ok, i have been reading and watching videos for several days now. i am looking for a workflow to import and process my beautiful images the xe-2 generates.
i want to have minimal necessary work- but am willing to put some work in if it is worth it
up until now i used jpg ootc, imported in aperture and then sorted and put some in my fotostream and some on flickr. done.
then i started processing some pics in aperture (yes, only jpg) but was amazed that the images got better. so i want to dig in deeper.
1) the next easiest step would be to still shoot jpg and use some VCSO presets integrated in aperture- nice effects, not that much more work- and according to some sites even less postprocessing time.
would shooting raw improve the results dramatically?
2) a alternative would be adding NIK tools. also includes some film presets and is easy to work with. price is not that much higher (and even less if i bought both film packs from VCSO) but also includes some other powerful tools. drawback: generates a large tiff file and opens in an extra window. the tiff would then be exported as jpg and then imported again. then i would have to delete the tiff - some extra work. could maybe even be automated somehow in aperture
but it seems VCSO also takes some processing that would still need to be done using the NIK collection
3) use LR - has RAW capability (for the xe2), has good features to work on pics - but i prefer the easy way of aperture
4) more work - convert to dng, then import in aperture, then process using only aperture
4b) use silkypix- but the design is ugly and the resolution of the font makes my eyes hurt
5) use photo ninja- can read and process the raw file and seems to have some nice noise reduction capabilities. then export as jpg and import the jpg into aperture. aperture is only to manage and share the files
any feedback on how other users set it up or recommend setting it up for my purpose?
thank you all
jochen
i want to have minimal necessary work- but am willing to put some work in if it is worth it
up until now i used jpg ootc, imported in aperture and then sorted and put some in my fotostream and some on flickr. done.
then i started processing some pics in aperture (yes, only jpg) but was amazed that the images got better. so i want to dig in deeper.
1) the next easiest step would be to still shoot jpg and use some VCSO presets integrated in aperture- nice effects, not that much more work- and according to some sites even less postprocessing time.
would shooting raw improve the results dramatically?
2) a alternative would be adding NIK tools. also includes some film presets and is easy to work with. price is not that much higher (and even less if i bought both film packs from VCSO) but also includes some other powerful tools. drawback: generates a large tiff file and opens in an extra window. the tiff would then be exported as jpg and then imported again. then i would have to delete the tiff - some extra work. could maybe even be automated somehow in aperture
but it seems VCSO also takes some processing that would still need to be done using the NIK collection
3) use LR - has RAW capability (for the xe2), has good features to work on pics - but i prefer the easy way of aperture
4) more work - convert to dng, then import in aperture, then process using only aperture
4b) use silkypix- but the design is ugly and the resolution of the font makes my eyes hurt
5) use photo ninja- can read and process the raw file and seems to have some nice noise reduction capabilities. then export as jpg and import the jpg into aperture. aperture is only to manage and share the files
any feedback on how other users set it up or recommend setting it up for my purpose?
thank you all
jochen