Tip: iLife including Aperture 2 using the Themes from iDVD plus a little help from Snapz Pro X…of course the ever so cool GarageBand with iMovie, creating simple 15 and 30 second Video clips on the fly…or just having fun on the Mac
I only used a couple of Themes but in iDVD you have so many to choose from…try experimenting and you find there are a lot of cool things you can do. The Titles are: The Commercial - Our Marine Life - Tropical destination
Please note: You might have to refresh your Browser to see the new Video Clips. Click the link or the image below and View the three (3) 15 and 30 sec. Clips., or go to Music/Video Podcast
© Gunther Deichmann - Composite, Mumbai India
April 2008
How to do
it…open iDVD choose a Theme go to your
Media Browser and here you have your Aperture 2 library.
Pick a couple of images drop them into your iDVD
Theme and you almost there, if you using Snapz Pro X
choose the Movie option and record your iDVD theme.
Make sure you have the Drop Boxes enabled otherwise
they become part of your recording.
The rest is pretty much automatic, once Snapz Pro X
has finished the recording (depends on the lengths of
the clip) it prepared also a QT file for you, I
usually save them on my desktop easy to find later.
(This file can be from 50MB plus in size)
The only thing left to do is drag the Movie clip into
iMovie open your Media Browser for the Music and pick
anything you have created on to the timeline.
Fine-tune and make your soundtrack fit, add a fade in
and fade out, or what ever you like (lots to choose
from) now you can export everything to many different
file formats.
You have different options for exporting your Movie
file, there is also Share available. If you have
Quick Time Pro even better there you have all the
conversions you ever going to need, plus you can do
some editing too, but you have to have QT
Pro.
How long does this take…not very long at all, I guess
the hardest part is the Music, which I created from
scratch in GarageBand, but since I had already a good
selection of soundtracks the whole operation took
only one hour for all three clips.
Of course you can create more than one recording/clip
with Snaps Pro X and join them together later in
iMovie creating a short presentation or demo, great
for the web.
PS. I kept these files very small for easy viewing on
the web, however you can leave them in their original
size that is good enough for your desktop and TV.
GD
HANOI VIETNAM... View from the Car Window… a nice example of Vietnamese daily life…a reader contribution. A cool shot, edited in Aperture 2.1.1 interesting TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY and the shooting from the car window continuous…
Thank you Massimo for letting me use your image on my blog, a nice one to share with all our other readers.
See below email from Massimo:
Hello Gunther!
I always very interested to follow your blogs updates.
Just my 1 cent:
- Regarding the way to protect your pictures on the web I agree that flash make it more difficult. Anyway as you know very well it is very easy to copy a pictures using tools like "Grab" for the Mac, even if still in low resolution.
- I do really like your latest gallery "The View from my Car Window". Street photography (with or without car!) is what I really like and do a lot here in Vietnam. I would like to share the following picture that I got from the car last weekend.
© Massimo
Casal - Ha Tay province just ouside
Hanoi,Vietnam
you might also noticed that I have added a Copyright
watermark
on Massimo’s image hence my other blog
“How to protect my images on the
web”.
The picture is taken in Ha Tay
province (just outside Hanoi city) from the car
window.
I used a Canon 1DMarkIII camera + 28-300L lens. RAW
file processed with Aperture 2.1.1, using also the
Dodge and Burn plug-in to lighten and sharpen the
bride face.
Thank you very much and Best Regards!!
Massimo
The View from my Car Window continuous…a very different perspective, frustrating but rewarding Photography…edited in Aperture 2 and exported to PhotoShelter never leaving Aperture, sounds familiar…
Aperture has just been updated to 2.1.1
Apple has just released Aperture 2.1.1, and update to the program that "supports general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of minor issues."
A few recent images from this series are on my Blog Gallery click here
or on the image above.
You might have to refresh your Browser in order to view the new images..
Sometimes we don’t realize what is around us when we travel by car… traveling to meetings or other appointments, visiting friends or family members. In short we spend a lot of time in our vehicles, trains, busses etc.
Shooting from your car window…glued to your seat never leaving the car, of course you have to have a Driver or go by Taxi. This can be challenging but also rewarding a very different perspective from the car window… you might remember I did something similar in Mumbai, India.
I had to discipline myself not to jump out of the car at times, but then that was the whole Idea in the first place, and I am not finish yet by all means…a lot more to come.
Not easy… moving, your view been blocked by other vehicles when you just about to press the shutter, trucks pull along side of you, or you have to stop at a red traffic light… see something and then of course comes Green, oh no… missed that one too.
We see these images every day as we drive to work or go to meetings, never realizing what is around us since we have to pay attention to the traffic. But as a passenger or with a driver you can create some amazing images, of course you have to bring your Camera along to the Board meeting… “A word of advice don’t try this, if you driving the car this could lead to major traffic jams and crashes…”
For more on the “The View from the Car Window” go my PhotoShelter Archive there you find images from Mumbai, India and Manila, Philippines.
PS.
All images have been taken with out ever leaving the car, edited in Aperture 2.1 then exported direct to PhotoShelter using the Plug-in from PhotoShelter never leaving Aperture. In other words I was “glued” to my car seat and also to my seat in front of my Mac BookPro using Aperture 2.1.1 now if that is not a coincident, then I don’t know.
GD
How to protect your Photos on the Web? A common question by Photographers…there are many different ways but Aperture 2 provides you with a simple and quick solution to place a Copyright watermark on all Your images.
Some thief’s go through great length and spend time removing even opaque watermarks in Photoshop, there is never a 100% guarantee even with Aperture and its automatic watermarking.
The perfect solution is don’t display your Images on the web…but I think these days are over and we all like our images out there…so how do we protect our images?
© Gunther Deichmann - aerial of Kayakers in Palau
Micronesia, barely
visiable and not to distructing from the image an
applied watermark
using Aperture 2
Here
are some simple Tips to make it harder for these
thief’s …
Make sure your images are in gif or jpg low
resolution but still good enough to show them in
their full glory. Avoid high resolution images, it is
an open invitation for thief’s and they slow down
your website.
Apply a watermark as described below using Aperture’s
settings.
I recommend placing an opaque watermark over the
entire image or covering one third of the image, this
is much harder to retouch. Don’t place your ©
COPYRIGHT name and notice on the sides or at the
bottom, this can be easily cropped
out.
Choose an opaque setting you are comfortable with and
is not to distracting from the overall visual.
(Opacity settings eg.0.1 to 1.0 all depends a bit on
the image, light or dark) With different options
available the opaque slider in Aperture 2
is a good start how the
watermark is going to look, just try different
settings until you satisfied.
Use only your name or create a logo in Photoshop as a
layered file,
it is entirely up to you. The screen shot below shows
you where to find the Watermark settings in
Aperture
2.
You can also deactivate the Watermark any time if you
need your images without it.
I provided you a link to “How do I protect my
images online” a
great article I found recently with some additional
options and tutorials to save guard your images from
those thief’s.
Go to Preference
and choose the export
icon, click and a drop down
menu appears. Click on Edit and another menu becomes
available.
Now you see all your Watermark options and settings.
(red square)
Below: Excerpts
from the mention article...
I am setting up an art website. I want to protect my
photographs. What’s the code that keeps you from
highlighting an image, right clicking an image,
copying an image, etc.
Protecting photos is a common request for
photographers wanting to put their content up on the
Web. You can do this with JavaScript or by
watermarking the image. There is no way to use
straight HTML to protect your images from
downloading. Some ways include:
* no right-click script
This prevents people from downloading the image when
they right click on it.
* Shrink wrapping
This hides the image by letting the thief download
something other than what they are trying to
download.
* Watermarking
This puts information on the image itself, so when
they download it, they have your copyright
information right on it.
* Flash
Flash makes it more difficult to steal images...
…read
more @
http://webdesign.about.com/b/2008/07/25/reader-question-how-do-i
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY…cool Marine Images from a Dive Master at the Dugong Dive Center in Palawan, Philippines…processed in Aperture 2 & another example of Aperture and its flexibility.
Click on the Image and go direct to
more of Omar’s
Photos
Omar’s Images in Aperture 2,
the red
square is where you
find the info on Camera Models and a lot more...
The
other day my good friend Dirk Fahrenbach from Dugong
Dive Center dropped by and gave me this CD…hey Dirk
what I am going to do with that?
There are some images from our Filipino Dive Master
Omar on it, please have a look give me your opinion.
Sure…I imported the images into Aperture 2
and got a real
surprise…wow these are real great…what camera is he
using?
Dirk replied, Oh… one of these little small ones in
some sort of Housing…
After I had a good look at the images I checked on
the Metadata in Aperture 2
and found out the
Camera Model, it is a Canon IXY.
After importing the images I only applied a few
adjustments, mainly…cropping, Auto levels and a bit
of contrast…since all the images had been in JPG I
had some limitations, but Omar’s shots where that
good anyway that little was needed for improvements.
Again, Aperture
came in very handy in
editing the shots very fast and applying some basic
adjustments, I created a new project and after I am
done can store this one on my external drive in case
we need Omar’s shots for some future publications.
Click on the Image and go direct to
more of Omar’s
Photos
Above Photo: © Omar D. Linsangan
- mating Cuttle fish or Sepia at the house reef from
Dugong Dive Center... for more info on Dugong Dive
Center click on the small Banner Ad on the left.
Plans are in the making for a Photoworkshop int he
near future at Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center.
Please stay tuned for the announcement and what
better way to go diving with Omar who will find these
cool critters for you.
Great shots with a small Camera and it gets to show
you again what can be done with limited equipment, I
guess in Underwater Photography you have to be a good
Diver first, and Omar has that mastered for sure.
Dirk asks me if I could show some of Omar’s Images on
my Blog and I readily agreed nice images from a very
humble Dive Master. It is these people…Dive Masters
and photography assistants who make our shots at
times easier to get, so lets give them some credit
and support their hobby and passion.
For a selection of Omar’s Images (LOW RESOLUTION
ONLY)click
on the Photo Gallery above (upper left)
I have created another
Photo Gallery for Guys like Omar, otherwise we never
get to see their nice images.
GD
APERTURE 2 & AUSTRALIA… reviving and restoring these old and very precious scanned images with Aperture 2.1 it is a lot easier then you think…

©
Gunther Deichmann - restored images...for more and to
compare images
click on the GD
PhotoGallery upper left
corner on this page.
Whenever
I get the time I import some of my very old and
scanned images into Aperture 2.1
some
dating back 30 years. Due to age and storage
condition a few have deteriorated somewhat…loss of
color, fungus due to the tropical environment or just
good old age.
I used to use
Photoshop but now with Aperture 2
there is seldom the
need for it and at the same time I can re-catalog
them into my system with the Metadata. Restoring
Images that are extremely rare in particular old
traditional ceremonies with the Australian
Aboriginals seldom practiced today. I apply a variety
of tools and techniques to retouch the images covered
in fungus, scratches etc. with the
clone or
repair tool,
plus the Adjustment
Panel
gives me a ton of other
adjustments to bring the images back to life.
You be amazed what Aperture 2
is capable off,
including one of my favorites the Monochrome
mixer, given you
all the options for some cool looking Black &
White images, some of these old images actually look
better in Black & White.
I have incorporated a NEW GD PHOTO
GALLERY on my
blog page now, (upper left
side) there you
find a selection of images that have been treated in
Aperture 2 comparing the original with the restored
or converted image next to it. Now and then I upload
images into the GD Photo
Gallery for you
to compare, a lot easier then showing them all on the
Blog direct.
Please remember these are only
low resolution Images.
This is not image manipulation, I am only restoring
some old and precious photos that would have been
lost or considered unusable for publications without
altering the overall visual.
Most of these images had been scanned from slides a
long time ago for preservation and archiving purpose,
now we just go back in Time and fix what needs fixing
nothing else.
Aperture 2.1
handles the tiff format
real well and I have no problems importing files with
over 56 MB in size.
However some of the adjustment tools in
Aperture
2.1 cant be used
since they have been designed to work only with
the RAW image
format, but this
has not stopped me for doing most of my restorations
in Aperture 2
now, archiving and
bringing them back to life again.
GD
Aperture 2 in the field…how do I store and back up all my RAW images with out overloading & clogging up my MacBook Pro
How I operate and work in the field using Aperture 2...
A simple solution for all your storage plus back up while on the road & you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do it.
The image below shows my typical Hotel or on the road setup, MacBook Pro with two Lacie 160-Gig Rugged Hard drives, if you buy these drives make sure they have a triple interface, they also come with USB only. I love this setup, daisy chain the two drives with fire wire 800 and use the fire wire 400 to go to the Mac Book Pro. (A, B) The drive marked with A is where all my reference Aperture files go, the B is only for backing up drive A via the simple SilverKeeper software from Lacie, (if you purchase the drives the software comes with it) C is my high speed fire wire 800 Card reader, this one goes direct to the fire wire 800 outlet on the Mac Book Pro. You can also do it the other way around, daisy chain with 400-fire wire and use the 800 fire wire out let on your Mac Book Pro.
(Of course you can use other hard drives and a different back up system as long they have a triple interface)

On the road set
up

SilverKeeper
software from Lacie, comes with the hard
drives.
This way you can upload all your CF Cards with out
running short of storage space, it is advisable to
connect your computer to the outlet since both fire
wire Lacie drives take the power of your machine,
however I have used this system in the field without
the luxury of a hotel and this works fine for just
under two hours. (tested with a 1 year old battery at
100% charge)
However it is a good idea to carry a spare battery or
make sure you near a place with an outlet where you
can plug in your computer.
Back home I just transfer
the project and images over to my MacPro and back it
up again to my larger external drives.
Now you can erase all the images on your Lacie hard
drives and use them for your next trip.
You
still have the thumbnails and previews in your
Aperture
2 Library
in jpg at a resolution you have decided on, I use a
resolution of 1024 for my Previews in
Aperture
2, good
enough for my Keynote presentations and the .Mac Web
Galleries. (see my previous blog)
For all the latest and
New
Images
click this link:
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/newimages.html
GD
APERTURE 2 TIP…Import Panel is empty but my files are on the Desktop…where are my Photos? Sometimes we forget how smart Aperture 2 really is…
Where
have all my images gone?
My Import panel is empty...
At
times we get too comfortable with the good things…and
I am no exception, in one of my earlier blogs I
praised Aperture
2 with
its do not
import duplicates function…remember
this nice and great feature when you mixed up you CF
Cards…do not
import duplicates,
a really
fantastic time saver when you on the road.
Well yesterday I tried to import some images, which
had been treated outside Aperture
2 from
the same Project, but into a new Album…I had my
images on my desktop and when I tried to import them
into the same project into this new Album everything
on the import panel was blank. (They did originated
from this Project and I exported them a week earlier
for a special selection into a folder on my Desk
top.)
First I could not figure out why these files would
not show up, but then I realized it…
The field in the import panel was ticked at
do not
import duplicates…very clever of
Aperture
2 but not
so clever on my side since I have this checked all
the time when
on the road.

Keep an eye on the do not import duplicates check
box...red
oval
I
had worked with
these files before and they where also part my
earlier Project, of course now they become
duplicates…I wanted to over ride this for a specific
reason and do some more work with them, up on
deactivating the check box all my images appeared and
I imported them in no time.
This is just a little reminder or when you absence
minded, don’t freak out all the images are there
except for a simple mistake.
GD
Fresh APPLES and APERTURE 2… they had a lot in common recently …a simple shot from inside my Hotel Room in Mumbai India…plus one more Black & White…using the Monochrome mixer.
APPLES
+ APERTURE
2
= MUMBAI
INDIA

© Gunther Deichmann - Fresh Apples in Mumbai India
View GD images on India at his
PhotoShelter
archive or collection @
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/stock.html
It
is amazing what you find or have forgotten when you
do some more editing in Aperture a few weeks later.
Remember my recent trip to Mumbai India for
the Apple
Aperture 2 World Tour.
During my stay
at the Hotel I noticed these Apples on this small
Table, I thought…hey not bad, the light, the
reflection and I guess the relationship between the
words Apple and Apples, I shot this scene right in
front of me using only the available light from the
window.
Then in Aperture
2 I used
only the Raw conversion, the straighten tool, a
little cropping and applied some sharpening.
So there
you have it…real fresh Apples from Mumbai
India.

© Gunther
Deichmann - Apples and
window
This shot was taken few
minutes later while sitting on my bed and looking
towards the window, a straight shot I might add…and I
didn’t move the furniture either, no manipulation in
Photoshop, again using only the Raw converter
in Aperture
2, the
straighten tool, a little cropping and some
sharpening.
The
Black & White image below…

© Gunther
Deichmann - Mumbai India April
2008
I saw this women sitting
outside her home in a small alley in central Mumbai,
the original image was color but converted to Black
& White in Aperture
2 using
the Monochrome mixer.
GD
DJ Mark-Lee…Aperture 2 and GarageBand…plus iTunes…how does this fit together? Simple…if you got a Mac then you can do all of this plus…a cool slide show with sound, assembled on the road.
Let
there be visuals with sound...
pure integration &
imagination!
Artwork ©
Mark-Lee Deichmann - Mark-Lee used an old iSight
camera
mounted on the Mac Titanium G4…took a self portrait
of him
& manipulated the image in Photoshop.
Take
an Aperture slide show…you have to make a
presentation while on the road, fine you have the
images and got Aperture
2… but
music…?
In most cases if you using a Laptop for your roadwork
I guess you have GarageBand
and iTunes…iLife installed.
If not,
you better hurry and do it
now…
Here comes the sound, you create a sound mix in
GarageBand or use a short loop (pre-installed with
GarageBand) export the finished track to iTunes and
you’re done.
The only thing left to do… open your slideshow
in Aperture
2 and add
your sound track you created minutes ago,
follow
my instructions below how to get
there, iTunes
is now at your
fingertips find your sound track & add it to your
slide show, sounds almost too easy.
See my
sample screenshots below…
Maybe a bit of practice in GarageBand
will help, but
the rest is easy…
Take
my Son Mark-Lee for example… he is doing some part
time DJ work and he uses my old but still very
functional Titanium Mac G4 Laptop, using
GarageBand
and creating his
own artwork in Photoshop, see above…pretty cool if
you ask me.
There he is sitting with his Numark PHX Headphones
whipping out music on GarageBand
or just mixing
his sounds for his DJ stuff on my old G4.
If you are a music lover and created your own mix, of
course you can use these too...but
please don’t use something from the iTunes Store or
from other sources, Music which does not belong to
you, respect the copyright of others.
GD
When GarageBand opens
you see this screenshot, the small red circle
shows you where to find your loops & Jingles,
now delete/remove the tracks (large red oval)
Select Jingle red circle on
the left then your taste of music e.g..
Blues/Rock red
circle in the center, pick something
which will fit with your timing/lengths of the slide
show, listen to it and if Ok drag it on the the now
empty time line, remember you removed the other
tracks previously.
Select Share a panel
opens up to guide you the rest of the
way...to
iTunes
Back in Aperture 2
select your slide show, a
small panel opens, now click the small
arrow, red circle to go
to all the settings for your slide show
Once
you have arrived here you have many options and
your iTunes
Library is there too, now you find
your sound track which you have created only minutes
before, select it go through your slide show settings
and your done. Your own sound with a cool
Aperture
2 slideshow created on the road.
Of course you can always prepare some music at Home
and later use it for your Aperture Slideshow, I have
created my own tracks when traveling and the weather
was bad, spend my time in the hotel room, mixing
sound tracks in GarageBand... but at least I had some
fun.
APERTURE 2 Tip...iPhoto Library and Aperture 2.1 how well do they work together? Real well...& so useful if you started in iPhoto and switched to Aperture 2...iLike...or is it iLife.
Before the arrival of Aperture some of us used iPhoto but found it had its limitation… now you installed Aperture 2 and keep going back to iPhoto for these older images…Yes?
No need… you stay in Aperture and have access to all your iPhoto images and can leave them there, no need for importing all the high-end stuff, no more switching back and forth.
As a matter of fact you can do this not only with iPhoto but also with your images stored on your external drives from years ago as mention in one of my earlier blogs.
Now back to iPhoto and Aperture 2, because of the integration everything works just so smooth and the cool part is staying in one software instead open up half a dozen or so…
Check out the screen shot below for more details, so there you have it, full access to your iPhoto Library.
I normally use my iPhoto Library for my Blogs and personal images like the kids and family and use Aperture 2 for my Pro stuff, keeping them separate. The choice is yours how you like to manage your images, it is easy to import your complete iPhoto Library and use Aperture 2.1 working with one software.
That is why I love Aperture…given YOU the choice.
A little tip... if you have mixed up your personal images with some others but like to separate them, import the iPhoto Library into Aperture, once that is done delete all the personal images in Aperture and your images are organized, dont worry your personal images are still in the iPhoto Library since you selected in the import panel leave in current location.
Now you can go back to iPhoto and delete the non personal images...
I call this a real spring clean.
GD

Go to
File in Aperture
2 scroll
down and select Import
then
Import iPhoto Library, make sure you
select leave images
in their
current location.
Aperture
automatically creates a new Folder
(see the
red square on the screenshot)
containing your complete iPhoto Library,
Depends on how many images
you have stored in your iPhoto
Library this could take some time
since Aperture
2 creates
Thumbnails and Previews.

This is a screen shot of my iPhoto Library and you
can see (I selected the underwater images) they are
now in my Aperture Library.
Visit Gunther Deichmann's
website @
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/home.html
APERTURE 2 Tip...where do I find my Camera info...this is nice if You like to compare DATA...very cool & not only for the Pro's...
A cool
little Aperture 2 Tip...
Where
do you find at a push of a button YOUR Camera Info
when you like to compare your shots after the shoot
in Aperture
2.1
See the provided screen shot below, the small drop
down menu (small
red circle) is where you find
...Show and
Hide Camera & Color info...the
red
oval shows you the data, you
have to be in the adjustment mode/panel.
This is very useful when comparing shots, what might
have gone wrong or right...You can also move your
Cursor over the image to get the color Value in
between the images, the grey area will show you the
Camera info. Play around and you find this is a very
useful addition in Aperture
2.
You can also move your cursor over your Thumbnails...
for those of you who are still in the early stage of
Photography this command is great for analyzing your
images quickly.
Try it out and have some fun...Aperture is not only
great for the Pro's but it can help you to take
better images by quickly finding out what went wrong
or right.
GD
Visit Gunther
Deichmann's website @
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/home.html


B&H Photo Video




