Above; The Aperture interface.
Here is a typical workflow for my wedding or portrait shooting:
Downloading/Importing/Renaming Images Importing images is quick and easy.
Images can be imported from a camera, card-reader, DVD, hard drives or from
iPhoto. At the point of importing, you can add copyright, keywords and other
metadata, all in one go. From a wedding, I may need to import about 600–700
images and as soon as I start importing, I press ‘P’ which gives me the
Quick Preview of the imported images and I can immediately start to cull
images which are not required. I shoot with two camera bodies and the first
thing I do is to sort the images in time order;I then rename them. I’ve
created a ‘Custom Name with Counter’ for my images. All I do is select all
the images and ‘Batch Change’ all the filenames which takes a few seconds or
so.
Stacks is a handy tool which automatically groups images shot in a sequence;
this helps browsing a wedding with lots of images, really speeding up the
whole shoot. Once all the images have been selected to show case to the
couple or client, I proceed to adjust/enhance the RAW files.
ABOVE : The dual 24"/30" Apple Cinema Displays in use for client viewing.
Adjusting/Enhancing Images
Once I’ve sorted and renamed my files, I’ll go through them and apply any
adjustments, needed. Simple tasks such as fixing white balance, enhancing
colours, straightening, cropping and improving exposure are all done
non-destructively. I’ve made pre-sets which I apply, on the fly. If there is
a batch of images shot under the same lighting conditions, then only one
image is adjusted and the settings applied to this image ‘lifted’ from it
and ‘stamped’ on all the rest of the images in one go. Now I export them as
‘versions’ and saved as high-quality JPEGs.
Presenting Images to Clients
This is where Aperture 2 comes on to its own. When a client books an
appointment to either come and see our work or to preview their wedding or
portrait images, the images are shown as a slideshow with music, all
available in Aperture 2. I have a dual-monitor set up on 30” and 23” Apple
Cinema Displays. When I purchased the 30” ACD, I did get a bit of stick from
Farzana (my wife) for spending as much on a monitor as the G5! However, the
30” ACD paid for itself within the first month, as clients purchased images
which they wouldn’t have if they had not seen them enlarged on a 30”
display. They are just amazed with the quality of images shown to them. To
fully take advantage of Aperture, you’ve got to work with a dual-monitor
set-up. This really does speed up the workflow.
The Selection Process
This process takes around an hour or so for a wedding (300 images) and about
15–20 minutes for a portrait session (60 images). Multiple images are
selected and displayed at the same time and the ones which the client likes
are rated as 1-star. Once we’ve gone through all the images, I do a quick
search for all 1-star rated images and work with just these.
Designing the Album
The album is created with the selected images. I’ve made my own custom sizes
for the various albums, ie 10"x14”, and so on. Designing each page
individually is very easy; each album I create is unique, as there are no
templates to be repeated. I have used album design software before and the
problem I found was that whenever I had a layout in my mind, it took me ages
to find it. Here in Aperture 2, I can very quickly create custom pages
without any need for a degree in graphic design! Once all the pages are
created, they can be exported as JPEG files and sent to the laboratory for
printing or you can print in-house. Web galleries can also be created and
uploaded to your .Mac account, all within Aperture.
As you can see from the above, I’ve not left Aperture for a single moment in
my workflow. With Aperture 2, I can even clone and repair any image that
requires it – if I really do need to take an image into Photoshop, I can do
this directly from within Aperture 2 and make the changes. Aperture 2
automatically updates that image.
Need for Speed
Event photography is a big part of our business. When we needed to print
images on-site at an event, we really did struggle to find a decent program
on the Macintosh. However, all that changed when Aperture 2 arrived. We
download, sort, rename, print contact sheets and then print the images from
our dye-sub printer to whatever size we require. No matter how big or small
the event is, whether it is a corporate ball for 100 couples or an
equestrian event for 600 riders, Aperture 2 effortlessly and painlessly
handles our workflow. Even tethered camera support is available, allowing
the images to go straight from camera into Aperture 2.
Case Study: Cross Country Equestrian Event
At a very busy event we really do need our workflow to be at 100mph – 600
riders, four photographers shooting four different jumps, 6,000+ images...
This is where we make use of the ‘Smart Folders’ in Aperture 2. One Smart
Folder is created for each photographer, the criterion usually used is the
photographer’s name as a keyword. Upon receiving the CompactFlash card from
say 'Photographer 1', this is entered as a keyword and all images from that
CF card are imported. These images will automatically show in the Smart
Folder named ‘Photographer 1’. Now to make contact sheets of all the images
as small thumbnails so clients can see their images and select the ones they
like. All the images are selected and then printed on a ‘9-up Contact
Sheet’. This will place nine images on a 9"x6" print. Once the printing is
done, we press ‘1’ with all the images selected; this will rate all these
selected images as ‘1’ star. Now the next CF card comes from the same
photographer, the images are imported with the keyword ‘Photographer 1’ and
they all go into the Smart Folder of Photographer 1. Only the new images
need to be printed as contact sheets, so a quick search of ‘unrated’ images
is done; this shows up only those which are not rated ‘1’ and are unrated.
All these images are selected, printed and then rated as ‘1’. The same is
applied to all the other photographers. A very sophisticated workflow, with
a simple solution.
Indoor Equestrian Events
The winter season sees all the events go indoors. Show jumping and dressage
events are the ones which we cover mostly. However, the lighting is not
ideal and in many cases not sufficient. Tungsten lighting is usually used at
these arenas which gives a very ‘orangey’ cast to the images. Once all the
images are shot and imported into Aperture 2, we correct one of the images,
lift the settings from it and can apply them to dozens, or even hundreds, of
images at the same time with the ‘Lift’ and ‘Stamp’ tool, saving invaluable
time and with no need to correct each and every image individually.
In my opinion, I don’t think there is any other professional workflow
application which offers such ease for managing, editing, sorting,
previewing and outputting in a very user-friendly interface. There are many
other powerful features which I have not even discussed, but which are there
in Aperture 2 to make our workflow a lot easier.
Case Study: Corporate Event
Images of guests are shot as they arrive. Using Wi-Fi, the images are sent to a ‘hot folder’ which Aperture keeps a watch on and imports images directly into its library. This is real-time and as soon as the images are shot, the couple are requested to view them on the monitor. The Mac Book Pro has an additional 30” Apple display attached to it, on which only the full screen image is shown to the client without any palettes or the Aperture interface. We can also display multiple images to the client at the same time so they can choose which they like.
There are pre-set sizes saved under the 'print' window. If we need to print a contact sheet of nine images as thumbnails, we select the images and select the nine-up contact sheet or when a customer’s 9"x6" print needs to be printed, only one image is selected and then the 9"x6" print option is clicked. It is a straight forward way of printing on-site.