iLifeZone Episode 25

Run Time: 34:39

Scott Bourne www.podcastingtricks.com and www.podcastgearguy.com

Derrick Story www.thedigitalstory.com

Colleen Wheeler digitalmedia.oreilly.com

Alex Lindsay pixelcorps.com

This is going to be a follow-up episode to our first Digital Photography Super Spectacular!

First, let's go back to episode 24. We spoke about what we'd like to see in the next version of iLife. A lot of listeners contacted us to weigh in also.

Murray Cooper: He wants to see iWeb render better in Internet Explorer and have the ability to add voice annotations to iPhoto. Derrick thinks that would be cool and would be even cooler if it were integrated with the voice notes most cameras can do now. Murray would also like it to be easier to add title pages in iPhoto without having to do all kinds of hacks and tricks.

Rice28M: Thinks iMovie needs to offer an import function for MP4 directly rather than re-encoding them to .DV format on import. Alex thinks it would be nice, but it's a problem because of the way iMovie is set up.

Scott Horn: Thinks iLife is missing a graphics animation type application like Deluxe Paint. Alex points out that you can do something like that with Quartz Composer which comes with all Macs. It's not as easy, but it's still workable.

And we even got some fan mail:

James: Doesn't own a Mac but will because of our show. He's even listened to every show and saved every tip! WOW! Thanks, James! Derrick thinks we could call him a "virtual Mac user." We really appreciate that, James!

Now on with the show!

LightRoom 1.0 from Adobe is now available. You can get a demo of the final version from Adobe. You can buy it for $199 now, but come the end of April it'll cost you $299 (in other words, if you know you want it, don't wait!). Derrick has been tinkering with it since day one of the beta, and notes how Adobe put everything together as a group with beta testers taking suggestions and so on. While that works well, it does take away some of the excitement when it finally does come out.

Scott notes that Apple never did any such thing with Aperture. Alex is curious as to what distinguishes Aperture and Lightroom. Derrick thinks they overlap, and that if you're an Adobe user, LightRoom might make more sense to you. He also thinks it's geared toward enthusiasts and pros, while Aperture is geared toward higher end shooters.

Scott thinks that if you're a big fan of Adobe Camera Raw, LightRoom is a common-sense migration.

Colleen notes that the LightRoom interface is broken down in a way that almost walks you through the process step by step and may not necessarily be attractive for someone more knowledgeable. Some people have told her that it's a bit too structured in how it directs you through the process. She does think it's beautiful, though, and loves the way photos look in LightRoom while you're working with it.

Scott thinks Aperture's interface is very nice also (typical of Apple). Scott then asks Derrick what he thinks the top 3 features of LightRoom and Aperture are:

Aperture:
1. Handling a big number of photos from a shoot are great in Aperture with sorting, and stacking.
2. You can do adjustments whenever and however you want because it’s not nodal because it doesn't restrict the way you work.
3. The interface is great.

LightRoom:
1. The workflow presentation is very good for people who aren't used to dealing with a workflow.
2. The "Develop" module is fantastic and user friendly.
3. Printing out of LightRoom is very fun and Adobe did a great job with it.

Derrick thinks it's a coin-toss depending on your photography needs.

Alex points out that a year and a half ago, neither of these apps really existed and now we have two great competing apps. Scott mentions that at the first ever class for Aperture that he and Derrick taught, LightRoom wasn't available for Windows but it along with Aperture was available for the Mac. Derrick also notes that there’s now a Universal Binary version of Nikon's Capture NX for Intel-based Macs. Derrick also notes that iPhoto '07 is coming soon, and he expects big things for photographers.

Scott asks Colleen which application she likes to use.

Colleen likes Adobe Bridge because of the various files it can work with. Bridge 2.0 is a big step up from 1.0. It's more customizable and can be tailored to how you need it. She's not sure it’s a great solution for photographers per se, but it's a great workflow when combined with Camera RAW and Photoshop. If your budget includes the latest version of Photoshop, it might be tough to grab a copy of LightRoom or Aperture on top of it and for a lot of people, it's all about getting work done and not necessarily doing it with yet another app.

Alex agrees and points out that he knows Photoshop 7 users in support of Colleen's point.

Scott points out that the Post Intelligencer is doing its layout in Photoshop 5.5.

Colleen can't use the latest version of Bridge on her Intel Mac because she doesn't have one yet (oops!) and Derrick is using it on his MacBook Pro and likes it a lot.

Scott's big problem with prior versions of Bridge is that it was unacceptably slow before Bridge 2.0. Colleen agrees and says she has a habit of turning it on and walking away while it works. The new version of Bridge is much faster. Important to note is that it won't render high-resolution previews unless you ask it to.

Scott asks Derrick about the one thing he wants iPhoto to be able to do in the future that it doesn't do now. Derrick really wants them to move to non- destructive editing for RAW files. As it is now, it makes a copy of RAW files so you can work on them. Other professional apps make something called a " sidecar file" that instructs the program on how to handle the changes that were made.

Colleen asks what happens to users who try the trial version of LightRoom or Aperture and decide they don't want it. Does their work get lost also, or do they just have to be careful and export it all before the trial is up? Derrick suggests that those people who want to try LightRoom not used the Managed Library mode so they don't run a risk like that and you'd only lose ratings, keywords, etc. HAVE A PLAN. Scott suggests that the same applies to the Aperture trial also. For the second time, HAVE A PLAN.

Derrick would like to see iPhoto improve through enhanced features borrowed from Aperture. Scott likes to think of Aperture, iPhoto, Photoshop, LightRoom, and all the others as competitors that force each other to make better products. Competition is a good thing and it'll drive all these companies to produce better products or risk losing customers. "It's good enough" just won't do anymore.

Scott's Photo Tip: Encourages people to make prints (how old school!). Scott points out that prints are the oldest form of archive and backup in existence. We don't make as many prints as we used to, but it's easier than ever. Make prints and pass 'em out. People love it and appreciate it. Tangibility beats digital!

Derrick's Photo Tip: Play with the fill-flash setting on your camera (take it away from Auto and put it on ON). Stand 8 feet away, compose the shot, and check out the results. It adds a crispness that you don't get without. It's not perfect, but it can improve a photo, particularly if you plan on printing them. Scott points out that in a situation with a strong backlight (light behind the subject), fill flash is essential for a portrait.

This episode was sponsored by Rogue Amoeba and Podango.

The next show lands on March 1, 2007. For more information email us at info@ilifezone.com.

Thanks to Pixelcorps for production assistance with the iLifeZone.

Thanks also to Vincent Ferrari for the shownotes!

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