Digitalopia

Having recently upgraded to Aperture 2, I was looking forward to its tethered shooting features. Whether you are shooting studio shots, stock and macro photography, or taking shots for an eBay listing, the ability to control you camera from within Aperture is a real benefit. The real-time feedback also provides a faster shooting workflow, and can be a real asset for studio photographers that want to give instant feedback to their clients.

Not all camera models are support by Aperture, and Apple maintains a supported camera list. Currently, it seems that only Canon and Nikon models are supported.

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Whilst most photographers have a recommended way of managing and arranging their photos, I thought I would share my preferred approach I use in Aperture. I have also included details of how I manage submitting photos to stock photography agencies.

I start by first creating a specific project and respective folders/smart albums for the project. I have included a screen grab below for reference.

By default, all photos are rated with 0 Star when they are first imported into Aperture. I will then selectively rate the photos with either a Reject or 1 Star rating. I then filter (using the filter drop-down) the main project view for 1 Star or Better to determine what photos should be promoted to 2 Star. I then repeat this process to promote the 2 Star photos to 3 Star. It is the 3 Star photos that I usually perform some sort of image editing and adjustment. Also with Aperture 2.1, I do not have to make a round trip to Photoshop for basic Dodge & Burn editing.

The best 3 Star photos are then rated as 4 Star and are the photos that I will be submitting to stock photography agencies. The Selects smart album is configured to only show 4 Star photos. If I deem a photo worthy, I will promote it to 5 Star; however this rating is reserved for only the best Portfolio quality photos. I typically do not submit portfolio photos to stock agencies, so the 5 Star photos can be copied out to another folder.

To manage the process of submitting photos to a stock photography agency, I create a folder and album structure to reflect the various stages of the workflow I follow, ‘For Submission‘, ‘Submitted‘, ‘Approved‘, and ‘Rejected‘. I number the folders to ensure I have full control of their ordering, as they are sorted alphanumerically by default. After copying the 4 Star photos to the respective agency ‘For Submission’ folder (I may not submit the same photos to all agencies, so I may selectively copy them) I move the photos (holding down ‘Option’ whilst moving the photo) between the albums. The screen grab below shows an example structure for iStockPhoto with a example ‘Tethered Test’ project. I will post more of the tethered shooting capabilities of Aperture 2 at a later date.

Stock Photography - Folder
    iStockPhoto - Folder is created for each stock photography agency
        For Submission - Album
        Submitted - Album
        Approved - Album
        Rejected - Album
    Projects - Folder
        [Project Name] - Project is created for each shoot
            Rejects - Smart Album
            Selects - Smart Album

I am yet to find a quick way to copy the complete structure between projects, but I expect there is a simple a quick way!

I expect there are many different ways of arranging and managing your photos, but I have found this way to be the most productive. I have also found it helps when managing multiple stock agencies.

It seems that Apple is starting to take Aperture and digital photography seriously, with the release of Aperture 2.1 today, incorporating a number of key features that improve the already impressive feature-set of the recently released Aperture 2.0.

Whilst there are numerous bug fixes and small feature enhancements/additions, the biggest feature to be included is the open image editing plug-in support. This has opened the door to allow image editing plug-ins to be developed by third-parties.

The following is taken from the Apple press release.

“By clicking on one or more images within Aperture, users can choose from a menu of installed plug-ins and apply specialized imaging operations to either TIFF or RAW images. Apple is working closely with key developers to bring the most requested plug-ins to Aperture such as:

• Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images;
• PictureCode’s Noise Ninja plug-in that delivers advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction;
• Digital Film Tools’ Power Stroke plug-in that features a simple, stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted adjustments;
• The Tiffen Company’s Dfx plug-in that provides an expansive suite of creative filters and effects;
• dvGarage’s dpMatte plug-in, which is a high performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range (HDR) image; and
• Image Trends’ plug-ins that include Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that automatically whitens and brightens teeth.”

This is great news for Aperture users, a feature that has been requested since version 1.0. The number of vendors already building plug-ins for Aperture is very impressive, and will hopefully bring some of our favorite Photoshop plug-ins to Aperture.

An Apple developed plug-in ‘Dodge & Burn’ is included in the update. Even though Apple has provided it as an example plug-in, it provides a lot of the functionally offered by Photoshop. In itself this is a worthy inclusion, and will help to reduce the number of round trips to Photoshop for simple image editing.

A very impressive and worthwhile update to Aperture 2.0.

If you are looking for massive storage for your movies, home video’s, etc. 1 terabyte (TB) drives are the obvious choice.

When configured as a RAID 5 array they offer massive storage capacity with the capability to expand further when needed. With most hardware and software RAID solution, this can also be performed online with no loss of service or data.

1TB drives have been around for quite a while, but they have been pretty hard to get. When Hitachi and Western Digital announced their drives late last year, there was a distinct lack of availability. Now, as other manufactures and models have been released they are starting to become more widely available.

The following ExtremeTech article provides a comprehensive comparison of 7 1TB drives.

ExtremeTech comparison of 7 Terabyte dirves

I will let you read the full article for ExtremeTech’s recommendations.

At home I use the low-power ‘Green’ version of the Western Digital 1TB drives in a RAID 5 array, and I have been very happy with them. They spin down to 5400 rpm (from 7200 rpm) when idle, keeping their temperature down (however, case design and fan placement have more to do with overall cooling.)

Please note that most external 1TB hard drives actually contain 2 x 500GB drives that are striped. As discussed in RAID article, this does lower the reliability of the array.

Even though the cost-per-GB still favors the 500GB drives, the larger capacity 750GB and 1TB make more sense for large scale media storage. You need a setup that can be easily expanded but does not generate too much heat or consume too much power. Choosing between 8 x 500GB RAID or 4 x 1TB RAID, the 1TB solution offers far more flexibility. If you are thinking of upgrading our media server, I would seriously look at 1TB drives, and with the availability of lower power drives, you can actually reduce you electricity cost.

Whilst not related to digital photography, I will sometimes sneak in an article about something else that I particularly enjoy. It seems that back in the days of the Sony Walkman, the portable earphones that came with the device were deemed acceptable to most users. It was rare for people to upgrade them to look for better sound quality. Full-size headphones were typically only purchased for use at home, listening to your vinyl collection.

With the advent of the iPod, we now have a device that can carry most (if not all) of our audio collection and capable of delivering very high sound quality (I will leave the discussion of compressed MP3 ‘quality’ to another post!).

As well as looking for higher quality sound, we now listen to our ipods for many hours a day, requiring a more comfortable headphone than the standard earbuds supplied with the iPod. Isolation is also important when in a noisy environment such commuting or at the gym. Being able to block out the background noise is a great way to really appreciate the music more.

This has led to an explosion in the availability of high quality earphones for portable audio use. The range is enormous, from 10 dollar earbud replacements to the range topping Ultimate Ears Custom UE 11 Pro at 1150 dollars!

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A light tent allows you to take photos of small (and sometimes large) objects whilst having full control of the lighting arrangement (position, brightness, etc.) If you are regularly taking photos for eBay, or like me, wishing to take photos for stock photography, a light tent can be a great investment.

The photo above shows a typical light tent. This one has been made by Bill Huber. He also has a detailed and well written set of build instructions here. Thanks for giving me the inspiration to build one myself, as I was very tempted to buy one.

Commercial light tents can be quite expensive, about 100 dollar for a very small one with a single light, up to several hundred dollars for larger tents with multiple lights that allow a more flexible lighting setup. A DIY solution can be built very cheaply, with the parts being easily available from most hardware stores.

I will be taking a similar approach to the one proposed by Bill, by using PVC tubing and angle brackets to build a rectangular tent frame. This will allow me to build legs of different heights to cater for different sized objects. I am also reading about the importance to use ‘daylight’ light bulbs, as traditional lights can produce a yellow tint to photos, requiring you to adjust the white balance (with typically less than ideal results).

DIY Links
The following sites should provide you (as they did me) inspiration to build your own light tent.

• Bill Huber detailed build instructions
• Andy Piper’s 3-part series, part 1, part 2 and part 3
• A Flickr search finds a lot of good examples of DIY light tents
• The $8 Light Box/Tent
• DIY eBay Photo Studio - $0
• How to Make A Inexpensive Light Tent

I will keep you updated with my progress.

A couple of yeas ago, I applied and got approved at a few stock photography agencies. I chose Fotolia, iStockPhoto and ShutterStock because they were (and still are) that largest and most popular stock photography agencies. My aim was to gradually build up a portfolio of stock images, with a hope to improve my photography skills along the way.

Due to other commitments coming along (or should that read laziness!), my plan never took off, and I have made about 20 dollars from them! Not exactly a case to start planning my retirement…

I now feel I can put the time and effort into stock photography and will be documenting my progress here at Digitalopia.

To start off (and the subject of future articles), I will be looking at the various stock photography agencies, the type and style of photos that have a higher chance of being sold, and any extra equipment needed.

I feel it is going to be an exciting and challenging journey ahead. I hope you also enjoy following me on my travels.

After the recent announcement from Toshiba that they would no longer be producing HD DVD products, it was only a matter of time before the retailers started to dump their remaining stocks.

Locally in Australia we have seen the software being sold for as low as 5 dollars each. Whether this is a great time to build up a cheap collection is questionable, but I am sure that some bargains may also be had with players.

However, this announcement may also mean that price drops of Blu-ray players and software may not come anytime soon. Blu-ray can now gloat in its victory, and with a single horse-race, it may help to keep their prices high.

Welcome to Digitalopia. As the tag-line reads, this site is about ‘Digital Photography with the Apple Mac, from Amateur to Professional’.

The following main categories divide up the Digitalopia content.

Apple Hardware - Covering the wide range of Apple hardware that we use for digital photography. We will also cover third-party hardware such as NAS and RAID solutions.

Apple Software - From Mac OSX hints and tips to third-party applications to help you in your work with digital photography.

iPhoto - Included with iLife (and all new Mac’s), iPhoto provides a comprehensive and feature rich photo management and adjustment solution. Its ability to output books, calenders and Web sites helps it to provide a full end-to-end solution for most users.

Aperture - For those seeking more powerful photo management and advanced adjustment capabilities (especially when working with RAW photos), Aperture provides the necessary feature-set for the advanced amateur or professional photographer.

Photography - General photography news, reviews and articles will be included.

Stock Photography - As an aside, I am attempting to build a stock photography portfolio. I will be taking you on my journey from the very start, with picking the right agency, the right photos and tips and techniques to help your photos sell.

We hope you enjoy reading Digitalopia as much as we enjoy producing it.