack Davis
For years, professional and enthusiast photographers have used Adobe’s Camera RAW software that is included with Adobe® Photoshop® to digitally process the RAW digital photos produced by their digital cameras. To increase your productivity and to expand the creative possibilities with using Adobe Camera RAW to process your digital photos, we are pleased to offer PhotoPresets with One-Click Wow! for Adobe Camera RAW. This collection of presets was created by renowned Photoshop educator, author and photographer Jack Davis. These presets will simplify your digital life and make processing your digital photos easier, faster and give you better results than ever before. And the best part is the price, free.
Continue reading »
Sep 17
If you click on this link (warning, PDF download) you should be downloading a 178-page update to Martin Evening’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book, The: The Complete Guide for Photographers book. Probably the best and most comprehensive LightRoom book out there at the moment. The PDF covers what is new in the recent LightRoom 1.1 update. Of course, LightRoom is at 1.2 now. You can download the 1.2 update here (it contains the 1.1 update too)
If the link doesn’t work, please let me know. It’s about a 20 meg download, so it’ll take a few minutes.
Jun 20
Macworld has a nice, long comparison between Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s LightRoom. I haven’t read the entire article yet and here’s a little taste:
Which is right for you?
Aperture and Lightroom are both well-designed applications. Aperture will appeal most to photographers who largely compose in-camera and want an application that will make quick work of culling images. The program offers better options for importing and storing your photos, and its project structure is better tuned than Lightroom’s collections- and folder-based approach. While the simplicity and power of Lightroom’s Develop module may seem like a big deal, in reality I was able to get the images I wanted from both programs. When you factor in Aperture’s excellent Web and Book modes and integration with Apple’s iLife suite, it’s clear that this is the more mature product. It may take you longer to feel comfortable in Aperture, but once you are, you’ll be happy with the breadth of its features.
That said, Lightroom is no slouch. For a version-1.0 program, it offers an impressive collection of features. Despite a few rough edges, Lightroom gives you much of the same functionality as Aperture, and has an excellent image-editing engine with an intuitive and effective set of tools. If you already have a structured workflow, and pixel editing is your primary concern, Lightroom may be the better fit.
I use both programs quite a lot. I love Aperture for its system of organizing images yet I prefer LightRoom’s develop module. I wish I could crazy glue the two together. Better read the article to see what will suite you better.
You know what? Just buy both (J&R is still selling LightRoom for $199 at the store itself).
Jun 18
Adobe has been tinkering with a camera that has 19 lenses (like a bug) and can take 3D images where focus can be manipulated after the image is taken.
From a PopSci article:
“But the process doesn’t stop there. Adobe software can analyze the 19 captured photos and from them generate thousands of intermediate images so that each shot seamlessly morphs into those adjacent. Then images are layered, like thin sections, producing a three-dimensional simulation of the scene in which every piece of it is in focus.”
Click here to read more at PopSci’s site.
Thanks to my nephew Scott for this story.
