Paul Inskip Photography

Aperture vs. Lightroom Part 1 The reason I’m starting here is because all too often we see people throwing around statements about X is ‘better’ that Y or faster etc etc and there is nothing objectivity about these statements. I’ve worked with enough designers and photographers to know that one mans fast is another mans slow, and what some of us see as an advantage others see as a problem. So I wanted to briefly explain how I use Aperture, a few quick timings for exports etc, so that when I make statements about sped and other things you will have a frame of reference to compare it to your own experience.

STUDIO LIFE
So Studio life. My photography falls into two very distinct camps where Aperture is concerned. Studio portraits and Weddings, there are a large number of other very distinct areas (and broad) that I use Aperture for but for this I’m going to concentrate on these two main (bread and butter areas) I run a portrait studio in a town called Bognor Regis. The town is famous for being a bit dull :) But its not too bad a place, being a seaside town I have the disadvantage that half my potential customers are fish (makes sense if you think about it!) There are a wide range of photographers within a 10 mile radius of me, some studio based, some franchises and many working from home. Every photo I take (apart from event photography where I do onsite printing) goes through Aperture. To this end I use Aperture in a slightly quirky way, As I write this I currently have 22 ‘Active’ Aperture libraries covering weddings and the studio portraits. For me the idea of keeping every photo I take in one massive library is counter productive. Each wedding I do has its own Library and my studio work is split into a number of different libraries depending on the type of work. My main studio libraries sit in a folder which is accessed via the dock giving me very quick access:

All my Aperture libraries are managed and I always have previews turned off. Both of these are for ease and better performance.

The difference between my studio and wedding work is the amount of photos taken and the amount of Post production work that goes on. Typically I will do PP work on around 2% of my wedding files as “feature photo” whereas every single studio photo goes into Photoshop at the very least for advanced sharpening. The Start of my process for both is the same though.

I’m quite ‘old fashioned’ when it comes to using software and prefer to use the mouse for almost everything, I’ve never been a keyboard shortcut guy, I use the obvious ones like zoom, ratings, copy/paste etc but generally i find I can zoom around with my mouse (which I have set very fast) it’s one of the reasons why I’ve never got on with tablets because I cover my 30” screen in a tiny bit of desk space with my mouse. I do all my small runs of prints up to 10” by 8” in house for speed and flexibility, larger prints and bulk orders (like for weddings) I put out to a lab depending on the order. All my framed prints are printed and put together by my framer, and as much as possible I try to outsource as much of my final production to experts in their fields rather than me attempting it.

One bit I don’t outsource however is the album design, this I love doing and I feel that knowing the couple gives me a much better insight into what they like. This is a two stage process for me starting in Aperture and ending in Photoshop. I’ve tried LOTS of pieces of software for album design and lots of them work really well but none of them give me the flexibility that Photoshop does. WEDDINGS
For weddings the packages I send the most tend to be either all prints or custom designed printed albums (Floricolor in Portugal). My studio wrk is mainly the current trend on a pure white or black background, family and baby portraits mainly, these require that I make sure I have clean backgrounds and near perfect final photos.

For me the weddings are all about capturing the moment, the fun, the excitement and the little bits during the day which will be remembered forever, I try to always shoot natural light and avoid flash preferring to really capture the light and the mood of the day. Trying to control the shots, light, placement and poses to produce the best shots, I love to shoot fast and keep the energy and momentum of the day going apart from when I take the bride and groom aside for the series of more intimate shots with just the two of them, then I change the pace and bring everything right in close and slow to capture the tender moments between the new couple. FAMILY PORTRAITS
In many ways I approach the family and baby portraits in the same way but this time I don’t have to worry about light or settings. For me the idea of a plain white background is pretty boring so it becomes all about adding the fun and interest in the the experience and the people, it focus’s everything on them and its down to me to ensure they have lots of fun and are relaxed so that every shoot oozes these feelings :)

For me when people come to a studio they are expecting perfection and unmatched quality and thats what I constantly strive for, but this starts from the minute they walk through the door rather than just when they receive their final prints, for me my value comes in the entire experience combined with the end product, not just about a piece of paper and some wood and glass they get at the end of it. The more enjoyable their experience the more value the print has to them when they look at it for years to come and remember, with a smile, the fun time they had when it was taken.

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