This is an image I’ve been trying to make for a long time. For a long time I was caught in a semi-abstract mode of image making that I always felt was not quite true to the medium. What I wanted to create were images that were both formal compositions and had three dimensional reality.
I started by avoiding these flat compositions and working in the 3D landscape. Now, returning to these formal compositions with better tools, I find that I can make things work in a way I couldn’t before.
Thanks to a tip from Janet at Tech Ronin , I upgraded my Mac Book Pro to 4 GB for $98 from OWC. The installation took 15 minutes and I have enough RAM in the computer to move through the workflow without memory thrashing.
I have a demanding workflow now. I import, grade and select in Aperture. If I want to post-process, the RAW file is exported out into a work folder on the disk and opened in Nikon Capture NX.
In Capture NX I tend to set white balance, black and white points first. Then I adjust values across the image since the combination of working on the RAW file and the U-Point technology is my best tool kit. The changes are saved in the working NEF file and a TIFF saved of the final image.
The TIFF is opened in Photoshop where I use a growing set of tools to get light, sharpness and local contrast right. The NIK Color Efex filters, NIK Sharpener and curves are the major Photoshop Tools at this point, guided by Vincent Versace’s approach as outlined in Welcome to Oz.
I save a full PSD file with Layers intact from Photoshop along with a flattened version. The flat version gets dragged back into Aperture, completing the round trip manually. I print out of Aperture and use FlickrExport to upload to Flickr.
With 4 GB on board, I can have Aperture, Capture NX and Photoshop all open at the same time with a small RAM cushion still left. The bottleneck is processor speed, especially since NIK Sharpener requires Photoshop to be run in Rosetta emulation mode as it is not Intel native yet.
