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JPEG in Aperture?
Sometimes less complicated is good. A reader sent me this quote and inspired this post.
ECONOMY IN ART IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OF EFFORT AND EFFECT.
--JOSEF ALBERS
I recently purchased a Canon Powershot A710IS digicam. It only shoots in JPEG mode. As someone who's spent the last several years shooting exclusively in RAW, this was a shock to my system.
But then, I realized, it was also a bit freeing. It meant images would not have to be decoded by Aperture. It meant that images would pop up on the screen more quickly and be easier to work with. It meant that even if I worked in the highest quality JPEG mode, I'd no longer worry about spinning beach balls.
What I sacrifice in quality, I get back in speed, convenience and time. While this isn't a trade off I'll want to make every time, I am enjoying the camera and find that Aperture's ability to work with JPEGs. is impressive.
For instance, Aperture will treat my imported JPEG as my master file. Just as it does with RAW files, Aperture will look at my JPEG as a digital negative. It won't make changes to my original. It will in fact be untouched.
Back in the Photoshop days, if I worked with a JPEG file, I had to save an extra version of the file if I wanted a protected original. Over time, this meant storing at least two images for every one I wanted to keep. Eventually, hard disk drives get filled up that way.
In Aperture, you can use a workflow that would be a train wreck in Photoshop.
1) Import a JPEG into Aperture,
2) make changes,
3) close the file,
4) re-open the file,
5) make new changes or delete old ones,
6) close the file again.
Since Aperture doesn't apply the changes until you export the photo to a printer, web page, book, e-mail, etc., you have no reason to worry about "stepping on" your JPEG. You won't be degrading the JPEG in Aperture when you save it. In Photoshop, each time you save and re-save a JPEG, you're degrading it. Not so in Aperture.
With the exception of the RAW fine tuning controls, every command in Aperture that works with RAW files, also works with JPEGs. It just works faster. And of course, all the compare, select, keywording and publishing tools work with JPEGS too.
Please note, this post is NOT about advising you to shoot in JPEG mode rather than RAW mode. It's about letting you know that if you do shoot in JPEG mode, you can still use Aperture's cool features to manage your digital photography.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne 2004 - All Rights Reserved
Comments (7)
Arthur Morris, who uses a windows machine, recommends shooting RAW+JPEG for faster processing. How does Aperture treat RAW+JPEG files?
Of course
Apple has so strongly advertised RAW power that JPEG was left
I've only had Aperture for a week now and I specifically bought it for JPEGs. My camera shoots raw, but because of size speed and extra work in converting them in DNGs (my camera is unsupported, and I used a hack) I just shoot high quality JPEG It works great!
Garry: Aperture treats RAW+JPEG as a single "unit". It'll store both of them in either a managed library or an externally referenced library. It will also let you make a new version from the JPEG file instead of the RAW. But shooting RAW+JPEG won't speed up Aperture. Aperture still treats the RAW file as the authoritative source.
The picture used is this article is both beautiful and stunning. It should be in National Geographic.
You really don't want to be shooting JPEGs. Someday you will regret it. Trust me. The primary benefit of shooting raw is that you can recover files from bad lighting or bad exposure. Especially the latter. For example, you can turn down the exposure to recover blown out highlights and add a little bit of highlight recovery. Can't do that with JPEG. When manipulating a JPEG, the exposure control in Aperture basically turns into the brightness control (as far as I can tell). If you shoot raw, you are much more likely to someday recover hidden gems out of what would be rejects with JPEG.
Good rule of thumb: in digital, expose for the highlights. In film, expose for shadows.
Hi Scott.
I've been scaling back from shooting RAW these days and opting to shoot more JPGs. Much more. Clients want copies of their images right away after a shoot and when I shoot RAW it eats up my time converting and exporting. Most of these are destined for monitor output, too.
I was trying to find out how Aperture handles JPGs, and this was good information. Good article!
Thx,
Scott
Sorry, for the record: I still use RAW, but don't depend on it. Don't think I was clear on that...