Aperture Love
On the Apple site there is a great feature on Richard Walch, snowboarder and professional photographer. In the article he talks about his new found love, Aperture on the Mac. For those that don’t know, Aperture is similar to Adobe Lightroom and is one of the prefered choices for professional photographers who handle, process and organise large collections of RAW shots.
Apple’s Aperture software running on a 15-inch MacBook Pro is the foundation of the mobile digital darkroom that he carries in his backback — rain, shine or snowstorm — when he goes on a shoot. Aperture’s RAW-focused workflow is particularly important to Walch, who shoots RAW at up to eight frames per second in a bid to capture his fast-moving subjects. He explains: “When I get down the mountain after a full day’s shooting, I normally have around 10 gigabytes of data. Aperture handles it so quickly and so easily”.
Because of these remote locations, and because Walch is himself a rider as well as a photographer, it’s important to travel light. Walch can fit everything he needs — cameras, lenses, laptop, supplies — into his backpack, so that he can begin importing shots into his MacBook Pro while he’s still on the mountain. He explains the advantage: “We normally break for food at some point, and I take that opportunity to import and organise my shots in Aperture. This is great for me, because I can isolate any shots I’ve missed during the morning session, and get them in the afternoon”.
By the end of the day, Walch is frequently exhausted, which is where Aperture’s backup facilities come into their own. Walch says: “During a shoot, I usually hike for many miles, often just to get a single shot, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend an extra two hours backing up my work.
“Aperture is smart enough to know which photos haven’t been backed up to my external drive. With one click I can start the process and Aperture does the rest. For me, it’s one less thing to worry about”. Apple have a short movie with Richard’s voiceover here.
Some photographers prefer Aperture, some Lightroom - it depends on your own workflow preference. They both have trial versions so why not download them and see which fits your own style best - it might be that missing part of your photography kit. If you have a preference let us know why…
