Skylum Software just released a performance-focused update to Luminar 3 and it has addressed the biggest pain point for me, in that it now performs well enough that it allows my creative train of thought to flow while processing photos. However, it still does not have a keywording facility. Not to worry, though, because I solved that with a good dose of geekery.
After recently commissioning a new Mac mini as my primary Mac at home, I reconsidered how I was using my hard drives and decided to reformat a 4TB drive I was using as my main external storage. It’s time for APFS, I thought, but how does APFS actually work?
Recently, I have been undertaking the enormous task of scanning my father’s extensive collection of photographic negatives. The idea is to ensure their longterm survival, with the bonus of (re-)discovering gems among them. But archival quality TIFF files do not make for an easy browsing experience, so I was looking for a way of creating low quality “contact sheets.” This proved a lot harder than I thought, but I found a fantastic solution.
To all family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Yes, I’m a geek. A nerd, even. I have a knack to figure out how things work, and I can help you. I can teach you. I can make you self sufficient in these things. But… I have one condition.
I’ve processed quite a number of photos in Skylum’s Luminar 3 since its launch earlier this month. During this time I’ve discovered a few things that help me get the results I want, that I wasn’t doing in Lightroom.
I should have posted something earlier about these, but here you go. Through the wonderful folk behind Essential Apple, I have been fortunate enough to obtain a free license to review Aurora HDR 2019, and also to participate in the beta of the recently released Luminar 3 (with libraries).
I listen to a number of tech podcasts which focus on Apple hardware and software. Many of these have recently referred to, and made an example of, the recently announced arrival of “real, full Photoshop” to iOS. It is most often cited as a marker for the coming of age of “professional” software on iOS, and particularly on the iPad. I feel, however, that most are missing the point. Professional software is already here, and Photoshop isn’t. Not even close.
I know a lot of people use their phone as their main camera these days, and this tip will be of no use to those people, but some of us still enjoy the power and flexibility of a dedicated photographic device (OK, a “camera”) and don’t mind that, somewhat like the days of film, we have to wait to see our results. This tip makes the step of ingesting the photos off your memory card to your Mac just that bit more frictionless.
I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts today – Accidental Tech Podcast – on which Casey Liss was discussing his “divorce” with Google Photos. He mentioned that he does an “exact duplicate” of all his photos to a drive he sends off to his parents’ house (via his visiting parents) once a month. Later, I sent ATP some feedback on the dangers of backups. I had an incident a couple of years ago that taught me the important difference between backups and archives.
Through a series of events which I won’t go into, I ended up giving up my 5K iMac to my wife and making do with a 2016 model MacBook Pro 13″ with TouchBar. The MacBook Pro is slightly less powerful (according to Geekbench) than the iMac, but I wasn’t too concerned about that. What caught me out was the display situation.
