Last week I spent most of my free time thinking about switching to a new photo workflow. I pondered hundreds of issues from scalability, ease-of-use, to archival systems, backups, and even touched upon some philosophical aspects of photography and where it’s heading with the tools of trade now at hand.
On this I could write at least 15 pages, perhaps even 30, and it’s not my aim now. I’m an impatient man, if you’re too, read my conclusion:
Whatever the tool, or software, or workflow; in the end it is the content which counts. Not the sharpest photo, not the 20-Megapixel-photo, not the perfect levels/contrast/saturation/hues/white-balance/dynamic-range photograph will ever be the “keeper”. You and I, and the rest of the world, will rather give preference to a photo that makes sense.
Good luck with taking such pictures! And while I’m at it, all three programs are incredible titans in their own ways. Congratulations to the developers–they have done an astonishing piece of work!
By mistake I held Command Key (the key with an Apple on it) while in edit mode in iphoto 6 and this automatically brought up the edit controls and adjusted the white point to match the point where I clicked. Whoa! Another undocumented, hidden feature in iPhoto. And this one is extremely powerful and so much missing!! Try it. Hold the Ctrl key (another one of my finds among the hidden functions, but already known I believe) after you do so to see the original image. Let’s see how long it takes till my post gets into Macworld jar of tips. 
Keywords: AWB, white point, white point compensation, white balance, setting white balance, iPhoto 2006, iPhoto ‘06, Apple, Mac, manipulation, adjustment
There is a nice gallery over at Olympus Pursuit Magazine called Global Warming Witness presenting Mitsuaki Iwago’s photographs from ‘almost’ the Arctic Circle.
Canon’s Digital Photo Professional has a few unpublished shortcuts, I’ve recently found out, which are very handy. I’ll list a few below.
In the quick check tool hit the SPACE key to switch between the fit to screen and the 50% views. Excellent, no need to use the mouse! 
By the way double-clicking the photo will also do this, in case you insist on using the mouse, but would rather not move over to the button area each time or preview the photo in full screen mode.
Also, in the quick check tool you can rate photos by repeatedly hitting the V key. It will cycle through rating 1, 2, 3, and clear.
If you select photos you’re about to ‘quick-check’, use the left and right arrow key to jump from one photo to the next.
I’m still desperately looking for a shortcut to the view before and after in the edit mode. I’ll update this blog entry as I find new useful undocumented shortcuts.
Update on Mac OS X: DPP ver. 2.2.2.3 does not support such shortcuts and one has to use the mouse. Moving in quick check tool is possible by using the arrow keys while holding the Option key–so one needs two hands (!). Sorry to find that although DPP 2.2 for Mac OS X is a fast universal binary, it still has shortcomings compared to the Windows version.
Finally after months of experimenting with settings, color profiles, photo management and manipulation software (including, of course, Adobe Camera Raw as well as Phase Capture ONE Pro) I realized all of this is unnecessary.
Shoot in RAW. Then use Canon’s Digital Photo Professional to tweak the photos. It works non destructively (just like Aperture) and saves all the Raw manipulations in Canon’s CR2 Raw files. When done, export these tweaked and perfect RAW Photos into JPEGs and import into iPhoto for nice previews, slide-show and fast photo management anyway.. Then import the CR2 Raw files, which served as the basis for those JPEGs you just exported out of DPP.
This way you have all in iPhoto, the Raw files which you can still tweak and change in DPP at a later date and the JPEG reviews for slideshows, CDs, websites, whatever…
So easy. So cheap. Just a little open-mindedness and good will.
I’ve compared the two lens for those who are interested in the depth of the difference between the sharpest and least sharp lens for an EOS digital. It may help some avoid buying the standard kit lens, and for others prove as a good example that the kit lens may be just enough for their needs.
Please click Canon 18-55mm vs. 50mm 1.4 comparison in PDF to view the document. The comparison is provided as is and is as good as the amount of time and effort which went into it. Cheers!
I’d like to let you know I’ve decided to start a quicktime slideshows page on menyhart.net. I find viewing photos in the form of slideshows more comfortable for the viewer, and a good way to tell a cohesive story, which the photos are supposed to convey. Time will tell.I’m going for quicktime although it is a proprietary format, because it’s very convenient from my Mac and more importantly, iPhoto produces stunningly small files, which is good for website visitors who need to wait for the slideshows to download.
Go to Quicktime Slideshows on menyhart.net
Enjoy!
