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The Photoshop Blog offers the latest Photoshop news and software updates, Photoshop tips and tutorials, and random thoughts from graphic artist and Photoshop expert Jennifer Apple.
THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 10 2005
Apperture News - 2 Reviews, A Book & A 10% Discount
There's two interesting articles about Aperture that come very close to full-fledged reviews. The first one, "Bringing Aperture Into Focus" from Rob Galbraith, is a pretty extensive review of Aperture's feature list.
David Schloss has also written an article/review, "Hands-on With Aperture," in which he recounts his trip to Apple headquarters to test out Aperture.
Here's an interesting bit:
- When Apple surveyed photographers about their workflows, they found out a surprising fact: The number one tool used by pro digital photographers to arrange their files is no program at all. Interestingly, a majority of photographers still simply drag their images into folders. Based on the confusing overlap of programs, the lack of full-blown tools in many apps, and the plethora of shooting styles, this isn't as shocking as it might seem in first blush.
Apple designed Aperture from the ground up, consulting with a number of pro shooters to develop this application. Apple officials wouldn't say specifically how many photographers were on the project, but they were able to say there were "lots' of photographers, and added that many of the programmers themselves are avid shooters and know what its like to deal with massive files in postproduction. "Some code writers [on Aperture] are photographers who shoot with 1Ds Mark II's," said Apple's Joe Schorr, Product Marketing Manager for Aperture. "They feel the pain."
While the on-site demos at Photo Plus were impressive, it's only when sitting down with the program that one gets the feeling for just how powerful this program really is. Instead of being broken down into modes of operation, photographers are free to jump around between importing, captioning, adjusting and exporting, all with a common set of tools and keyboard commands.
- "No one workflow works for everyone," points out Schorr, "so we focused on the common denominator." Having slogged through years of working with a hodge-podge of programs, (which include PhotoMechanic, iView Media Pro, Portfolio 8 and Bridge) I've never had one program that handled with ease and alacrity every task from capture to Photoshop.
Schloss promises to have a full-blown hands-on review of Aperture soon.
There's an Aperture book that can be pre-ordered from Amazon Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture. From the book description: "This collection of Apple Pro Training tutorials will get you up and running in no time. These hands-on tutorials provide a great overview of an indispensable application for digital photographers. This is the only Apple-certified guide to Aperture, Apple's revolutionary application for managing, editing, and archiving digital photographs. This comprehensive book-DVD combo starts with the basics of image management and takes you step by step all the way through Aperture's powerful photo-editing, image-retouching, proofing, publishing, and archiving features."
Also note that Amazon, using a secret "behind-the-curtain" gimmick, is selling Aperture at a discount price. They feel the price is so low that the general public might go into total shock if they accidentally discovered it, so you have to add it to your shopping cart to find out what it is. So we did. The secret price is $449, which is a $50 savings from the Apple Store price. Sweet.
Read "Bringing Aperture Into Focus" by Rob Galbraith
Read "Hands-on With Aperture" by David Schloss
Pre-order Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture at amazon.com
Pre-order Apple Aperture for $449 at amazon.com
See our Apple Aperture Resource Center.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | send comments
Primatte Chromakey and Backdrop Designer Updated
Digital Anarchy have released two updates Primatte Chromakey 2.1 and Backdrop Designer 1.1. The plug-ins allow photographers to create a multitude of different backgrounds for use in studio portraiture and other commercial work.
"With Primatte Chromakey and Backdrop Designer, a photographer has the potential to change traditional portrait photography," said Jim Tierney, founder of Digital Anarchy. "These filters create a digital workflow that is easy, quick and eliminates the need for an expensive collection of traditional muslin backgrounds. They give both the client and photographer control to make changes after the photo shoot."
Primatte Chromakey Updates Include:
- Multi-layer 16-bit support: 16-bit files now support multiple layers just like 8-bit files always have. This allows users to preview a replacement background while working in Primatte.
- Improved 16-bit performance: The speed of handling 16-bit files has been improved. In some cases 16-bit files will render faster than 8-bit files.
- User interface improvements: Primatte's interface has been modified to make it behave more like Photoshop, making it easier for users to transition between Photoshop and the plug-in.
- Bug fixes: A number of major and minor issues have been addressed to make Primatte more stable and faster.
Backdrop Designer Updates Include:
- 350 New Backgrounds: The number of shipped presets has increased by over 30%. These new presets are complete texture and shadow combinations that create realistic backgrounds for use with photography or design.
- New Preset Categories: There are new texture/shadow categories for silk, velvet, lighted muslin, stained glass and much more.
Demos, tutorials and samples are available at www.digitalanarchy.com. Both products are compatible with Photoshop 5.5 and higher and Photoshop Elements 2.0 and higher. They are available for Mac OS X (not OS 9) and Windows 98ME and higher.
Read the complete Press Release.
See our spotlight pages for Backdrop Designer and Primatte Chromakey.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | send comments
Photoshop Tip: Hiding Your Metadata From Others
If you're providing photos to magazines, websites, or really just about anybody, you might want to strip out your metadata, or anybody with Photoshop will be able to learn a lot about you. For example, they'll know what kind of camera and lens you have (including make and model), what day you took the photo, edited the photo, and so on. Luckily, stripping the data out is easy, because you don't really strip it out. Just do this:
Open the photo in Photoshop. Press Command-A (PC: Control-A) to select all, then press Command-C (PC: Control-C) to copy the photo into memory. Press Command-N (PC: Control-N) to create a new blank document in the same size, color mode, and resolution of your copied photo. Don't change anything; just click OK. When the new document appears, press Command-V (PC: Control-V) to paste your copied photo into your new document. Press Command-E (PC: Control-E) to merge this image layer with your Background layer, and save the file. The embedded EXIF data is left behind, giving you a clean image with no personal data attached.
reprinted by permission and sponsored by the NAPP
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | send comments
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Did You Know You Could Create An Entire Website In Photoshop?
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly
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Skin Retouching Tips In Photoshop CS4
Transforming Smart Objects In Photoshop CS4
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Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range
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