Let's discuss what size to make your watermark, what stylings to use, create some using Photoshop and two FREE solutions, and set them up in Aperture.

Did you know that Aperture can watermark your photos on export? Don’t feel bad if you didn’t; a lot of people don’t know it’s there. It’s a feature that has remained essentially unchanged since v.1, and to be honest it’s not that straight forward. It appears simple enough, but can do strange and confusing things on export.

I’ve been using essentially the same watermark for years (I just kept changing the year on it) and probably just got lucky in making one that worked so long ago! So I decided that once and for all, I’d figure out what is and isn’t happening in Aperture when you choose to watermark your images.

Also, one of the frustrations for many is that you need to create the actual watermark file outside of Aperture—and frankly, not everyone owns Photoshop. So part of this adventure was to find a way to create a watermark file for cheap, or even better, for free.

I succeeded.

The Easy Part

To enable watermarking, all you have to do is open the Export presets, and turn on watermarking for one of the presets, and add a PNG or PSD file to it. That’s it. Of course, it’s not really that easy, but here’s where the work is done.

The Image Export settings in Aperture 3 reveal the Watermark options

So really, all you should need to do is choose an image, decide where to put it, and off you go. But notice that little Scale Watermark option? Bizarre behavior. What opacity works best? What kind of file works best? All of this and more is what we’re gonna cover here.

The video is up, check it out on the ApertureExpert.tv page! Just $2, as promised, and you can watch the first 10 minutes for free to see what it’s all about.

Reader Kenneth Lim wrote a great tip he called the “Reverse” Vibrancy Slider today, and I loved it so much I made a video of it. Don’t forget about the User Tips area, and be sure to post your favorite tips, too. Maybe I’ll make yours into a video as well!

Check it out here…

The ApertureExpert Podcast is not a traditional podcast; we’re not on a weekly schedule, nor is it an interview show. It’s simply a visual version of the tips that are posted on the main ApertureExpert Tips page (that’s this one).

These new podcasts allows you to read a tip, watch a tip, or do both—whatever suits your nature. And best of all, it’s all free!

It’s alive!

The new, FREE, LiveTraining initiative I announced over a month ago is finally here. We’ve had two successful tests and we’re ready to try this for realz!

Greetings folks!

I’m thrilled to announce the latest Preset Packs, #3 and #4 — both chock full of delicious textured goodness!

(And no you didn’t miss anything… #2 is still in development)

(Updated from the original Feb 9 post, as reader John Crosby found the solution to the “unreliability” problem I was having. “In quotes”, because it turned out to be user error!) 

By now most of you have discovered that if you zoom into multiple images simultaneously in Aperture, then hold the shift key while dragging them around, the images stay aligned. This is a perfect way to compare the same area of different photos of the same thing—for example to pan around several shots of a group portrait looking for the one where the fewest people are blinking or making a funny face.

If you hover the mouse over any part of one of the images when you tap the Z key, Aperture will zoom into that point—but only for that image. If you are careful to have the mouse not pointing at any part of any image when you tap the Z key, then all images will zoom to the center. Great.

Aperture 3, four images selected, normal view, before zooming…

Apple released their latest Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update, at version 3.6, adding support for some newer digital cameras, as well as addressing some “processing issues” for a few existing cameras.

New cameras supported:

I’m so excited, the book is done and up for sale! Read all about it and be sure to download the free preview!

As I hinted at when Aperture 3 dropped to just $79 in the App Store (discussed here and here), I felt that a matching price drop might be due for my eBooks, formerly priced at $19.97 and $24.97.

I’m thrilled to announce that it’s time.

I run a tight ship on my Aperture Library. I keep all the photos referenced in the main Library on my iMac, but when I’m on the road using the MacBook Air, I import photos into an empty Library as Managed, then merge that (managed) Air Library with my (referenced) iMac Library when I return home.

That means that I have to get the Managed files out of this iMac Library that I just imported.

The Problem

It used to be easy—all I had to do was search for Managed Files, and Relocate them. There’s a Smart Album already set up (actually… hmm, maybe I built that… I actually don’t recall, it’s been this way for so long) under my Library that shows Managed files, like this:

(click to view larger)

However now that Aperture has these great sharing features to Flickr and Facebook, any images previously existing on those services that have been pulled down to Aperture now show up in the Managed search. They look like this: