Since its release a couple of weeks ago, I’ve spent a bunch of time playing around with Aperture 3. With the exception of one problem, I absolutely love it.

The library import/export/merge functionality is exactly what I need to manage multiple libraries from my desktop and laptop. The selective brushing in and out of any adjustment you can put on an image has allowed me to become a lot more creative with how I edit up my shots. I used to spend about 5 minutes tweaking shots in Aperture 2, playing with colour levels, shadows and highlights, white balance, etc… With the tools Aperture 3 has made available, I now spend considerably longer, not because they’re harder to use, but because it has opened up a whole new level of control for me to exploit

All in all, I am amazed with how good Aperture 3 has been. However, there is one major exception that is just about ruining the experience for me at the moment: the application (or lack there of) of the sharpening adjustment when exporting images.

Selective Sharpening and Aperture 3

I’ve started to make pretty extensive use of the Aperture 3 sharpening adjustment. I like to brush it in over items in an image with a bit of texture or focus. Hair, eyes, that sort of thing. In Aperture 3, the images look fantastic and I’m really happy with them. This happiness quickly disapates when I export the images when preparing to upload them to my Flickr stream.

While all the other adjustments made in AP3 end up reproduced in the exported image, sharpening does not. Let me give you an example.

The follow image is how I see things in Aperture 3. It was obtained by going to full-screen editing mode and then doing a screen capture, thus by-passing any Aperture exporting. (click on images for full size versions to really see the difference)

In this image, I have added some sharpening to parts of the hair, the eyes and hands. All in all I am happy with what I see.

The next image is the result I get from exporting the image using the standard File > Export > Version… method.

Notice how soft it is around the afore mentioned areas where I applied sharpening.

If I go into Aperture and disable the sharpening adjustment, the resulting image is exactly as it appears in the standard exported version. Without knowing anything about the innards of Aperture, it seems as if any sharpening adjustments are not being applied on export.

The same behaviour exists regardless of:

• Image format on export (jpg, tiff, png)
• Image quality level defined in the export presets
• Image resolution (half/full/in-between)

Whenever I export a version, it always comes out WITHOUT sharpening. The only workaround I have at the moment is to go fullscreen and take a screenshot. This gives me something to upload to Flickr, however it does mean I lose all the EXIF data. While OK as a temporary solution for that purpose, I do wish to have some photos printed at some point soon, and in this case, I have no workable solution.

If anyone else using Aperture 3 has seen the same problem, I’d love to hear from them. I’ll be posting a link to this description on the Apple forums, but thus far I have only been able to find one other person describing a similar issue.

I am running Aperture 3.0.1 and OS X 10.6.2 (27″ i7 iMac). The files themselves are Canon CR2 RAW files (from a 5D Mark II) and were imported from the camera through Aperture.

As I first mentioned in my 2010 New Year’s resolutions post, I’ve begun undertaking a number of themed photo projects. One of these has the dual purpose of giving me a little more understanding of the world on the other side of the lens, and in helping me conquer a little personal fear.

I love taking photos, but if there is one thing that I am deathly scared of, it’s getting on the other side of the lens. Although my photo has been taken numerous times, I always resort to pulling some sort of goofy, over-the-top pose in an attempt to deflect the fear of being shot. If I’m just fooling around, it doesn’t matter that I look like a idiot… right? RIGHT!?

*Sigh* This has to stop. I can’t reasonably expect others to feel comfortable posing for me if I don’t at least have some level of appreciation for what they’re going through. All that ends now. It’s my turn to suffer the insecurity and terror of having my photo taken properly.

…

That was a nice little speech and all, but without the proper motivation I know I’ll never do it. So, to ensure that I do actually go through with this particular photo project, I will now make a pact designed to force me into realising this goal through the magical power of peer pressure. Naturally, I need the help of you, my peers, to apply the pressure.

Telling me to “man up” isn’t going to cut it for this task. I need to create some sense of obligation, and when thinking about it, I could only conjure one thought: Money. Convincing people to part with their hard earned cash puts a level of pressure on me that I can’t in good faith refuse. At the same time, when asking people to spend money, I have to make some sort of sacrifice myself. A simple self-portrait doesn’t provide enough amusement to motivate people to spend.

So… here goes nothing…

The Pact

People of the Internet: If there are 52 of you out there who are willing to donate just $10AUD each to the RSPCA, I promise to get in front of the camera for a self portrait… nude.

Yes, you read that correctly. I’ll buff it up for a self-portrait and post the results to my Flickr stream if just 52 of you can pony up a little cash for all the abandoned and abused animals out there. That’s one person a week over the course of the year.

The Conditions

1) When I say nude, I mean “tastefully” nude. No boy-bits, just my pasty, plain self.

2) The financial goal is to raise $520AUD for the RSPCA, so I will accept less than 52 individual donors if the total dollar amount reaches $520.

3) This offer is valid for the entire year. It will only expire at midnight, January 1st 2011 (Perth, Australia, GMT+8).

4) $500+ is a lot of money, so I’ll do my level best to make sure that the goal is reached. Yes, I won’t try and shy away purely because my hairy butt is on the line. I promise to contact various prominent photographers I know of through Twitter and the wider web in an attempt to get them to draw some attention to this act of tomfoolery, thus giving it the best possible chance of succeeding. If you’re going to toss in your money, the least I can do is try to make it worth while.

5) For your donation to be considered valid, some proof must be emailed to me (tpokorny ^^ gmail). Whether this is the tax invoice they send you, or a screenshot of the confirmation page, I just need some sort of proof that you have donated. The subject of all emails should be, or contain the text: “Raunchy for the RSPCA“. Please be sure to scrub any personal information you don’t want me to see. When I receive an email, I’ll just be noting the name and donated amount before immediately deleting it. Naturally, no details at all will be passed to anyone else for any purpose whatsoever.

6) I’ll only be taking the photo AFTER the $520 goal has been reached. Each time I receive confirmation of a donation I will reply via email to the donator, informing them of the current amount raised. Each time the total climbs by another $50, I’ll post a message to my Twitter stream.

If/when the goal has been reached, I’ll post the best shot I can manage to my Flickr account and a notification will be sent via Twitter, as well as an email directly to anyone insane and generous enough to donate.

A Final Word

This is scary as hell, but it will force me to step outside my comfort zone while having the far more important benefit of helping a kind and caring organisation. I’ve set the bar pretty high, so I’m really not sure I’ll get enough people to donate. If nothing else, remember that it’s tax deductible, which is more than I can say for my dignity.

There are many reasons to participate:

• Do it for the animals
• Do it because you want to be blinded by my casper-like levels of whiteness
• Do it because you think I’m all talk and want to see me squirm

Whatever the reason, I both encourage you to participate and urge you to think carefully about the horror you are potentially unleashing upon the world before you do.

Yours Nervously,
Tim.

Update: For anyone outside Australia who wishes to donate, you should also feel free. My personal suggestion is to donate to the Humane Society. The same concept applies. Just donate and then email me some sort of confirmation so I can add you to the tally!

Unlike other years, I’ve given my 2010 resolutions some extra time to marinate before deciding properly on what to include or exclude. Rather than looking for personal shortcomings that require rectification, I’ve tried to look for things that invoke a sense of excitement in me. I figure that I’m far more likely to achieve goals that elicit adventure and accomplishment. With an eye to actually realising resolutions, I’ve decided to limit myself to making just one. Well, this is a half-truth. I will be making one specific resolution, but it has a number of defined parts.

The overall resolution is: Improve my photography.

In an effort to expand my photography experience, my initial thought was to embark on a 365-project for 2010. On further contemplation I realised that this perhaps wasn’t the best course of action for me. Like many people, I am perpetually time poor. I did not want to fall into that trap of taking the same “didn’t have time today, so here is a tired self-portrait” shot over and over. I really want to expand my experience, and forcing myself to pop a photo every day, just for the sake of it, doesn’t feel right to me. I need to get a bit more specific. I need a bit more structure.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to embark on a number of photo-projects throughout the year. Each project will have a central theme, and my primary goal for each is to produce a few shots I am really, unambiguously proud of. For each of the project listed below I’ll develop a small brief to provide some scope. Each of those will be posted here for the information of anyone interested. They don’t have to be completed in the listed order, I’m just aiming to complete them all.

I’ll also be looking for companions. I’ll need people who are willing to subject themselves to posing; companions for any road-trips that might be involved, and most importantly, help, guidance and feedback from other interested photographers. Stay tuned to my Twitter stream if any of these interest you!

Project One: Release the Strobist

Playing with strobes is something I’ve had designs on for quite a while now. I possess a modicum of the necessary equipment and wish to learn more about the process of properly lighting a shot, both from an artistic and “gear” perspective.

Project Two: Street Shooting

After spending some time checking out the work of Clay Enos, I became inspired to get out there and do a bit of street shooting. While the primary motivating style is street portraiture, for this project I consider street photography to be anything taken of the public while pounding the pavement.

Project Three: Monochrome Madness

With digital photography we can easily create Black and White images out of any shot. For me, this freedom to “do it in post” essentially has me ignoring any particular compositional or other elements of a photo that I’d need to consider if I was expressly shooting B&W. The purpose of this project is to tell the camera to only take black and white shots, thus forcing me to deal with the realities of B&W shooting from the start.

Project Four: Pretty Portraits

When I started shooting, my primary interest was landscapes. The more I get into photography, the more I find myself drawn to portraits. I don’t especially like anything too posed, preferring the more relaxed, genuine expressions that come over people when they are not focused on the camera. Either way, my goal here is to produce at least 5 interesting portraits. I’ll absolutely need willing subjects for this one!

Project Five: Luscious Landscapes

I’ve always loved landscapes, but I’ve never been good with moving water (beaches, waterfalls and so on). I’d like to spend a bit of time getting wet and learning the tricks and pitfalls. Beyond this, a road-trip down the coast sounds like fun.

Project Six: Self Styling

I love taking photos, but if there is one thing that I am deathly scared of, it’s getting on the other side of the lens. This has to stop. I’ve crafted a terrifying and horrible plan to address this, and that topic shall be the subject of a follow-up post. Stay tuned.

Project Seven: Printing the Proof

I’ve never printed anything I’ve shot. I know, it’s a crime. Just the thought of coming to terms with all the color management issues just about drives me bonkers, which is a pretty good sign that printing is an area ripe for exploration. By the end of the year I want to have learnt more about color management and the entire preparation and printing process, in addition to getting at least 5 of my best shots framed up and hung on my wall.

Project Eight: Lift and Separate

The final project involves making a change to how I treat the shots I take. I’d like to have some separation and distinction between shots that I take in a serious attempt to produce interesting and compelling photography, and those that I take in a less formal, more laid back light.

There are two parts to this process. The first is to create a separate photo-blog to highlight particular images and discuss how I took them and why. The second step is to change the way I use Flickr. I have created a second account where I will be posting all my non-formal stuff. Most of the photos that exist on my primary account will be removed and reposted over there, leaving only the shots I really like in the original stream. I will be making both of these changes soon, and I shall provide all the appropriate links here when I’m done.

That’s it! One resolution, but with ambitious goals. I find myself excited about each of these projects and eager to dive right in. Hopefully the year will end with me being able to put a solid “SUCCESS” stamp next to each step.

2009 Resolutions

PASS Finish my PhD Thesis
PASS Back to NZ
FAIL Write an Application for the iPhone
PARTIAL Eat Better
FAIL Play with Video
PASS Start Post-Processing my Photos

That’s a neat little list, but what really happened?

My personal world changed considerably throughout 2009. One of the primary factors motivating my move to Perth was the desire to step outside my comfort zone and figure out how to survive and look after myself when taken out of the familiar and friendly environments of home in Victoria. For the first 9 months of my time here, I tended back towards an old habit of becoming quite insular. I was in a relationship that became comfortable, with continuous company and companionship, and in such situations, it can be difficult to find the motivation to throw yourself into situations that have the potential to be uncomfortable in any way, shape or form. Consequently, I found rationalisation in small excuses and never had to experience the loneliness that would otherwise have been enough of a incentive to overcome the apprehension of the unknown.

This changed when my partner at the time moved to Queensland to be with her family. Given an empty apartment and few outside connections, I finally found the impetus needed to push me out the door in search of new people and experiences.

I attended my first PTUB in April, which I actually found quite scary. Walking into a room where you have never met a single person is something I still find mildly terrifying; but experiences beyond the comfort zone were what it was all about for me at the time.

I hasty constructed an ice-breaker and hunted down its subject. It was most likely all my imagination, but right before I went to declare Grum to indeed NOT be a Velociraptor, the general area seemed to become almost silent. I’ve rarely felt quite as awkward as when I stood there, looking him up and down, referring back to my sheet and make sure that he was indeed human. As frightful as that moment may have been, something strange happened shortly after: everything became easy. I quickly discovered that most of the people in attendance were in the same situation as I was, and this seemed to create some common connection, dissipating any excessive feelings of angst. I met a lot of new friends throughout that evening, and I left with a small sense of personal achievement.

Following on from this, after 5 weeks on the road for work, I decided to treat myself to a small holiday. After some internal deliberation I chose to join the small party heading to Bali to celebrate Grum’s 30th birthday. Again, the main motivation here was to step outside my comfort zone. I don’t enjoy the heat and Bali has never been a my list of places to visit. I had only met the old man a couple of times, and knew nothing of my other companions: JJ and Courtney. As you might expect, international travel with people who were essentially complete strangers to me caused some pre-departure anxiety.

When you are thrown into a new situation, surrounded by new faces for 24-hours a day, the situation tends to intensify the bonding process. The trip was full of drinking and lazing around the pool, but most importantly, it was a fantastic opportunity to get to know new faces. I felt like I’d once again stepped outside my natural boundaries and become richer for it, both in personal satisfaction and in the new friendships that had developed.

I was finally doing the things I hoped for when I moved across the continent.

After this, I noticed changes in the way I’d approach social situations. I’d become more outgoing and confident when talking to new people. When approaching and talking to a stranger, you genuinely have nothing to lose. This is an easy thing to say, but one that remains horribly difficult to do. However, things become dramatically simpler when you actually summon the courage and experience it for yourself, as opposed to just being told it by others. Perhaps its that assurance you get from knowing something to be true because you’ve gone through it before. Whatever it is, I found myself talking with more unfamiliar faces and much more open to developing new friendships. I hope to maintain this spirit and not regress from the personal step forward that prompted it. That attitude has been the primary contributor enabling me to develop bonds with a number of you who will be reading this post, and I’m the richer for having had the opportunity to get to know you.

The other major personal occurrence of the past year was the passing of my remaining grandparents. The death of my grandfather came as a bit of a shock to me at the time, although he had become quite ill. He sparked my interest in so many things that lead me down the road to who I am today, and I shall miss him dearly. The one thing I’ll always remember about my Nanna and Pa was how much they loved one another. They were always together, in everything they did. When Nanna passed away about a month after Pa, I was a little surprised, but I think it was clear to the whole family that she was ready. Of all my grandparents, she was the one I was most connected to. She looked after me and always loved when I would visit. On many occasions I would sit in the lounge with her for extended periods of time, talking about everything that was going on. Sometimes we’d just chat, other times we’d play cards, but every time I left, I did so with a sense that I’d made her happy. The sadness on her face as Pa was lowered into the ground will stay with me forever, but knowing that she didn’t have to linger long without him provides some solace. I missed her funeral, and this is something I regret. I hope that one day I can provide to my grand children the love and support that my grandparents provided to me.

The final major occurrence of the past year relates to changed in my job. For a number of reasons, I spent more time on the road in the second half of 2009 than I did at home. In late June I moved from the quiet and somewhat ghost-like East Perth into the much more vibrant suburb of Subiaco. Of my first 6 weeks in the new apartment, I spent 3 days in Perth. The trend continued throughout the remaining 6 months, and although they were incredibly rewarding, they were also rather tiring. Perhaps I’m just becoming a cranky old man, but really, I’m looking forward to a holiday-at-home at some point in 2010.

Spending so much time away from home helped motivate me to make the most of the limited free time I did have. I managed to spend some more time learning the guitar (although I still suck), but most importantly, I finally started to spend more and more time on my primary hobby: photography.

A trip to New Zealand with my oldest friend in September served as a real catalyst for expanding my experience behind the lens. For three weeks I ran around the vineyards and mountains taking photos, learning plenty about the process along the way. By the end of it I’d had to overcome both my lack of knowledge and the declining motivation that comes from spending day after day looking at the world with designs on capturing it. I took a lot of shots, and although 80% of them were rubbish, there are a couple that I am particularly proud of. This was enough to suck me well and truly into the photography world, as will be evident when looking over my resolutions for the new year.

Before moving onto those resolutions, I want to take a quick look at the successes and failures with regard to last years goals.

Finish my PhD Thesis

Excruciatingly painful, but ultimately essential in shaping the person I am now. This monkey has now been surgically removed from my back, taken outside and shot. The experience of graduating was amazing, and ultimately, I was most of all pleased for my long suffering parents. They never put any pressure on me to complete the PhD, but their pride in the achievement and the smiles it brought were something I’ll personally treasure. Being able to graduate with two of my close friends served only to amplify the enjoyment of the day. It is done, now let us never speak of it again.

Back to NZ

Success.

Write an Application for the iPhone

Failure. I have spent far too little time coding this year, something I hope to rectify soon. I’ve had much less time for Portico development this past year. I’ll be throwing time time back into this over 2010. I’m hoping to spent at least 4-5 hours a week coding (with that expanding to a full-time load when I’m tasked to do so at work).

Eat Better

I swore off Iced Coffee (and all the sugar it comes with) for a while after entering into a bet with a work colleague. Sadly that didn’t last after the bet was up.

I’m cooking more meals at home and I’m generally much more aware of what I put into my body. That said, traveling so much has limited my choices on occasion, but I have taken it as a good sign that I’m aware of this as it is happening and taking more steps to avoid the common fast-food pitfalls. I’ll call this a partial success.

Play with Video

Failure. I have some footage from various places, but as far as editing it into something presentable, I have failed horribly. It seems I’ll have to stick to still photography for the time being.

Start Post-Processing my Photos

I had a desire to learn the various editing and manipulation tools available to me. I have certainly achieved this goal to a degree. That said, my current adjustments are quite rudimentary: basic color correction, highlight and shadow adjustments, simple effects like sharpening and vignetting. I have yet to learn properly how to work my images in something akin to Photoshop (Pixelmator being my tool of choice).

So there you have it. That was my year. If you managed to read this far, congratulations! If you didn’t, well, you won’t be reading this bit, so stuff you. I’m just kidding, you’re alright.

For details on my 2010 resolutions, see this post.

I find resolutions to be a strange ritual. The ability to meet goals set for such an extended period of time requires considerable levels of initiative, self determination and that intrinsic sense of motivation that seems to be such a rare and precious quality. Conversely, setting resolutions for no other reason than the passage from one month to the next seems kind of arbitrary to me. I understand the concepts of a fresh start and the symbology of a new year holding new possibilities, but really, it is no more a new beginning than any other day. Perhaps this somewhat forgiving attitude we all take to the concept of resolutions. The tacit acknowledgement that with the passage of time, few, if any resolutions will actually be met.

What I find odd of that should you be the type of internally motivated person capable of achieving a set of goals over an extended period of time, you are likely motivated enough that the excuse of New Year’s as a point for resolution assignment is not necessary. Regardless, I fall into the group of souls who feel it necessary to take January 1st as an opportunity to look both backwards and forwards, for no obvious nor compelling reason.

Once I finished writing this post, it dawned on me just how long it had become. To make it easier to digest, I’ve split it into three parts. The first you have just about finished reading. The second part involves looking back at 2009, and really, this is just a personal release for me. Hopefully nobody who manages to read it from start to finish is too bored. The final part outlines my actual resolutions for 2010.

Go forth my children and read… or don’t, the choice is yours!

Looking Backward: 2009
Looking Forward: 2010