Aperture 1.5 vs Lightroom beta 4

Wow. Where do I start?

Now that I have my hardware all setup, I am now digging down deep into both Aperture and Lightroom. There are many things to love about each application, but here are some quick bullet points on where my head is at the moment:

Aperture pluses:

• Dust spot removal tool built-in


• Integration with photoshelter.com for stock and print sales (HUGE benefit)


• Very nice video tutorials that ship with the product


• 'Stacks' and 'versions'


• Backups to vaults

Aperture minuses:

• RAW conversion quality close, but not as good as ACR, C1 or Lightroom


• 24" display a minumum, but a 30" display is ideal. Not easy to work on a small-ish Macbook screen while on-the-go


• Sluggish importing a large amount of images, even with a MacPro 2.66ghz machine with 5GB of memory and an X1900 graphics card.


• No ability to hold down option/alt key when working with black points, so I have absolutely no idea what I am clipping out of my image.


• Backing up to vaults requires managing images inside a library, instead of referencing them elsewhere.

Lightroom beta 4 pluses:

• Acceptable performance, which should be better with released version in 2007


• I love the interface


• RAW conversion tools, as well as output quality, is top notch


• Workflow takes a 1-2-3 approach

Lightroom beta 4 minuses:

• Not a released product


• Modal approach, which means certain tools are not available unless you are in the intended module.


• Workflow takes a 1-2-3 approach


• No integration at this time with photoshelter.com


• No spot/dust removal tool in this release (perhaps in final product?)


• Unclear backup methodology

The pragmatic side of me tells me to adopt Aperture 1.5 as my application of choice, but the emotional side of me tells me to hold out a little longer for Lightroom. I certainly like the interface much better in Lightroom, as well as the RAW conversions. This is a young market at the moment, and these products will only get better with time. I can be convinced to use either product at this time, and it benefits me and my workshop and safari customers to know both of them, so I am going to run parallel for the next few months.

Stay tuned.

Looking for a new wide format printer

Well, I think it is time to upgrade my Epson 4000 to something newer. I have a ton of choices to look at, such as the Epson 3800, the HP Z series and the Canon IPF5000 or 9000. I love having a 17" wide carriage, as most models have better capabilities for paper cassette for cut sheets. I like to put a small stack in the printer and walk away. I would consider an Epson 7800 or 9800, but I would have to use roll paper to do more than 1 print at a time.

The new Epson 3800 is a nice little printer, but the paper handling isn't what I am wanting. The good thing is that most of the printers I am considering have excellent output, and it comes down to usability. I am moving in a direction of printing very large, so I can personally oversee my print orders for my commerical customers. More and more of my prints are being put in office spaces, including large common areas. So printing large appeals to me. One option is to keep my Epson 4000 for smaller jobs and pickup a 44" or 60" printer for my large output.

Michael Reichmann seems to enjoy his Canon IPF5000, so I might take a look at their larger offering. The HP Z3100 series looks nice, as they have a built-in profiling solution inside of the printer. I have learned, however, that building profiles is much more than just printing targets and reading them back. 75% science and 25% art.

Time to go kick some tires.

NWP Interview

I was recently interviewed by the NWP Forums, and you can now see this interview online. There are 3 parts to the interview: my background, the business aspects of my photography business, and tips/techniques.

Interview Part I: Background

Interview Part II: Business aspects

Interview Part III: Tips and TechniquesÂ

Arches & Canyonlands Workshop

I am back home from a fantastic workshop in Utah. We spent a week photographing in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and came away with some fantastic photographs. Thank you to all of those who attended. I could not have had a more fantastic time.

Hasselbad H1, Phase One P45 39mp digital back, 35mm prime, 1/6sec @ f/32, ISO 100

New MacPro desktop

Well, my transition to the Mac is almost complete. I purchased a MacBook earlier this year for my travels, but have still been using a Dell machine for all of my serious Photoshop and image management work. Yesterday I purchased a new MacPro 2.66ghz desktop with an upgraded ATI X1900 video card. I haven't made any changes with my existing 24" Dell LCD monitor, but I anticipate either picking up an Apple 23" for an additional display or moving up to the Apple 30". Take a guess which one I want.

So my transition is almost complete. I am now starting to use Aperture 1.5, even though I dabble with Adobe Lightroom beta 4 from time to time. Being in the workshop industry, it is good for me to know both of them. I was at PhotoPlus in New York last week, and I signed up with PhotoShelter. They have a plugin for Aperture that allows for the syncing between my Aperture library and their archiving and selling solution on the web.

So why is this great? I have been looking for a capture-to-output solution for a long time, and this might be the ticket. My images will be imported, culled, tagged, rated in Aperture. I will also have all of my RAW adjustments there. Then select images will be archived onto PhotoShelter for my print sales and stock customers. For print sales, I can let PhotoShelter's technology go to work for me, allowing for searches and shopping carts. Once I receive an order, all I have to do is do what I enjoy most: printing the image. On the stock photography side, they just signed up with Photoquote, which will put my stock library out on the web (instead of somebody sending me an email with an inquiry) with visible pricing, based on need.

I am very happy at the moment, because I have had a difficult time trying to mentally piece together many different technologies to solve my unique needs. iView? Photoshop? Custom web pages? Stock agency? Outsourced printing services? Not any more. Now I get to focus (literally) on what I do best and what I enjoy: photography.