I’ll have to do a “thing” with this software at some point, and for those paying close attention you may remember I was going to do something during development, but schedules went wonky and it never happened. Anyway, I’ve been playing with the free trial and it’s just fantastic.

This little output is a combination of work done in Silver Efex Pro 2, then the text was added as a custom book page in Aperture and round-tripped back as an Aperture TIF using the built-in Save PDF to Aperture script. Yes the titling was originally created in Photoshop, but I described a few posts ago how to do it using free software, too. Click to view larger.

Silver Efex Pro 2 in Aperture

Here’s the original…

UPDATE: Scroll to the end for a video version of this tip!

Aperture 3 added the Trash folder so deleted photos and projects are easily recoverable, but once you empty the trash, what really happens? How are managed vs referenced files handled on deletion? Can you accidentially delete a photo that’s still in use elsewhere in the application? And is there any hope after hitting “empty trash”?

These question and more, tackled below…

Let’s throw some stuff away!

The best way to find out what happens is to try it out, and check the results! So here we go. Here’s what’s going in the trash.

• Project A which contains Photo A1 (managed) and Photo A2 (referenced) in it.
• Album B1 from Project B, containing Photo B1. Note that Project B1 will not be thrown away (so that Photo B1 is still in use, in a Project B).
• Project C containing Photo C1 will go in the trash. However Photo C1 is being used in a Book B1, which lives in Project B. This book will NOT be deleted.
• Photo D1- Version 2 will go in the trash from Project D. Notice that the original, Photo D1, will not go in the trash.

Here’s some screen shots (click to view larger): 

Project A and Photo A1 (managed) and Photo A2 (referenced)

Project A which contains Photo A1 (managed) and Photo A2 (referenced) in it will go in the trash. We want to know what happens to the master files (the .CR2s that were imported originally). Remember, one of those master files lives in the Aperture library (the managed one), and the referenced one is floating around in the Finder somewhere.

The next eBook/video training I’m working on is for migrating from iPhoto to Aperture. I’d love to hear from you what specific problems you’ve encountered so I can be sure to address them in this training.

Please comment below… don’t be shy, even if you know it was user error, let me know. If you think it’s a bug, let me know. Confusing? Complicated? Unexepcted results? Whatever your experience, if less than a 100% flawless transfer, I want to know about it.

Scroll to the end for a video version of this tip!

A conversation in the User Forum about a complication with 3rd party plug-ins inspired this post. The reader was having troubles opening a photo into a plug-in a second time, and after some back and forth we resolved the issue and it pointed out what could be argued as a bug or a feature in Aperture 3. Which of course makes it great “tip” fodder ;-)

Editing with a plug-in or external application

Aperture has a fantastic plug-in architecture, with loads of developers making some very cool plug-ins for the app. If you’re short on ideas, head on over to Apple’s Plug-ins page and see what’s on offer.

Since these 3rd party tools can’t make adjustments using Aperture’s own adjustment capabilities (and if they could, we wouldn’t need them!), when you want to edit a photo from Aperture in one of these plug-ins, Aperture has to first render any adjustments you may have already made into a new file, and send that over to the plug-in. The format of the new file is determined in your preferences; you can make it a TIF or PSD, at 8-bit or 16-bit. This new TIF or PSD becomes a new “Master” file (so you can still always, always go back to your original photo). Once you are done doing whatever you’re going to do to the photo and it’s sent back to Aperture, it will have a little “target” icon on it, denoting that it’s been opened in an external editor (this could be an actual application like Photoshop, or just a plug-in—they are the same thing as far as Aperture is concerned).

In the following screenshot, we see a photo that’s been opened in Photoshop. I added some horrible color treatment to it to make it obvious to differentiate here. Believe me, it gets harder and harder to figure out what to do with Photoshop with every release of Aperture!

The little “target” logo means the photo has been opened in an external editor

See the slider badge on the bottom right of the first thumbnail? That tells us that some adjustments have been added in Aperture. Then, see the target badge on the second thumbnail—and notice that the slider badge is missing? The target means it’s been externally edited, and the lack of the slider badge means that the adjustments applied in the image on the left were rendered into a new master before being sent to Photoshop.

The next Live Training session has been announced… don’t delay in registering, I’ll close registration at 15% over capacity, and remember, it’s still on a first-come basis the day of. Register now!

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)