Robert Boyer via ApertureExpert Hits the Photos Nail Right on the Head
Robert Boyer via ApertureExpert hits the Photos nail right on the head. He explains his take on the death of Aperture and does it with aplomb. The dust is beginning to settle from last weeks announcement from Apple that they were discontinuing the development of my preferred photo workflow program, Aperture. In its place will be the new program simply titled Photos. After my initial shock at the announcement I’ve started rethinking the whole situation and it’s looking much more positive.
ApertureExpert Joseph Linaschke presents Robert Boyer and his take on where Apple is headed with Photos
One of my favorite websites devoted to all things Aperture is run by a gentleman named Joseph Linaschke. It’s called ApertureExpert and Joseph recently requested one of his longtime visitors to the site, Robert Boyer, to put together his thoughts on what happened to Aperture and where we might be headed with Photos. It’s a terrific timeline and compilation of not just Aperture but Apple’s method of operation for taking products that have run their course, killed them off, and then completely reinvented them.
The new face of Apple’s Photo program.
Robert suggests that Apple is right on target with the idea that most pro photographers and amateurs have very close to the same needs when it comes to keeping track of and working with their images. And though many will disagree, I don’t. He’s dead on with his belief that a good program that does the basics, where you don’t have to understand curves, layers, etc., is sorely needed. Not just for the average user, but for professionals as well. Many of you who know me and read this blog know that I don’t use Photoshop and never have. I have only a basic idea of how to create a layer. My Curve skills are nonexistent. I have no interest in adding elements that are not there or removing things I don’t like. I do my best to get it right in the camera and then do minor tweaking such as exposure, white balance, dust spotting, etc. I shoot like a journalist, not like a graphic designer. For me something like Photos may be all I’ll need, just like many millions of other soccer moms and camera toting tourists. For those that need more tools that are more targeted to the design community, there will always be Photoshop or better yet, Pixelmator. As I’ve said before, Photoshop should have been called Designershop from the get go. You can read more of this great article by visiting the ApertureExpert website and the article titled, Aperture, I Come Not To Praise Thee… For more information on where I think Photos is headed you may want to check out my last blog post titled, Apple’s New Photos May Be Much Better Than I First Thought.
What are your thoughts? Do you need the ability to have a complete editing package in your general, everyday photo-archiving program? Let me know by adding your voice here to the Blog.
BillHOn Jul. 8th, 2014
I didn’t get much of use from the Robert Beyer article. However, I am in sympathy with the views that you and Fred expressed.
PP is a minor part of the workflow for me. At the end I want to have the keepers tagged in the image files and the values recorded in a database so that I can find them later.
I find that viewing images at various sizes (and with various crops) is a necessary part of selecting keepers.
Daniel J. CoxOn Jul. 9th, 2014
Bill, thanks for stopping to add your voice. My enthusiasm for Robert Beyer’s perspective centers around his reminder of how Apple thinks outside the box, admits when software is no longer useful in the current form and isn’t afraid to rip it all out and start anew. What they did with the newest version of Final Cut Pro X is a prime example. Many video professionals were appalled at how Apple changed FCPX, I was ecstatic. About a year before FCPX was released I began using FCP 7. I hated it. I despised how difficult it was to learn. All of these negative feelings came from me coming over to FCP from iMovie which I loved. I just needed a bit more control. Admittedly, FCPX was a bit light when it was first released and many pros shunned it, moving over to Adobe Premiere. But now many have seen that Apple was right in its rework of the program. Many have moved back over. In summary, I think that may be where we are at with Aperture. I’m hopeful I will love the new Photos as much as I do FCPX and based on history I’m confident I will. Time will tell.
Fred KurtzOn Jul. 5th, 2014
Dan, you asked for it so here it goes. I don’t have photoshop and have no desire for it. I don’t use curves. I don’t have any desire to add or remove elements from a photograph other than a dust spot or wet spot from the sensor.
In Slovenia, we shot a simple church on top of a mountain bathed in beautiful sunlight. It was a great shot. There was graffiti on the side of the church – the word Weed and a drawing of a weed plant. Everyone said they would just photoshop it out. I said “Why”? It is what it is and the graffiti is on the church so it will stay in my photo.
The purpose of editing software in my book is for file management, basic adjustments like exposure and temperature, noise and sharpening, the application of filters such as black and white, contrast, saturation and other minor tweaks. I want the picture to be a representation of what I took and not a totally fake picture of something that is not real. The problem with many of the “incredible” photos I see posted on the internet is – is it real? or is it a fake manipulation?
My daughter in law once said when creating a Christmas card with her three kids that she liked the poses in one photo and the smiles in another and that she would just swap the heads! Yikes I just wanted to scream out “NO”!
Lightroom does everything I need and the addition of the NIK software makes the package totally sufficient for a professional. So Dan, here is the $64,000 question I am dying to ask you. Why have you given up on Lightroom? And why aren’t you switching back?
Daniel J. CoxOn Jul. 7th, 2014
Fred, You have no idea how proud I am to hear your thoughts about shooting real photography. I commend you for taking such a stance and you are so young in your photo career. Too many people, especially new to the craft, are overly inspired to create an illustration rather than using their new found talents to document what is real and authentic. I’m proud to feel I’v been a part of helping you become not only a very talented photographer but even more importably, one with a conscience. You’ve made my morning.
Regarding why I’m unhappy with Lightroom. “Truth be told” as my dear sister Teresa would say, it’s Lightroom’s inability to handle so many pictures. I must admit it’s been almost five years since I worked extensively with LR and even as I write this I’m importing my entire 500,000+ image collection in to a Lightroom catalog. When I return to my studio I’ll get a chance to see if anything has changed regarding how quickly I can scroll through this massive amount of pictures. That was always the biggest issue. Also, I’m going to miss how Aperture handles Video within my main library. Yes, LR allows you to see your videos but not as elegantly and efficiently as Aperture. Another feature I’m sad to be without will be Faces. I use this tool all the time to keep track of all our Explorers, kind of a mother hen type instinct but I love the fact I can catalog all the folks who travel with us, keep their faces on file and share them with Jill back at the office. She enjoys knowing what the people look like that she speaks to on the phone. Another element that Aperture beats LR at hands down is Search. The search features in Aperture are superb. I love Aperture’s out of your face Loupe feature to review parts of images at 100%. But as I said above, the biggest stumbling block has always been speed, speed, speed. If this is no longer a problem I’ll do just fine with LR. If it is I have no idea where I will go to next. I’m still betting on Apple to give us a better system with Photos as a start and third party developers taking it to a professional level. Stay tuned, time will tell. Thanks for adding your voice.