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Viveza & Aperture
- Thread starter harmsr
- Start date
I did play with it for a when it was a free standing program and also got a feel for the U-point technology when using Capture NX (a program that was just too clunky and slow for me). I liked it for quick edits but felt I could do a better job with layers and masks in Photoshop, albeit with more work involved. Now that I own it I'll give it a more thorough workout and post my impressions.Another convert.
I'm actually rather sure that you will enjoy what it can do for quick edits.
Let us know what you think of it, after playing awhile.
Best,
Ray
Carlos,
Nice first pass on this. You might try a bit more on the image, such as decreasing the saturation and brightness a bit more on the green foliage in the background. It will allow the flower to start to look even more 3D.
One of the neat things is the ability to get very narrow on a portion of the image, and then be able to duplicate that control point ad move it someplace else to get the same effect on a similar color. The other great thing is if you do a larger diameter, more global adjustment and then come back to a specific point, add a new control point, it essentially acts like an eraser. I use that to pull up some saturations, and then reduce them in things like people's faces, so they do not look too cooked.
Viveza is a pretty nice tool, and now it is nice to have it available in Aperture for those of us that like using Aperture.
LJ
Nice first pass on this. You might try a bit more on the image, such as decreasing the saturation and brightness a bit more on the green foliage in the background. It will allow the flower to start to look even more 3D.
One of the neat things is the ability to get very narrow on a portion of the image, and then be able to duplicate that control point ad move it someplace else to get the same effect on a similar color. The other great thing is if you do a larger diameter, more global adjustment and then come back to a specific point, add a new control point, it essentially acts like an eraser. I use that to pull up some saturations, and then reduce them in things like people's faces, so they do not look too cooked.
Viveza is a pretty nice tool, and now it is nice to have it available in Aperture for those of us that like using Aperture.
LJ
Looking good, Carlos!
For your next exercise, try dropping down into the other color specific choices beyond just the default Brightness, Saturation, Contrast things that show up with the control points. You will suddenly have even more control over specific tones of colors. Lots going on with this tool's capabilities, and I keep testing something new every time I use it. Easy to learn and quite easy to use.
LJ
For your next exercise, try dropping down into the other color specific choices beyond just the default Brightness, Saturation, Contrast things that show up with the control points. You will suddenly have even more control over specific tones of colors. Lots going on with this tool's capabilities, and I keep testing something new every time I use it. Easy to learn and quite easy to use.
LJ
Carlos,
This is an interesting rendering also. Maybe a bit more stylistic or something, but it clearly demonstrates just how far you can move some things with Viveza. You have quickly taken a pleasant shot (the bright, more pastel looking first image) and moved it through a couple iterations to create something that looks like it was taken under completely different lighting and setting conditions, and all with not that much effort.
I love the bokeh in this shot, as displayed in the first few versions. The darkness of your last version tends to erase that a bit too much, in my opinion, but hey, that is part of the fun of experimenting with these tools.
LJ
This is an interesting rendering also. Maybe a bit more stylistic or something, but it clearly demonstrates just how far you can move some things with Viveza. You have quickly taken a pleasant shot (the bright, more pastel looking first image) and moved it through a couple iterations to create something that looks like it was taken under completely different lighting and setting conditions, and all with not that much effort.
I love the bokeh in this shot, as displayed in the first few versions. The darkness of your last version tends to erase that a bit too much, in my opinion, but hey, that is part of the fun of experimenting with these tools.
LJ
Rob,
I agree that the pricing does seem awfully high. Not sure how fast that U-point tech is going to be adopted in other apps, either, so like many things, first to the party gets to set the prices a bit more
There is still a difference in the PS and Aperture versions of Viveza. In the PS version you at least get to save things as a layer, which you can change the opacity and blending on, while in Aperture, the changes get baked into the file as a new version. That has not been a problem for me yet, and if it does become an issue, I can just shell out to PS from Aperture and work on things there as I do with some other Nik tools.
The one thing that has not been figured out yet is how to do what I call "pixel pushing" adjustments on true RAW files. In other words, all of these tools require that the RAW file get processed, and then worked on as a PSD or TIFF type file, over having the ability to create those instruction sets to be applied to an on the fly RAW conversion. Not sure that will be able to be accomplished, but the beauty and utility of tools like Aperture and LR, where you basically have only a compact RAW file and then small instruction sets for the adjustments, gets wasted when you have to start creating multiple new versions as very large 16-bit files.
This may be where PS will hold its own. You do the majority of tweaks on the RAW file, convert that to a single 16-bit PSD, and then just add layers to turn on and off as needed. I started to do this with my ACR/PS stuff lately. I do one master conversion in ACR, and then add layers for adjustments, including sharpening (as a layer), and turn on the one I need depending upon use. (Display sharpening is different from print sharpening, for example.) I keeps the total number of files/versions down.
As you said in another note....."no magic bullet" yet....
LJ
As you say, with being first to market comes the rewards (re: pricing). Playing with V in CS3 and as you suggest much prefer using it in a layer mode you can turn off than cooking it into the tiff in Aperture. If I bite the bullet and purchase, I'll likely keep it with CS3 and use Aperture strictly as a DAM, for first pass editing and quick proof sheeting. Seems to give better print results than CS3, but that's still tentative on further testing.