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ApertureExpert Live Training Session 019 Books Available Now

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 14, 2012 - 12:28pm

This was the first official Live Training done over Google+. For those there live, the echo problem has been solved! Which also will hopefully solve the sync issue in the recording. Don’t worry, it’s only in the Q&A, but it’s annoying nonetheless.

This session on Aperture Books is 45 minutes before even getting to the Q&A, then another 20 minutes of questions.

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Unified Photo Syncing to iDevices & More

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 14, 2012 - 12:00am

These days, most of us own or use multiple screens. Whether the screens are on one or more computers, iPhones, iPods, iPads, other smart phones or tablets, or an AppleTV, at some point you’re going to want to view your best photos at any time, anywhere.

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Books

Live Training Session 019

This session covers what you need to know to create and edit a book in Aperture 3.

Duration: 01:05 hr
Included with membership
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Auto-Stack on Import in Aperture 3

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Stacking was designed with two uses in mind (which I believe is what led to the confusion among users and the eventual deemphasis of the feature in Aperture). The first is to collect similar images shot in sequence where only one will prevail (i.e. the photos leading up to the perfect touchdown frame), and the second is to collect multiple versions of the same photo (i.e. a black and white version, a square cropped version, etc.).

Stacking, for those who aren’t familiar with it, is when you create a mini collection of photos in Aperture that can be “stacked” into a pile, with the “select” image (the best one) sitting on top. This lets you hide the inferior shots while only viewing the favorite one. I wrote an extensive overview of Stacks last year, in “Aperture 3 Stacks, Picks and Album Picks”

I talked about auto-stacking in that article, and even on import which is what this is about, however there’s a use for it I didn’t mention there that just came up for me, so I wanted to share.

Stacking auto-bracketed shots

On Monday I drove from Portland, OR to Ashland, by way of Bend, Mt. Bachelor, what was supposed to be a trip through the Cascade Lakes but the road was closed (top travel tip: when driving through areas known for winter snow, even though it’s 85˚ and sunny in the city, be sure to check with local officials to see if the mountain roads are actually open yet — my expected path doesn’t open until Memorial Day weekend. D’oh!!) and finally to Crater Lake. I was specifically shooting for a gallery show I have coming up this fall, and decided to auto-bracket my shots to get a little pseudo-HDRness for the B&W images I intend to produce.

Back home at time of import, I realized that I really wanted to stack these auto-bracketed collections. The auto-stack controls were removed from the Import window in Aperture 3, however they are still available — you just have to open them from the menu Stacks > Auto Stack.

The Aperture Auto-Stack control

Once open, sliding them to just 0:01 seconds (that’s the time between shots) should have stacked all the bracketed photos. For some reason it doesn’t though; I had to go to 0:02 to get them to stack. Which also meant that a couple of groups shot in rapid succession also stacked together. No bother though; they can be easily split apart (again, see the aforementioned article for details on all that).

 

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Successful Live Training Test on Google+

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Last night we ran an impromptu test with Google+ now that I have the “On Air” capability! Woohoo!

It was a great test with a lot of goofing around, but we learned a few things about how to handle these broadcasts for sure.

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Don’t Forget to Write IPTC Metadata to Masters

Thomas Boyd's picture
May 9, 2012 - 12:00am

When using Aperture to manage your photos, your IPTC metadata is NOT in the master image file unless you have, at some point, told Aperture to Write IPTC Metadata to Master.

In my experience, many users are not aware of this. They have put a lot of time and energy into adding this information to images in their Aperture library and are shocked to realize it’s not in the file info of their images.

Apple made the decision in early versions of Aperture to maintain a completely non-destructive workflow. This means they didn’t want Aperture to alter the original camera-generated image file in any way and this included adding IPTC metadata.

However, many photographers believe in creating an archive that’s as forward compatible as possible. No one knows what the future holds when it comes to digital asset management. Sometimes we just want to look at a folder full of images and see what’s there without importing into Aperture. Sometimes we want to do a Spotlight search and look at images in the finder with Quick Look. Or, maybe we want to open it in an image browser and email it out without having to go to Aperture.

For me, these are rare instances, but I still want my images to contain IPTC metadata. While I appreciate the idea that master image files are best kept in their pristine condition, I think the risk is low enough and the reward high enough to proceed with adding IPTC metadata. In all my years of handling digital image files with a variety of software, I have never had IPTC metadata corrupt an image. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. I’m saying I’m willing to suffer the consequences of that happening for the trade off of having all my files contain this very valuable data.

First off, I have to say I do not like how Aperture handles this task. It’s needlessly slow when a lot of files are involved. I don’t like that it’s something I have to do after the import and it’s something I have to remember to do. I would like for it be an option on import. Granted, this would slow down the import process dramatically, it would still be something I would use for certain imports. I don’t like that it doesn’t do this task in the background. You can’t do anything in Aperture until the task is complete.

Writing IPTC Metadata to Masters is Easy to do

  1. Select the images you want to write IPTC metadata to. I recommend selecting a ton of images and then starting before going to bed.
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Cloud Backup; Backblaze in the Real World

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 6, 2012 - 12:00am
Most of you know by now I’m a big fan of cloud backup, and specifically Backblaze. A lot of users say “sounds good but I don’t have the bandwidth to use it for my photo files”. Hogwash. And here’s why, proven by simple math.
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Secondary Display Views in Aperture 3

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 5, 2012 - 12:00am

If you own a second display, or have ever thought of adding one, this post will explain the different ways to take advantage of it while editing in Aperture 3. When a second display is connected, the Secondary Viewer menu becomes active.

The Secondary Viewer options in Aperture 3

Advantages and performance

Some users have dual large displays on their desk, and others may have a desktop display to plug their laptop into while at home. Those with laptops can run in “lid down” mode, meaning the big display is the only display, or in “lid up” mode, so the smaller laptop screen is simultaneously usable. The advantages of two screens are pretty obvious; more space to put your stuff. I remember years ago having a one good display and one old crappy one, and relegating the crappy one to Photoshop palettes. Today, with two good displays, the dual monitor setup just depends on what I’m doing. I’ll usually keep iCal, a web browser with live stats on this website, Twitter, and iTunes running on the secondary display, while the primary gets Mail, my main browser windows, and whatever other apps I’m actively working on (Pages, Numbers, etc.). I’ll even put Aperture on the second display if I’m working on something with photos, but not actually working on photos (i.e. a book in iBooks Author). When I go into full-on Aperture mode, then the Aperture window will get moved to the primary display, using secondary screen in the various ways outlined below.

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Alternate Main Viewer Views in Aperture 3

PhotoJoseph's picture
May 4, 2012 - 12:00am

The Aperture Viewer is the part of the Aperture interface where you view your photos large. I think most users leave this in the standard “Multi” view the vast majority of the time, and many may not even be aware that there are multiple modes for the Viewer. This post is all about those various views, and how to use them.

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