Paul's posterous

Aperture 3: 4 months on, living with Aperture

Well fortunately for me the last few months has been very busy, unfortunately that has meant my early fervour, excitement and blogging on Aperture 3 suffered. But sitting here at the end of another busy weekend at the end of another hot day (where I can't quite motivate myself to do the few bits of work I'd wanted to do tonight) I thought I'd post a bit of an Aperture update (prompted in part by a comment on one of my blog posts today)

LEOPARD vs. SNOW LEOPARD
My last series of slightly panic stricken posts revolved around an Aperture 2 vs. Aperture 3 speed debate. This went across a few posts:

I never really managed to finish this series off so I thought I'd take this opportunity to finish off those threads. Since those posts I've managed to mislay my timings but what made a big difference (as a few commenters and twitterers had mentioned) was my long over due switch to SnowLeopard that filled in the final missing gap and all of a sudden the speed was back and the times I was seeing were suddenly comparable with AP2 so the world seemed like a much better place again!  It has however made me realise that    my MacPro probably only has about 12-18 months of top end performance left in it, at least where Aperture is concerned. My graphics card is the weak link at the moment and I really must get it changed sooner rather than later, just as long as Apple stop bringing out shiny new things like the ipad and iphone4! :D

SOLID AS A ROCK
I have been very fortunate from day one with Aperture 3, I had no upgrade problems, no erroneous issues where a specific set of adjustments would cause Aperture to take many hours to export a single jpeg, no random crashes or slow down, nothing! For me at least Aperture 3 has been rock solid from day one through every update since. To this end I have tried where possible to offer any help I can to those on twitter who have had some truly awful problems, some of them I've even managed to help :)

I wouldn't class my usage as extreme as some and as I've mentioned in numerous other posts since the early days of Aperture 2 I've always subscribed to the practice of multiple libraries, at present in the last 10 days I have been regularly using 9 libraries! Although not extreme interms of number of images the way I use Aperture pushes it in a few areas. In particular every single studio session I do involves me using Aperture libraries over a wireless network (something I did with Aperture 2 as well) many of my sessions also involve having to download, sort, crop & process 40-100 5DmkII images in 5-10 minutes, this ONLY works because I am able to bend Aperture to fit my needs and workflow as well as adapt to fully exploit Apertures strengths.

This fast processing under pressure (while the customer is waiting) was one of the issues I was struggling with when I posted my speed concerns as I was struggling to edit the files in the required time, since the switch to Snow Leopard this has becomes easy again, in many ways the process is even quicker than before as I'm able to use Aperture 3's "processing" time to do other things, in particular interact with my customer. So although the over all time 5-10 minutes is the same I only spend about 3/4 of that times at the computer.

That may sound like an odd way to talk of something being faster but if it means I spend less time actually sitting in front of the computer it means I can accomplish more in the same amount of time :)

APERTURE ON TOUR
It took me a little longer than I'd planned but on certain event I've taken Aperture away from the confines of the studio and unleashed it on the hectic fast paced world of event photography! The results have been stunning!  First of all Tethering in Aperture has always been a wonderful thing and that is still true today in Aperture 3 (especially after the recent update to add tether support for the 5DmkII)

Using the import presets at events really makes Aperture shine, watching the image appear on screen (running in full screen mode) and then seeing it suddenly 'pop' on the screen when the preset is applied not only impresses me everytime but the customers are in awe everytime! It basically means that from 25 feet away I just KNOW that when the photo appears on screen it will get that 'wow' factor, previously i'd have to be sitting in front of the screen mouse whizzing about to tweak the image.

I start with a standard preset and then make any small adjustments based on the specific event and create a new preset and then I'm up and running :) 

Once it gets down to the choosing and selecting using Aperture also comes into its own when running on two screens, being able to have the customer looking at one screen with their chosen photos on and nothing else just adds an extra dimension to the service.

There are still a couple of occasions where I have to resort back to a camera raw/photoshop workflow but those jobs are few and far between now.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PHOTOS
Something I haven't really touched upon on any of my Aperture 3 ramblings is the actual photo quality, the actual finished output that comes out of Aperture, this has partly been because this is VERY subjective. One photographers oversharp is anothers soft, one persons noisy is anothers clean, etc etc. What I will say having output thousands of files from studio shots, to mobile studio, swimming galas, gymnastics events (oh the dreaded orange lights!), plays, hockey matches, weddings and everything in between! and IMHO the quality of photo I'm able to extract from Aperture 3 is significantly better that what I got out of Aperture 2 with the same camera in the same situations. This is an odd omission as I would have said how good the Aperture 2 output was a year ago if you'd asked me.

The closest analogy to explain this is to use the iphone4, for those of you lucky enough to have one (oh I love mine!!) the Iphone 3G screen was great, bright, crisp spot on....BUT...as soon as soon as I saw the iphone4 retina display I was literally stunned, I keep telling people how good it is and sound like even more of a fanboy than usual (impossible ;)) but I suddenly look at the iphone 3G screen and it looks dull, clunky and dated. Thats how the Aperture 3 files look to me, there is nothing specific but the photos just look cleaner, crisper, but not even as specific as that they just look better...VERY subjective I know but they are just better! :)

APERTURE 3 GRIPES
These are VERY personal and ranked in order of annoyance:

1) Faces - awful
2) Lack of compelling plugins...not that I have any specific needs just feels lacking
3) lack of options for printing
4) Places - useful to many...to me pointless
5) missing some extended export options

THE FUTURE OF APERTURE
For me it can only get better, the adjustment brushes are fantastic but have so much more potential, in both features and usability (and the potential to piss off Adobe). Aperture was one of the reasons I switched the Mac in the first place and I know it'll be Aperture that forces me to upgrade my 1,1 MacPro. Aperture 3 is as slick and as enjoyable to use today as it was last year and the year before, but now capable of so much more. Aperture 3 has allowed me to change the way I do things for the better, and allowed me to further refine my workflow.

I am an Aperture fan, an evangelist even (converted 3 people to Aperture in the past 18 months! :D) Will I always use Aperture though? who knows, as long is it carries on in the direction its going, providing me with a fast, slick way of managing and edit my photos, then yes! If Lightroom changes of gets ahead then I'll switch (it would have to be some BIG changes to make me switch to lightroom) but for now, for me, my using Aperture is lick the preverbal chicken & egg question, has Aperture perfectly fitted my workflow or have I adapted to perfectly fit what Aperture does. Which ever one is true the end result is the same...it just works! :) lol

Aperture 3 vs. Aperture 2: STUNNED!! - part 3

Well part three...and I'm stunned...truly stunned :(

I've just taken the same 130 files into an Aperture 2 library on my MacPro and gone through the same process to get to the same end result which is 130 files with settings and cropped.

Aperture 3: 21m+

wait for it...

Aperture 2: 13m 16s

almost 8 minutes quicker!!

I'll say again I'm stunned!!

Aperture 2 felt SOOO much snappier, each crop was re-rendered instantly, I say the "loading" appear about 10 times through the whole 13 minutes not every single image in Aperture 3. The second I'd finished the last crop in Aperture 2 all 130 images were cropped and ready to go rather than waiting for 9 minutes as in Aperture 3.

Aperture is worrying me part 2 - with numbers

So after my last post I thought I'd get some numbers behind what I was saying to see how bad the situation is (or isn't)

Did the same tests on the MacPro and the MacBook Pro with the same files. MBP is running SL

130 5DmkII RAW files
First processing with my default preset:

MBP: 4 mins 12 seconds
MP: 6 mins 5 seconds

Cropping all photos:

MBP: 7 mins 8 seconds
MP: 9 mins 2 seconds

What this means in real terms is that If I import 130 RAW files with my standard presets then crop them all its going to take me approximately:

import: 1m 28s
presets: 6m 5s
cropping: 5m
to apply crops: 9m 2s

TOTAL: 21m+

it would be 4 minutes quicker on my MBP than the MP!! I HOPE this is due to SL and not graphics card.

Assuming that that I can match the MBP times by changing the MP to SL it is still taking me a LONG time.

I'm going to run the same test on an AP2 library later today to see whether I THINK its taking longer or whether it actually is.

A few additional tests showed that to make changes to all 130 files (most adjustments) takes the 9 minutes on the MP so the only other time saving would seem to be to try and get it to apply all the adjustments I need at one time (which in the case of cropping alone is impossible)

So my next steps are:

1) Run files through AP2 and test results
2) install SL on MP and re-test on AP3 and AP2
3) Look through steps of workflow to see if improvements can be made.

So far though it would seem that these times are not going to change greatly as long as Aperture WAITS to start processing once I have finished working, 14 minutes to crop 130 files IMO is too long!

watch this space....

Aperture 3 is worrying me :(

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a huge Aperture fan and I still use the software as the very core of my studio business but over the last few weeks Aperture has started giving me cause for concern :(

I can't be 100% certain but I'm pretty sure that changes made to Aperture since version 3.0 was released have slowly but surely made things slower for me. I never had any problems with 3.0 unlike MANY people who have since commented on the increases i speed with each update, on the contrary I feel the performance has slipped away with each tweak.

What is happening now is that (very unscientific here) Aperture 3 feels about half as quick as Aperture 2 and alot slower then when it first came out. All very troubling. My workflow and the slow downs occur as follows:

1) Import files and apply presets on import (example throughout 150 files 5DmkII)

2) import finishes begins processing - tis typically will take 2-3 minutes

3) I then go through and rate and cull files

4) I go back through again, this time cropping the files (here is where the slow down starts) there is a delay each time I jump into the files to start cropping, thats not a big deal, what is a big deal is that (and as far as I'm aware this is a change from AP2 and the first release of AP3) Aperture will not start processing these crops until I've gone through all of them and stopped working, it literally waits about 3 seconds after I've stopped doing anything, then it will start processing the crops on all 150 images, this will take about 3 or 4 minutes at which time I can't do anything because it will pause the processing.

5) once this is finished I go back through again to make sure I'm happy with everything and do a quick run of cosmetic retouching on any stray bits (lights etc) this is quick wen I go through but the same happens again, ONLY when I finish and essentially stop working will Aperture start processing what I've done, I then have to wait 2-3 minutes for it to finish again.

What essentially seems to have changed is that Aperture wont (or can't) do two things at once, I'm sure it used to start processing images in the background while I was still working on them but now its like its caught a bug from the iphone and can't multitask.

At the moment I can only put this down to a few things:

1) Me running on Leopard rather than SL is causing the problem
2) Its a fundamental change in AP3
3) My failing graphics card is the problem
4) some conflict/change/problem I'm unaware of.

As a test I'm going to try the same tests on two sets of identical files one on my MP running Leopard and one on my MBP running SL. Just to see if that throws up and differences.

The result of all this is that its shaken my confidence in Aperture, things that used to take me 5 or 6 minutes are not taking 10-12 minutes and its really starting to impact my workflow as a whole :(

I hope its a software/system problem and not a fundamental change to the way Aperture works because if it is then my 3 year love affair with Aperture may be heading for rocky ground.

Aperture 3 guides & case studies coming very soon

Sorry it's been so long since my last Aperture 3 post. It's been a very hectic few weeks for me and for Aperture. I've put it through its paces in the studio and out on a couple of events now as well so I've really got to grips with a lot of the new features and more importantly its capabilities.

I'm just finishing off two of the bits I had promised and they should be arriving here either today or tomorrow. I hope people find them useful and hopefully I can catch up a bit and clear the back log.

Apple Releases Aperture 3.01

About Aperture 3.0.1

This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of issues in Aperture 3, including:

  • Upgrading libraries from earlier versions of Aperture
  • Importing libraries from iPhoto
  • Importing photos directly from a camera
  • Memory usage when processing heavily-retouched photos
  • Face recognition processing
  • Adding undetected faces using the Add Missing Face button
  • Printing pages containing multiple images
  • Printing photos and contact sheets with borders and metadata
  • Editing photos using an external editor
  • Display of images with Definition and Straighten adjustments applied
  • Zooming photos in the Viewer and in the Loupe using keyboard shortcuts
  • Accessing Aperture libraries on a network volume Selecting and moving pins on the Places map
  • Adding and editing custom locations using the Manage My Places window
  • Switching between masters when working with RAW+JPEG pairs.

This update is recommended for all users of Aperture 3.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2518

5 reasons to make your own mind up about Aperture 3 vs. Lightroom 3

The number of websites and blogs seemingly doing battle with all their "5 reasons with Aperture is best", "5 reasons to switch to Lightroom" etc etc seem to be growing by the day, what's amusing is that a lot of the people re-tweeting these links and passing on these links probably haven't used both bits of software and even if they have the reasons for switching or staying are usually very personal, to this end I've put a very tongue in cheek list of reasons why you should choose one over the other:

Reasons to choose Lightroom

1) Lightroom has less vowels in its name so must be more cool and professional

2) Lightroom is made by adobe and they are very cool!

3) Lightroom is an anagram of "Moo L Girth" who's is a famous cow photographer!

4) Lightroom can develop your photos before you've even taken them its so much faster

5) Lightroom is better because I can't get Aperture to run on my 1999 pentium 3 laptop


Reasons to choose Aperture

1) Aperture must be better because it has more vowels which means its name is easier so therefore its software must be better

2) Using Aperture is one of your 5 a day fruit and vegetables because its made by Apple!

3) Aperture is an anagram of "U pear tre" so it contains apples and pears

4) Every Aperture disc is sprinkled with unicorn dust by Steve Jobs himself

5) Aperture works better with my camera because that has an Aperture as well


The real thing to do is to choose whichever piece of software you prefer and works better for you it is as simple as that, read the right ups, and then download both demos and have a play with them. Pick which everyone is more enjoyable to use.

Aperture 3: Library Merging (sublime new feature!)

The new Aperture 3 library management is fantastic, I've always used multiple libraries and when I just wanted to take a specific project with me someone I'd previous had to export the project then import it into a new library then export it again and re-import it. It worked just fine apart from the fact that it used up lots of extra space and was cumbersome.

With Aperture 3 all of that is a thing of the past. I used the export library option extensively yesterday as my wireless network was playing up, the feature is a dream to use.

1) I'd created a new client folder and project in my current library, culled and tweaked the files ready for a viewing.
2) I then exported the project as a library:

Picture_45

3) This created a library called Pippa, I exported it directly onto an external HD that I could then hook up to my MBP
4) The client viewed the files, was very happy, spent some money :D (making me very happy!) and off they went
5) I opened up the master library, clicked on import and selected the library on the external HD:

Picture_44

Aperture 3 automatically recognises that this matches one of the projects and asks if I want to merge the two. I click yea and it basically updates the existing project to match the one I'm importing including edits, selections albums etc.

So instead of creating 2 projects and one new library (under Aperture 2) and having to manually delete the old project after importing the updated on, all I create now is one new library and the rest is taken care of by Aperture. Using this feature with managed libraries (as I always do) works so well. For anyone who hasn't tried managed libraries I urge you to try as in my opinion the list of pros for this just keeps getting longer!

This is one f those small features than would barely make the list of 200 but for me this is saving me huge amounts of time and HD space and is a great feature. Every day I'm finding that some of Apertures less marketable new features are the ones that are making a massive difference to the way I work and making Aperture an even stronger product.

Aperture 3: What would you like to know?

I've been asked lots of time about my workflow and how I use Aperture 3 so i'm putting together a few quick guides and case studies highlighting how I use Aperture 2/3. The specific areas I'm planning to focus on are:

GUIDE: Importing: The new power of the import in Aperture 3
CASE STUDY: Wedding workflow
CASE STUDY: Event photography
GUIDE: High key white background with Aperture 3
GUIDE: Sharpening and blurring brushes for DOF control
GUIDE: The power of presets

Those are the ones I have in mind at the moment, please tweet me @mepphoto or leave me a comment if there is anything specific you'd like to know about or like me to include in any of the things above.