MAC OS X FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: Optimized image workfl ow for the Mac user

Mac OS X for

Photographers

The Digital Workfl ow series from Focal Press

The Digital Workfl ow series off ers clear, highly-illustrated, in-depth, practical guides to each

part of the digital workfl ow process. They help photographers and digital image makers

to work faster, work smarter and create great images. The focus is on what the working

photographer and digital image maker actually need to know to get the job done.

This series is answering readers’ calls to create books that off er clear, no-nonsense advice, with

lots of explanatory images, but don’t stint on explaining why a certain approach is suggested.

The authors in this series – all professional photographers and image makers – look at the

context in which you are working, whether you are a wedding photographer shooting 1000s

of jpegs a week or a fi ne artist working on a single Raw fi le.

The huge explosion in the amount of tools available to photographers and digital image

makers – as new cameras and software arrives on the market – has made choosing and using

equipment an exciting, but risk-fi lled venture. The Digital Workfl ow series helps you fi nd a

path through digital workfl ow, tailored just for you.

Series Editor: Richard Earney

Richard Earney is an award-winning Graphic Designer for Print and Web Design and Coding.

He is a beta tester for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop, and is an expert on digital

workfl ow. He has been a keen photographer for over 30 years and is a Licentiate of the Royal

Photographic Society. He can be found at http://www.method-photo.co.uk.

Other titles in the series

Canon DSLR: The Ultimate Photographer’s Guide

Mac OS X for

Photographers

Optimized image workfl ow for the Mac user

Rod Wynne-Powell

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD

PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

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First edition 2008

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or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material

herein

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v

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Mac OS X – Unix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chip change – The Intel Macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

System change – 10.4 to10.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

CHAPTER 1

The System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Multi-user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Multi-tasking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Multi-threading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Time-slicing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Fast User Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Finder Window structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Finder Window features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

The View Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Flow View – Leopard only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Drag and Drop & Copy and Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Title bar features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Finder Window – Title bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

File Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Making adjustments to windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Apple System Profi ler (ASP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Software Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Libraries – Why are there no fewer than three? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

System level and User level Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Apple Macintosh default folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Understanding where things go – and why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

The Dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

The Dock Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Placement of the Dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Switching between Open Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Finder navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

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MAC OS X FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Faster access to oft-used folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Finding frequently used Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Navigating menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

System Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Exposé. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Desktop & Screen Saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

CDs & DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

ColorSync Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Energy Saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Keyboard & Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Print & Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

.Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Network Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

QuickTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

QuickTime Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Keychain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Date & Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Image Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Startup Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Universal Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Partitioning a drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Users’ Home folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

What is happening? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

What can go wrong? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

When something does go wrong... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

vii

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 2

Hardware Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

The all new range of Intel Macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Intel Macs and Xserves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

One size does not fi t all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

State of play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Hardware decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

The Intel Macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

The PowerMac family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Apple Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Initial Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Studio still life work – The capture station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

A capture and editing setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

Studio editing station – PPC G5 or Mac Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

An editing setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

Alternative thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

Hard drive thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

The case for additional hard drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

Additional drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Earlier Macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Random Access Memory – RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Second monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Image – Safety whilst on location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

XServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

Hubs and switches – Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Buses and Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Airport Extreme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Firewire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

USB 2.0 hubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Firewire hubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Airport Extreme and Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Wireless connection to a printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

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MAC OS X FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Optical media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Opening a Burn folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

A smooth and stable power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

Video card interfaces and connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130

Ambient lighting conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Tiger’s Printer Setup Utility dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Print & Fax (Leopard) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

CHAPTER 3

General Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

.DS_Store fi les . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Using a picture as a CD’s background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Keychain and Keychain Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Keychain First Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Users and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

Get Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

Additional memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

Caches are created to improve speed... but... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145

Some useful maintenance utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

OnyX, MacJanitor, and TinkerTool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

Mac slowing down? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148

Operating system stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149

‘Zapping the PRAM’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150

Command+Option+P+R and Power Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Key combos for use at Startup and Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

C key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

T key – Target Disk Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Conclusions from this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156

Modifi er keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER 4

Software Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Installation of software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Mac Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Disk Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

First Aid tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165

Erase tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

RAID tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Restore tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Context-sensitive menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Application menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Screen capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176

Grab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

iPhoto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180

From where does the work come? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184

Client–Photographer communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185

Digital photographer’s front end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

Apple Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Adobe Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

Initial capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

IPTC info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

CHAPTER 5

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Magazines and periodicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196

Subscription Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

Pro-Imaging & ProRental Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199

Keeping abreast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200

Apple Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201

Really Simple Syndication – RSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

Phototalk Radio and Photoshop TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203

Camera manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204

x

MAC OS X FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Mac User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205

Links to relevant resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206

Resources – what and why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210

Recommended sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

CHAPTER 6

Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Color management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214

How does a digital chip see color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215

ColorSync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Color management – basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218

ColorSync utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223

Color conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224

RGB or CMYK supply? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225

The conversion process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227

Color management in Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228

Convert to profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229

Final thoughts on color management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230

Monitor profi les . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231

CHAPTER 7

Input and Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234

Image Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234

Drum scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238

An Automator workfl ow for a Folder Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239

Scanning images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240

Spotlight – EXIF search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244

Digital capture and metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245

Digital images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246

Shooting in RAW using a DSLR camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247

Quartz engine – PDF and Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248

Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249

Spotlight – slideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252

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CONTENTS

Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253

Putting images on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258

Apache Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Handing over images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260

Handing over image fi les – PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261

CHAPTER 8

Network, Backup, Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264

Network – Appletalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268

Shared items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271

Ethernet networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274

Creating a Location preset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277

Allocating addresses automatically – DHCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278

Talking to Windows PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279

Backup and Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .280

Add Spotlight keywords using Automator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281

Archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282

Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283

Overall strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284

Metadata-based strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285

CHAPTER 9

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

It just works… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288

Repetitive tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293

Smart Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .296

Smart Objects and a Catalogue Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

3

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Many photographers use the Macintosh platform on which to work. Up to Mac OS 9,

there was little diffi culty in fi nding help from colleagues for any mishaps that may have

occurred. Then along came Mac OS X! A new breed of operating system, whose underpinnings

were those of an established academic and business system known as Unix. It took a while for

many to make the change.

The point at which most felt able to upgrade was with the launch of 10.2 (Jaguar) and the

restoration of some of the missing features from Mac OS 9. By 10.2.8, early adopters had

convinced many of the rest of Mac users it was time to make the jump.

By now, most users have upgraded to either Panther or Tiger (10.3 and 10.4), but as you read

this, Apple will have launched 10.5 known as Leopard. The backbone of this book is therefore

based on Tiger, with the new workfl ow features that Leopard brings.

I will major on those changes which have a bearing on the way photographers can gain benefi t,

either from simplifi cation or new features.

MAC OS X FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

4

Mac OS X is a mature operating system for Apple Macintosh

computers, preserving much of what was in the preceding

versions, or taking it to new levels of convenience as the

underlying hardware power and speed increased. I am therefore

writing about the very latest stage in this process as much as

what came before. It follows that I should cover all aspects

from the simple and obvious, to the more complex, so, as

photographers, you can make the most of what Macs off er.

Macs do not operate in isolation, they have copied from other

systems as much as being copied themselves, but I do fi rmly

believe that they lead more than follow. This is never more so

than in ease of use. Computing is a complex task – Mac OS X,

and, in its latest update, ‘ Leopard’, aims to make your life easier;

my role is to be your guide.

Photographers familiar with Macs will fi nd the transition to 10.5

a welcome step that improves upon simplicity and speed, with

a few minor style changes to the appearance. For newcomers or

switchers from Microsoft Windows™, the chapter on underlying

architecture will be essential reading. This book provides you

with information on how to keep your Mac running sweetly

and swiftly with simple maintenance routines, and pointers to

resources available when something goes awry.

Every photographer works in their own way and each has subtly

diff erent peripheral devices hung on the back (or front) of their

machines. Some will work with their digital cameras tethered,

some will make their captures on a variety of memory cards.

Yet others will take conventionally on fi lm, in the form of either

negatives or transparencies which they then scan. The scanning

could be either with an in-house scanner or one at a bureau.

My concern in the writing of this book is what happens when

you are at your computer. I will cover the ways to use the Mac

that will ensure you a trouble free life, and the confi dence you

made the right decision in your choice of Mac and Mac OS X.

I will cover the implications of the choice of hardware and its

specifi cation, and routine procedures for maintenance. I will also

describe additional software you might consider to assist in this

maintenance. I will describe how to obtain updates from Apple

themselves in the form of System Software and Security Updates.

Fig. 0.1 Mac OS X ‘Tiger’. I will also describe a few resources that off er further technical

Stability

Early versions suff ered some freezes, crashes and

what are known as ‘kernel panics’ – the equivalent of

system crashes in Mac OS 9 and earlier. Escape meant

a total loss of all unsaved fi les! By version 10.2.8 this

situation had all but disappeared. It is probably fair to

say that kernel panics were often the case of third-party

programming errors, due to the constant revisions to

the system, consequently there were frequent updates

to most of the major applications. By Tiger, 10.4.2 in

particular, kernel panics were rare.

The main programs in use by photographers are largely

very stable, and the top one, Photoshop, is probably the

most stable of all Mac programs.

This is not to say that nothing can go wrong, but

stability is something you can now expect when using

a Mac with Tiger or Leopard. If not, you can probably

work on the assumption that it is your personal kit that

has the problem. Useful information on avoiding kernel

panics can be found at the X Lab:

http://tinyurl.com/9jt9r