Software
Aperture the backbone of the Best of Photojournalism awards
By Jim DalrympleMarch 26, 2010, 10:09 am PT
The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) is holding its annual Best of Photojournalism awards this week and Apple’s photography workflow application, Aperture, is playing a big role.
The committee of judges started looking at images last Sunday morning and have worked from morning until night everyday to make it through all of the submissions. According to Terry Eiler, one of the judges on the panel, they looked through about 50,000 images so far.
Eiler told The Loop that the 50,000 still images were first organized into 60 categories and then they started looking through them. Pictures were labeled by the judges as they went through the category as “in” or “out,” meaning that the image moved on to the next round of judging or it was finished.
This is where the group utilized Aperture. The entire process of viewing and voting for images was done inside Aperture.
Source: NPPA — St. Petersburg Times photojournalist Keri Wiginton uses Aperture 3 to show selected images to the judges at the NPPA Best of Photojournalism judging week at the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, FL.
“The thing Aperture does best is organizing files,” said Eiler. “Aperture also allows you to keep your original picture and data, even after making edits.”
As the Director of the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University, Eiler is very familiar with Aperture. He said they use the application at the school to teach students how to better manage their photos and their time.
He said that once students get the hang of Aperture, they can focus more of their attention on the creativity of taking pictures and less time on organization.
All of the winners of this years National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism can be found on the organization’s Web site.
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Aperture the backbone of the Best of Photojournalism awards
By Jim DalrympleMarch 26, 2010, 10:09 am PT
The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) is holding its annual Best of Photojournalism awards this week and Apple’s photography workflow application, Aperture, is playing a big role.
The committee of judges started looking at images last Sunday morning and have worked from morning until night everyday to make it through all of the submissions. According to Terry Eiler, one of the judges on the panel, they looked through about 50,000 images so far.
Eiler told The Loop that the 50,000 still images were first organized into 60 categories and then they started looking through them. Pictures were labeled by the judges as they went through the category as “in” or “out,” meaning that the image moved on to the next round of judging or it was finished.
This is where the group utilized Aperture. The entire process of viewing and voting for images was done inside Aperture.
Source: NPPA — St. Petersburg Times photojournalist Keri Wiginton uses Aperture 3 to show selected images to the judges at the NPPA Best of Photojournalism judging week at the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, FL.
“The thing Aperture does best is organizing files,” said Eiler. “Aperture also allows you to keep your original picture and data, even after making edits.”
As the Director of the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University, Eiler is very familiar with Aperture. He said they use the application at the school to teach students how to better manage their photos and their time.
He said that once students get the hang of Aperture, they can focus more of their attention on the creativity of taking pictures and less time on organization.
All of the winners of this years National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism can be found on the organization’s Web site.
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I just remember how so many Internet posters wrote down Aperture when it first came on the scene.
Aperture still has detractors in the pro photography community – people who are just wired to prefer Adobe products and like Lightroom more. To me it's a bit chauvanistic, in the textbook definition – like PC vs Mac and Nikon vs Canon. Use the tool that suits you best, and shut up about it.
"…Use the tool that suits you best, and shut up about it."
Practicing what we preach I see
Its "chauvinistic" not "chauvanistic" ^^
get a life. Nobody likes a know-it-all.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Taking a moment to watch the spell checker comment is simple respect for your audience.
agree for that point of vue
Nice spelling
the third is even better than the two before…
Aperture 3 rocks compared to Lightroom.
lightroom is crap compare to aperture
I new to Aperture.I have use Adobe elelments and Corel Photo Shop.I think Aperture does a better job.
yes but expessiev compare to element ( I have element 8). Should I move to aperture really???
element is enough for amator
aperture is even more intuitiv than the other…
If all you need is organization, since you already have elements, use the Bridge that comes with it.
Aperture and PS are 2 different animals…One manipulates and one adjusts…I have PS 8.0 and Aperture….utilize both!
yea
That would be "expensive compared to Element" in English.
for jpg lovers… for amator perhaps….
I love the way the language continues to evolve and new words are developed. But I'm afraid your word 'expessiev' has me beat – what does it mean?
Mr. Jerzy probably means "expensive."
torrent…
Aperture 3 is the best software for photographers.
Maybe he or she is dyslectic ,LOL
I f you knew email protocol you would not correct or make fun of mispelt words.
Email was created for fast and short communications between users.(spelling and grammar not being important) Your comments are a waste of space and peoples time!
yes,…..speling and Grammer ain't never ever important !
What is wrong with you people? Isn't this a discussion about Aperture. Let the poor guy alone
Maybe it's someone who speaks more than one language. How many do you fluently speak? Many non-Americans at least have some command of another language besides their own. Not to mention how is being dyslexic funny?? NOTE- that YOU spelled "dyslexic" INCORRECTLY ding dong.
Funny how people like Alex try to sound smart.
Well at least you're not capable of falling into that trap
u ar imbecile
I fail to see the necessity of any computer software that detracts, and digitally assists the photographers natural eye and talent for their pictures/subject matter. If you are a true photographer, then you should learn the basics and keep learning what works best in the field when actually shooting pics. If you're not satisfied with your pics, keep trying to better yourself the "natural" way.
ok do, manual picture and dont talk about digital…
you cant compare twoo different world…
only for white balance, there is no camera perfect for that… no-one!
digital world make you need new tool… so, if you accept new material, you must accept the tools come with…
im agree you must try to get the best on the shooting, but thinking you can do everything on the shoot proof you dont care about the complete resolution, the dust problem of the digital and the white balance, the vigneting… or all new kind of setting of digital…
i dont think you make proffessionnal work finnally cuz you dont look for perfection as a real one…
sorry
What do you mean? How do you view digital images without software? They were talking about organization and workflow in teaching students at Ohio University. (Which is one of the top 3 journalism schools with photo programs.)
Aperture, Lightroom, et. al. are to the digital negative what the darkroom is to the traditional negative. And I just finally caved in and bought a digital camera to replace my old 1V last month.
Good for you…holding out. I fought the whole thing for years. I still miss working in the actual darkroom as much as I used to. I have been using a digital camera now for years, but still dislike working in the computer "darkroom" instead of a real darkroom. It lost the romance.
Photographers have always manipulated their photographs in the darkroom. Even when not manipulating in the darkroom, photogs have used filters and lighting to manipulate their subject. Much of that is now done post rather than at capture. I agree on the need to get the best possible image in camera (I used to shoot colour negative film, I know about the importance of good exposure &c., and I think too many photogs use post as an excuse for sloppy capture), but image making doesn't, and never has, ended with the shutter release. In fact, digital has opened up new possibilities that didn't exist before. It's a different medium.
Well said.
You're probably correct. Perhaps we should stick to pure steam power for locomotion, wood burning for heat, and never develop new medicines to better treat disease or develop any new technology or techniques for that matter. Mediums evolve, the industry (yes, industry) had evolved to be a digital medium. In the industry, I have met a lot of photographers that shunned the digital and stuck to the pure art of it. I call them "retired". Learning to shoot is key, having an eye and knowing your camera; but to say there is no necessity for digital processing is ignorant.
Stop telling people what to do. The world's big enough for folks to feel free to explore whatever they want – not what you want. Live and let live.
I spent 20 years in a black and white darkroom and I burned and dodged almost every print I made. I'd push Tri-x to 3200 and process accordingly. I cropped, straightened, and made exposure adjustments. When I did go into a color darkroom I made color adjustments. I also did posterization, solarization, and sandwiched negatives. I did dust removal and retouching after the print was made.
With each evolution in the art of photography you become more able to create the vision you had in your head when you looked through the viewfinder and pressed the shutter release. I get a little tired of the so-called purist that claim we should all print right off the memory card.
I do agree that we all need to learn the importance of proper aperture and shutter speed and how to use each to create an emotion or feeling in their images.
Oh yeah. Aperture & Lightroom are both great library tools. Nothing beats CS4 for major adjustments and creative work.
If you fail to understand the importance of a tool like Aperture or its competitor, Lightroom, I'd venture to guess you actually don't know what the hell you're talking about when it comes to photography – even if you fancy that you're some kind of expert.
I'm an Aperture user since 1.0 and number 3 is really a great improvement over previous versions:
The most important changes for me being the (more than just markedly) better RAW conversion and the non-destructive brushes (much like Photoshop's adjustment layers but much easier to use).
Collection and project management has improved a lot as well, but in that regard Aperture has always been way above anything else.
APERTURE IS EXCELLENT – JUST BUY IT !! get photoshop on a hooky copy but buy aperture its ace…really good
once lightroom 3 ships there won't be any contest. lightroom 3 beta 2 has it all. aperture is good, but lightroom 3 beta 2, and when it ships, lightroom 3 has it beat.
aperture3 is verry good, agree,compare to photoshop, even cs4 but the plugins gestion still better on adobe…
and correction layer on adobe still closer of studio old fashion works…
pus aperture is even intuitif than photoshop…still the result of "jpegisation" better on phtoshop…
so, both still usefull… let get an "export to photoshop" plugins for aperture or use photoshop script plugins for aperture and we'll go close to perfection….
As a long time Photoshop user, and a long time Aperture and Lightroom user, I had given up on Aperture and moved to mostly Bridge/Photoshop for my workflow. I used Lightroom a lot on the road with the MacBook Pro. But Aperture 3 has gotten me back on the Aperture bandwagon and I'm here to stay. Anyone who said Lightroom is better is entitled to their opinion, but there is no way LIghtroom is going to have the lead over Aperture 3 that version two had over v2 of Aperture.
Those loving Aperture over LR, why? What is that you like about it over LB? Don't just say it feels better or it's more intuitive. Tell us specifically what you like better or what it does better than LR>
I didn't try LR in depth, so I'm not saying one is better or worse, and I am an amateur, so don't have professional requirements (if that makes any difference, plenty of pros use A). But one of the reasons I chose Aperture (then v.2) over LR was the flexibility of the layout. I found LR's module approach a little limiting and confusing at first blush. I also like A's managed files approach. And it felt more Apple-like moving from iLife. YMMV.
Actually I learned to use Aperture 3 before I did Lightroom 2.6 because the controls, toggles, and sliders seemed all so simple — until I learned to use Lightroom. For one, there is so much more flexibility with Lightroom in terms of adjustments available. To the detail specific user, it spells better ease of use. This is in no way to turn down other post-processing software out there, but Lightroom tweaked its file management system that it makes file images easily accessible through the software or through "Apple Finder". What it did was to take on the file management system of iPhoto and Aperture, and improve on it such that it allows one to have ALL photo files in only one folder (easily accessible) while classifications and subcategories are created with regards to where (and how many times) the user prefers to have specific files linked to (e.g. Family Collection, Vacation Collection, et. al).
Basically, Lightroom stands tall against Aperture 3 and iPhoto combined in terms of library and developing (post-processing) systems. However, in the areas of slideshow, iPhoto (moreso Aperture 3) alone gives Lightroom nothing to show for as the latter has only fade transitions. iPhoto, on the other hand makes viewing the photos come to life as a result of transitions like scrapbook, and ken burns. iPhoto and Aperture 3 also makes exporting a breeze! One cannot simply fathom how complicated it should be to export edited (processed) files (for printing or web use) in Lightroom!
Low down – it depends on where the user wants his skills to apply. As for me, I'll keep Aperture alongside Lightroom (and iPhoto) for the various needs I mentioned earlier.
""opinions"" are like arse holes every one has one .who cares about which program is better .only that which one the individual feels comfertable in using wether it be light room or adobe or aperture all have there place in the digital world.no one program is beter than the other .espcialy for ametur users.who has a PC who has a MAC ?
Very awesome!! I'm an aspiring photojournalist at Point Park University, as well as an Aperture user. Warms my heart a little.
What everyone seems to be implying is that Aperture is a replacement for Photoshop, I dont believe it was meant to be that. Its apples answer to Lightroom, not Photoshop. It is for organization and minor editing, nothing near the tools that are in Photoshop. That said I do use Aperture 3 and prefer it over Lightroom.
I have I-Life '09 and like it real well. I am also an amateur but I have made some promo DVD's and the people were really pleased. I have hesitated to get into "A" because I don't know if it would be that beneficial for the cost. HAs anyone had the same thoughts and then bought "A" and were you really satisfied?
REHJR
Simply brilliant!!!!! Aperture3 is all the software you need for MOST/ALL of your work. There is nothing on the market to touch it!!!! Has ANYONE used the whole of CS4????? Does ANYONE know of ANYONE who needs the whole of CS4????? I am NOT cracking Adobe in any way, but photography MUST be kept simple, and affordable!!!! CS4 is the exact opposite of both. "Apple for QUALITY, SERVICE – second to none – Congratulations to ." Then there is the price …… Wake up Photoshop….. You are now dreaming. Diamond studded boxes???? Keep dreaming……
Wow that was hilarious! Love you guys.
I just purchased a new iMac and the Apple store did not tell me that Aperture 3 was available when I told them that I wanted to purchase Aperture. They gave me Aperture 2 and I installed it. 3 days later I got the Apple email that Aperture 3 was introduced.
What is the big difference and is it worth the $100 upgrade?
It uses some of the features that iPhoto had like faces and places. Go to the Apple website to get a full description for what's new.
I found it to be worth the upgrade. It meant that I no longer had a use for iPhoto and could do more of what mattered to me using one less program.
The new Aperture brought all of my favorite iPhoto features over in addition to taking a huge step forward. It's great to see it making headway in the professional world!
theez peeeepple is ignant
demonseed, stop proving what you are!!!! I registered as a "Professional Photographer" in 1967!!! I did all my own darkroom work. Just eighteen months ago – waiting for the launch of the Nikon D3x – I went totally digital. Through a variety of sources like magazines and "Trade Show Demonstrations", I have followed the progress of digital photography particularly in the last ten years. Aperture3 has no competition. Have you ever had the "Apple experience, care, customer service?" Do you know of Apple's "One-to-One?" Apple is the best thing that has happened to "Digital Photography". They have taken it at least three phases above all their competitors all at a fraction of the price. The future, at prices no one can match. Have you ever walked into an Apple Store? Do it just for the experience!!!! I only visit "Bluewater at Dartford, Kent, U.K.", for my convenience. They epitomise efficiency, proficiency, and sheer professionalism!!!! I believe, just as any other Apple Store!!!!!
Dick, Sorry to get back so late. Thanks for your information. It is what i wanted to read especially from a pro. I will now take a good look at "A"3 and see if i want it. Were you able to compare I-Photo to it or did you merely go right into "A"2?
Apple have things you just don't get elsewhere in this electronic era, PEOPLE. The day will never come when computers replace them. Alien, oop's Allan
I start by saying "I love Aperture" despite some quirky things I do not even want to mention. I have been using it since v1.0 and my library is now over 100GB, and still decently manageable.
However, this article implies to the casual reader that it is a multi-user system unless the committee of judges consisted of 1 person I do not see how you can run an effective rating system on it, without all being in the same room. I believe Aperture's biggest missing component is to be able to store the library on a fast server and lock at master->version level. Here Apple again is showing its infancy in strong systems software, and I wish they would grow up in that area as well. They are miles ahead of anyone else in UI design, but good old fashion multi-user/access to stuff is a lonely child in Cupertino.
I start by saying "I love Aperture" despite some quirky things I do not even want to mention. I have been using it since v1.0 and my library is now over 100GB. And Aperture manages reasonably well. However, Aperture is a single user product, with no multi-user or collaborative capabilities to speak of. This is the Achilles heel of Apple. They have a lack in systems software experience which shows in the lack of support for storing your library on a fast server, and have master->version locking to allow for access to the library from multiple workstations. This article implies cooperative use, of a group of judges. Well they better be in one room using the system otherwise it would be pretty hard to collaborate and come to some meaningful conclusion. Therefore I am taking some offense at this article as it paints a slant picture of reality.
I start by saying "I love Aperture" despite some quirky things I do not even want to mention. I have been using it since v1.0 and my library is now over 100GB, and still decently manageable.
However, this article implies to the casual reader that it is a multi-user system unless the committee of judges consisted of 1 person I do not see how you can run an effective rating system on it, without all being in the same room. I believe Aperture's biggest missing component is to be able to store the library on a fast server and lock at master->version level. Here Apple again is showing its infancy in strong systems software, and I wish they would grow up in that area as well. They are miles ahead of anyone else in UI design, but good old fashion multi-user/access to stuff is a lonely child in Cupertino.
Oh, what a lot of sad people there are that feel the need to correct the spellings of the contributors!! There are good and bad things in everything, on balance, I feel that Aperture 3 adds far more to the photographers needs in a simpler and more user friendly way than products that run on the Microsoft operating system platform.
Gowiththeflowman you must appreciate that it is only when you do something drastically wrong – AND ON PURPOSE – that you leave yourself open to criticism, and do need to be corrected. This does not make us sad nor ignorant!!! E-mails, Facebook etc are not places where anyone points out someones incorrect use of grammar or spelling in any language!!!! No one would ever do this!!! We are discussing "the Pros. and Cons." of Aperture 3. We are invited to voice our own personal opinions, on yet another of the latest products, which are coming in thick and fast. Remember the saying, "I may not agree with you, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it". It is my humble opinion that Aperture3, is nothing short of magic and for the price….. brilliant….. I bought it the day it was made available. But when someone actually says "theez peeeepple is ignant", I do not even dream he made a mistake. This is an insult to ALL Apple users!!! I know what he meant to say, but he is very rude and crude to call anyone, IGNORANT….. I do not believe any sane human being would join in an open discussion, in English and then call a number of people, he should be friendly with, as Apple users interested in photography, "IGNANT". He then spells people with THREE "p's" AND FIVE "e's". This I firmly believe was intended to be an insult, pretending to be foreign. Foreign or not I objected to his description of people….. not his mastery of the English Language; if all these people were ignorant, all of them would not be joining in on this open discussion on this highly sophisticated and advanced "miracle" from Apple. There are good and bad things in everything, yes, but allowing for human error, how could you, like demonseed come up with "Oh, what a lot of sad people there are ………. contributors". Slamming a lot of people and calling them sad!!!! Not a single one these people above are sad….. not a single one – for emphasis . On the contrary, stick to "The Star" of the show…. Aperture3….. I wholeheartedly agree with the second part of your second/last sentence. We are all between glad to ecstatic, yes we are all over the moon about Aperture3. We do not give a damn about spelling, grammar or punctuation marks and the like, nor are we all typists!!! I use two fingers (to type with). We are here, courtesy of Apple, to join and share our opinions and our ideas with like minded people, who share the same interest…. photos, photography, call it what you like !!! We are all very happy people because we are ALL Apple users, and none of us are ignorant!!!! Or we would all be using badly made, Pretty Cheap computers – P.C.'s (abbreviation). Please smile, everyone, as I know you are anyway because Apple has given us something to smile about. And Oh Boy, have they done a grand job!!! Thank you Apple for the "Apple Experience", Quality, Style and Price!!!! With so many goodies on the way we are all in for very early Christmas presents. Thanks Apple.
I am shocked that Aperture is taking seriously in the professional photography world! The software is crap! I have aperture 3 and it's basically a more complex version of iphoto. But iphoto has the upper hand of actually saving the photo, NOT like Aperture that rather just makes a image copy of the original, making it a pain in the ass for saving it, or wanting to use it for a finalized finished picture. Photoshop (even tough it is still very over complicated to use compared to other software, like Aperture…. must be laughing at the false finishes that Aperture does). Aperture is just lies lies lies when it comes to "what you think" is the final finished photo!. Also when it comes to finishing the photo the quality is dreadful. If you are really unlucky, then you will end up with some nasty copy that is actually some oversized "thumb". The only time I use Aperture now is for the soft focus brush, which is very very good and easy to use…but apart from that, stick with photoshop cs4 (Just keep using the trial versions, I know its waaay over priced, but they are ways around it
), or use iphoto. One last thing about Aperture, it has to much control over any photos that it has decided to add to its library. For the price it's not bad, but for anyone who is a pro photographer that needs to know that what he or she is seeing when editing,when it comes to the "final" version of editing (when printing or publishing)…then it's going to be a huge NO NO.
Dexter, there are only 2 full-featured, pro photo programmes out there. By full-featured I mean, image management, image adjustment and image printing, all under one roof. They are Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom. Both can use Photoshop as an external editor for specialized work. Both programmes are true professional-quality programmes that are used by a vast number of professional photographers around the world. Any professional will keep an open mind and use the tool that best allows him to accomplish his/her goals. Some choose Aperture, some choose Lightroom, for their own reasons.
You are certainly are entitled to your opinion, but you simply cannot make blanket statements, as if you speak for every professional out there. Get a life! You don't like Aperture? No problem. Use the software that works best for you. Just don't insult me because of my choice… which, like thousands of other photographers, happens to be Aperture.
Photoshop is a pixel manipulator, not a file manage program. It goes hand & hand with either LR3 or AP3.
So if you are gonna compare learn the difference.
Here's my big question: How does Aperture 3 handle transferring multiple files to Photoshop? I do lots of panorama stitching, and the big difference between Lightroom and Aperture before was that Aperture choked hard on sending large lots of photos to Photoshop: not all of them would open consistently, and they went across in a format that wasn't ideal. Lightroom handled it perfectly, opening all the RAW images in Adobe's RAW editor.
Also, does Aperture still use its own proprietary "Library" directory "file" as it did before? That was another big detriment over Lightroom's completely logical and intuitive use of the Finder's own folder structure.
Spent a few hours working the same image in Aperture 3 trial and Lightroom 3 beta the other day.
LR3 is much improved over LR2 – just the processing speed improvements make it worthwhile. All the tools seem cleaner and offer a more expected or intuitive result. As a longterm LR2 user, I was pleasantly surprised how much Aperture has improved since the first incarnation. Aperture seemed more transparent in use, it was easier to use than LR and so allowed me to free up more creative space for artistry without getting so involved in the mechanics of the software. All things being equal spec-wise, I think I'd buy Aperture 3 on account of this experience.
However, I could not find a software grad filter in Aperture. This is such a powerful part of the LR workflow for any pro. For me, it's vital to be able to tweak a sky or side in a graduated fashion. I'm a landscaper, so maybe I have different needs from say a portrait photographer, but this does seem to be a glaring omission. Unless of course I'm missing something obvious….
50k pictures? And Im blaming about pick 2500 pics.
Anyway, Lightroom FTW!
I will never use Aperture as long as it requires a very slow, very expensive computer with a fruit on it.
Until then, I'll stick to Lightroom. It might not be the best, definitely not, but it doesn't require me to sell my soul to a Sect.
I wish you well sir.
I have old Mac Book (black one, core 2 duo 2.16 ghz, 2 gb ram, 120 GB harddisk) and tried Aperture 3. For RAW and also JPEG files (for Sony A350 and Canon 5D), it was torture for me. It was very slow and also the program was shutting down itself in every hour.
I am not intended to buy a new mac to able to use Aperture 3 properly.
On the other hand, Lightroom 2 and Lightroom 3 Beta II is much more quick than Aperture and the features as good as Aperture, in many points Lightroom is better. Moreover, I can save my original files in my external drive and there is no extra space for lightroom library, on the other hand Aperture is not as good as Lightroom for the storage. Its library steals my macbooks hard drive all the time.
Moreover, Lightroom has direct chance to work with Photoshop CS4, just right click on the photo and select edit in photoshop.
so the winner is Lightroom for me.