So, Apple Aperture 3.0 is ridden with bugs. One of the most annoying ones is that it becomes stuck processing… when Faces are in the queue. Even 32-bit mode won’t save you until you process the non-faces items first. So, you’ll need to disable faces for the time being.

How to disable Aperture Faces:

Go to the Aperture>Preferences menu and under the General tab.

Turn off Enable Faces.

Rock on.

I’ve lost several days to Aperture 3. In short, Apple should have done better. The Flickr export is sending photos at 1/2 resolution, Faces causes Aperture to hang or simply makes Aperture get stuck Processing… After some trial and error, this is what worked for me.

How to run Aperture 3 in 32-bit mode:

In order to use any plug-ins with Aperture 3 (currently), you will need to launch Aperture in 32-bit mode (in Snow Leopard).

To do this, go to Aperture, File > Get Info…, and select the “Open in 32-bit mode” checkbox.

This will be fixed as plug-in developers recompile their plugins.

(Note that using a plugin from 32-bit mode is supposed to cause Aperture 3 to quit and restart in 32-bit mode transparently—it will then restart in 64bit mode on next launch. YMMV)

via tychay

Hopefully this works for you.

Image via Wikipedia

Voltaire is an awesome performer. I booked him before just to hear Ooky Spooky before it came out. At the time, he had very few good promotional photos.

When he came back to Pittsburgh with Hellbikini two blocks from my house, I went to take photos of Voltaire for Creative Commons, thus fixing the problem. I would have stayed for the entire show, except Derek Zanetti, Otis Wolves, Shady Ave and I would later have the cops called for being too Rockimus Prime at 1am.

Original Image

The Rex Theatre in Pittsburgh is horrible for photography. A fog machine makes it even worse. I know fog machines are goth… or punk… or raver-ific… and they’re just annoying.

Before you use a fog machine, please consider the following:

1. You will breathe better without one.
2. Fog machines and smoke ruin pictures.
3. People can actually see you without one. (Might not be a good thing.)

How to Reduce Smoke or Fog in Photography

Photoshopped (1) :: Onone Phototune 3, Aperture

Decrease brightness. Increase Contrast. In Phototune, add ~ 20 to clarity and punch. Back in Photoshop or Aperture, you will lower the saturation around 5%.

Photoshopped (2) :: Silver Efex Pro, Photoshop

Dark is goth. Real goth. Essentially, you’re going to desaturated the image. I used Silver Efex Pro to make the image pop by controlling different areas independently.

Remember kids, smoking isn’t goth unless it’s with cloves.