Apple Aperture 3.5 User Manual

Aperture 3.5

User Guide

K Apple Inc.

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12 Chapter 1: Aperture basics 12 What is Aperture? 13 Aperture workow overview 15 Aperture interface overview 19 Basic components of Aperture 19 Basic components overview 20 What are originals? 20 What are versions? 21 What are projects? 21 What are albums? 23 What are folders? 23 What is the library? 24 What are managed images and referenced images? 25 What is the Aperture Trash? 25 What is a vault? 26 Open Aperture for the rst time

27 Chapter 2: Import photos 27 Importing photos overview 29 File formats you can import into the library 29 Plan your import strategy 30 Import from a camera, card reader, or device 36 Add import options 36 Import options overview 36 View le information 37 Automatically name imported photos 40 Adjust time zone data at import 40 Add metadata at import 41 Apply eects at import 41 Filter les by type at import 42 Import RAW + JPEG image pairs 43 Use AppleScript actions at import 44 Automatically back up les at import 44 Reset import options 45 Import folders of les from the Finder 46 Import originals for referenced images into folders 47 Capture photos as you work 48 Add audio attachments to image les 49 Where Aperture stores your managed les in the library 49 Reprocess photos from earlier versions of Aperture

51 Chapter 3: Work with projects and the library 51 Organize items in the Library inspector 51 Library inspector overview 53 Create and name items 54 Open and close items in the Library inspector 55 Arrange items in the Library inspector 56 Create and show favorite items 56 Work with the Aperture Trash 58 Work with library les 58 Create new libraries 58 View other libraries 59 Merge libraries 61 Open your library in iPhoto 61 Work with projects 61 View projects 64 Create and delete projects 64 Organize and sort projects in Projects view 66 Import photos into projects 66 Merge projects 67 Duplicate a project structure 67 Work with referenced images 72 Back up the library 72 Plan your backup system 73 Create and update vaults 75 Disconnect and reconnect vaults 76 Restore your Aperture library 76 Repair and rebuild your Aperture library

78 Chapter 4: Organize and sort photos 78 Browser overview 80 Navigate through and select photos 80 Navigate through photos in the Browser 81 Select photos 82 Navigate through photos in Quick Preview mode 83 Change the Browser view 83 Work with photos in lmstrip view 84 Work with photos in grid view 85 Work with photos in list view 87 Work with two Browsers open 88 Set up and arrange photos 88 Rearrange and sort photos in the Browser 89 Rotate photos 89 Create versions of a photo 90 Delete photos from the Browser 91 Rename original image les 91 Drag photos into dierent projects and albums 92 Stack photos and make picks 92 Stacking photos overview 93 Create stacks 95 Open and close stacks 95 Set a pick photo for a stack

Contents 4

96 Work with stacked photos 97 Compare photos in stacks 98 Work with stacks in list view 98 Rate photos 98 Rating photos overview 100 Rating workow 101 Rate and compare photos 104 Sort photos by rating 105 Add keywords to photos 105 Keywords overview 108 View a photo’s keywords 110 Apply keywords using the Keywords HUD 114 Apply keywords using keyword controls and keyword presets 118 Apply keywords using the Lift & Stamp HUD 121 Apply keywords using the Info inspector 122 Apply keywords to photos in the Light Table 122 Remove keywords from a photo 123 Export and import keyword lists 123 Organize photos by people using Faces 123 Faces overview 125 Add names to faces in your photos 127 View photos in Faces view 130 Search for photos by face 131 Organize photos by location using Places 131 Places overview 133 View photo locations 138 Change the map view 139 Add locations to photos 142 Change photo locations 143 Remove locations 143 Import and work with GPS Track le data 144 Assign location information to projects 146 Work with location information using the Info inspector 150 Search for and display photos 150 Searching overview 151 Perform quick searches using the Search Field pop-up menu 152 Search using a combination of criteria 154 Save your search results 155 Group photos with Smart Albums 155 Smart Albums overview 156 Collect photos in a new Smart Album 159 Search within a Smart Album 159 Revise the contents of a Smart Album 160 Transfer Smart Album photos to an album 160 Delete a Smart Album 160 Work with library albums

Contents 5

162 Chapter 5: View and compare photos 162 View photos in the Viewer 162 Viewer overview 164 Change the number of photos in the Viewer 164 Compare photos 166 View photos at full resolution 167 View original photos 168 Work with audio and video in the Viewer 170 View photos on multiple displays 171 Show hot and cold areas in your photos 172 Set up the Viewer for onscreen proong 172 View photos in full-screen view 172 Full-screen view overview 174 Enter and exit full-screen view 175 Work in Viewer mode in full-screen view 177 Work in Browser mode in full-screen view 178 Work in Projects mode in full-screen view 179 Use HUDs in full-screen view 180 Change the display of metadata in full-screen view 181 View photos with the Loupe 181 Loupe overview 182 Magnify photos using the Loupe 184 Use the alternate Loupe 185 Arrange photos in the Light Table 185 Light Table overview 186 Create and delete Light Table albums 188 Place and view photos in the Light Table 190 Move, resize, and align photos in the Light Table

193 Chapter 6: Work with metadata 193 Working with metadata overview 196 View and change metadata in the Info inspector or Info HUD 196 Show the Info inspector and modify views 198 Modify metadata in the Info inspector and Inspector HUD 201 Display metadata with your photos 201 Metadata overlays overview 202 Turn the display of metadata on or o 203 Specify the type of metadata to display in the Viewer and Browser 206 Work with the AutoFill Editor 206 Work with metadata views 206 Metadata views overview 208 Create, modify, and manage metadata views 210 Work with metadata presets 210 Create metadata presets 211 Share metadata presets 212 Batch change metadata 213 About IPTC metadata 214 Understanding badge overlays 214 Badge overlays overview 215 Display photos with badge overlays 216 Adjust the photo date and time

Contents 6

217 Chapter 7: Make image adjustments 217 Adjustments in Aperture 219 About making adjustments onscreen 220 Use the adjustment controls 220 Use the Adjustments inspector and Inspector HUD 223 Use sliders 223 Work with adjustment tools in the tool strip 224 Use the brush controls 225 Ways to perform adjustments 225 Apply standard adjustments 228 Apply brushed adjustments 231 Apply Quick Brush adjustments 232 Work with brush strokes 235 Work with brushed adjustment overlays 237 Limit the tonal range of brushed adjustments 238 Remove adjustments 238 Perform adjustments in full-screen view 239 Adjust images from within Aperture editors 239 Use an external editor 240 Apply iPhoto eects to images 241 Apply specic standard adjustments 241 Enhance an image automatically 242 Retouch an image 245 Remove red-eye 250 Spot and patch an image 258 Straighten an image’s horizon 259 Crop an image 262 Flip the composition of an image 263 Remove chromatic aberration 264 Remove a vignette 265 Reduce digital noise 266 White balance an image 270 Correct exposure, highlight detail, shadow detail, and brightness 273 Adjust contrast, clarity, and saturation 276 Remove unwanted tints from an image 282 Adjust the tonal curve of an image 292 Preserve highlight and shadow details in an image 295 Adjust the levels of an image 303 Selectively adjust the color values in an image 308 Manually convert an image to black and white 309 Convert a color image to black and white with a color tint 310 Apply a sepia tint 311 Sharpen an image 313 Apply a vignette to an image 315 Apply specic Quick Brush adjustments 315 Brush the Skin Smoothing adjustment on an image 316 Brush the Dodge adjustment on an image 317 Brush the Burn adjustment on an image 318 Brush the Polarize adjustment on an image 319 Brush the Intensify Contrast adjustment on an image

Contents 7

320 Brush the Tint adjustment on an image 321 Brush the Contrast adjustment on an image 322 Brush the Saturation adjustment on an image 323 Brush the Denition adjustment on an image 324 Brush the Vibrancy adjustment on an image 325 Brush the Blur adjustment on an image 326 Brush the Sharpen adjustment on an image 327 Brush the Halo Reduction adjustment on an image 327 Brush the Noise Reduction adjustment on an image 328 Create and apply eects 334 Adjust how Aperture decodes RAW images 334 RAW Fine Tuning controls overview 335 Use the Boost controls 335 Use the Sharpening controls 336 Use the Moire controls 337 Use the De-noise control 338 Work with DNG les 338 Set the camera default 339 Sample color values and display camera information 342 Use modier keys to identify color clipping 344 Understanding how to read histograms 344 Histograms overview 345 About evaluating exposure 346 About evaluating tonality and contrast

348 Chapter 8: Print photos 348 Printing overview 350 Print individual photos 353 Print contact sheets 354 Print books 355 Print Light Table arrangements 356 Create and modify print presets 357 Proof images and manage color

358 Chapter 9: Export photos 358 Exporting photos overview 358 Export tips 359 Export by dragging 359 Export using the Export command 364 Choose export settings 364 Work with export presets 367 Set image resolution when exporting 369 Adjust images at export 370 Add a watermark at export 370 Apply IPTC metadata and keywords to your photos 371 Rename photos at export 374 Export photos into named or numbered folders

Contents 8

376 Chapter 10: Create slideshows 376 Slideshows overview 376 Create slideshows quickly using presets 376 Slideshow presets overview 377 Play a slideshow using a preset 379 Create and modify slideshow presets 381 Create full-featured slideshows 381 Full-featured slideshow overview 383 Create a slideshow and choose a theme 385 Change slideshow settings 386 Set the slideshow aspect ratio and crop 387 Add a title or text to the slideshow 390 Set the length of time slides play 391 Apply transitions and eects to slides 393 Apply a Ken Burns eect to a slide 395 Adjust the volume of video slides 395 Add music and audio to slideshows 401 Loop the slideshow and the main audio track 402 View your slideshows in Aperture 402 Share your slideshow movies

404 Chapter 11: Create books 404 Creating books overview 405 Plan your book 406 Create a book album 407 View pages 409 Place photos in a book 411 Add and remove pages 411 Add individual pages to a book 413 Automatically create new pages 414 Add a photo index to a book 415 Remove pages from a book 415 Work with pages 417 Work with photos 417 Add photo boxes to a book page 418 Modify photo boxes 419 Copy, paste, cut, and remove photos in photo boxes 420 Stack photo boxes in a specic order 420 Change the look of photos with lters 421 Add map boxes to a book page 425 Work with text 425 Place text on the page 426 Add metadata boxes to a page 427 Hide or show photo plate numbers in books 427 Modify the appearance of text in books 428 Work with the Layout Options inspector 429 Work with master pages 429 Master pages overview 429 Create and modify master pages 430 Unify and split master pages 431 Update book pages with master page changes

Contents 9

431 Create and share custom themes 432 Copy a book album 432 Order books from third-party print vendors using plug-ins

434 Chapter 12: Share photos online 434 Sharing photos overview 434 Use iCloud to keep photos up to date across your devices 434 My Photo Stream overview 436 Set up your iCloud account 437 Turn on My Photo Stream for an Aperture library 438 Automatically transfer photos between Aperture and My Photo Stream 439 Manually transfer photos between Aperture and My Photo Stream 439 About turning on My Photo Stream on more than one Mac 440 About uploading RAW les to My Photo Stream 441 Use iCloud to share photos with others 441 iCloud Photo Sharing overview 441 Turn on iCloud Photo Sharing in Aperture 442 Create shared photo streams 443 Add, remove, and edit items in a shared photo stream 444 Manage subscribers to your shared photo streams in Aperture 445 Subscribe to shared photo streams in Aperture 448 Email photos 449 Publish photos to Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug 449 Sharing photos with Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug overview 450 Set up a Flickr, Facebook, or SmugMug account in Aperture 456 Create and delete Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums 458 View Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums 460 Update your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums 461 Manage your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug accounts 463 Create webpages 463 Creating webpages overview 463 Create web galleries and web journals 466 View and navigate through webpages 467 Choose and modify themes 468 Work with web gallery pages 468 Work with web journal pages 470 Export webpages as HTML les 471 Work with web export presets 473 Add watermarks to webpage photos

474 Chapter 13: Customize the Aperture workspace 474 Change the main window layout 476 Set Aperture preferences 476 Aperture preferences overview 477 Open Aperture preferences 478 General preferences 479 Appearance preferences 480 Import preferences 481 Export preferences 482 Labels preferences 482 Previews preferences

Contents 10

483 iCloud preferences 483 Accounts preferences 484 Advanced preferences 485 Customize the toolbar 487 Use gestures with Aperture 488 Customize keyboard shortcuts 488 Customizing keyboard shortcuts overview 490 Search for commands and keyboard shortcuts 492 Modify keyboard shortcuts and command sets 494 Work with preview images 494 Preview images overview 495 How Aperture displays photos in the Viewer 495 Set preview preferences 495 Automatically manage previews 496 Manually manage previews 496 Reschedule JPEG preview maintenance 497 Render preview images 497 Suppress preview generation 498 Sample workows for using previews eectively

501 Glossary

Contents 11

Aperture basics

What is Aperture?

Aperture is a powerful, easy-to-use digital photo management system for organizing, adjusting,

archiving, and presenting high-quality photographic images.

In Aperture, you can:

•

Work directly with your iPhoto library without having to import your iPhoto photos.

Important: To ensure library compatibility, make sure you upgrade both iPhoto and Aperture

to the latest versions.

•

Import digital photos, audio les, and HD video les from cameras, card readers, and hard disk drives in high-quality formats such as JPEG, TIFF, and RAW.

•

Edit and adjust digital photos using intuitive image-processing tools for retouching, skin smoothing, red-eye removal, color balance, exposure correction, and more.

•

Work with your photos in RAW format, from capture through adjustment to nal output, preserving the highest-quality images throughout your workow.

•

Store photos, audio les, and video les wherever you want—in the Aperture library, on

multiple hard disks, or on other storage media.

•

Work with multiple Aperture libraries, with the ability to switch from library to library without closing Aperture.

•

Catalog and manage thousands of photos and video les using exible organizational tools, comprehensive metadata support, and powerful search tools that let you nd les instantly in multiple locations, including hard disks, oine volumes, CDs, and DVDs.

•

Export any part of your library, make changes to it on a second system running Aperture, and then merge it back into the library of your primary Aperture system.

•

Process your photos nondestructively. Aperture protects your original image les and uses

built-in safeguards to help ensure that you don’t accidentally overwrite or modify originals.

•

Automatically back up copies of your image les to designated storage areas, called vaults, located on external hard disks.

•

Print or publish your photos and albums in any of numerous formats and to multiple locations.

Working directly with RAW photos, you can create color-accurate prints, custom contact

sheets, and unique bound books.

•

Share your photos electronically, publishing them to Facebook, Flickr, and SmugMug. If you have an iCloud account, you can make your new photos available on all your Mac and iOS devices using My Photo Stream, and you can share photos with friends using iCloud Photo

Sharing. You can also create slideshow presentations for clients and friends, attach photos to email, and create webpages to display your photos.

Aperture workow overview

The basic process of managing photos in Aperture is described below. You don’t have to do every step, and you might do other tasks that aren’t listed here.

Use your iPhoto library with Aperture

The rst time you open Aperture, the Welcome to Aperture screen invites you to open your iPhoto library. You can also switch to your iPhoto library by choosing File > Switch to Library.

Important: To ensure library compatibility, make sure you upgrade both iPhoto and Aperture to

the latest versions.

For more information about switching libraries in Aperture, see View other libraries on page 58.

Import photos into Aperture

To use Aperture, you rst import your photos. You can import digital photos directly from your

camera or a card reader and from hard disks or other storage devices where you’ve archived

digital les.

Aperture automatically imports any audio attachments associated with your image les, provided that the image les and their audio attachments have the same lename. In addition

to importing photos into Aperture, you can also import QuickTime-compatible audio and

video les.

Create projects

As you work with Aperture, you create projects to hold your photos. Projects are simliar to events in iPhoto. A project can hold dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of photos. When you need

to further subdivide and organize photos in a project, you can create albums. As your portfolio increases and you create more and more projects, you can organize your work into hierarchies of folders, projects, and albums.

View and organize your photos

To work with your photos, you select a project in the Library inspector, and the project’s photos

appear in the Browser. You use the Browser to review, organize, and select photos. When you select a thumbnail image in the Browser, the photo appears in the Viewer. If you want to work with your photos in detail, you can view them in full-screen view.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 13

Aperture also provides several tools to help you organize a large portfolio of photos. You can compare high-resolution photos side by side, group similar photos in stacks, rate photos, identify

people in your photos using Faces, and apply location information to your photos using Places. You can also apply keywords and other metadata to your photos to make them easier to nd.

Adjust your images

You can enhance your photos using a set of powerful, nondestructive adjustments such as Crop,

Straighten, Exposure, White Balance, Levels, Curves, Highlights & Shadows, Vignette, and more. In addition, you can use brushes to apply or remove adjustments selectively, aecting only certain

parts of an image.

To streamline your workow, you can save adjustment settings as presets (collections of saved

settings) and apply a combination of image adjustments to one or more photos in a single step.

Share your photos

When it’s time to show your work to others, Aperture provides many options for distributing and sharing your photos:

•

Send your photos to Flickr and Facebook.

•

Present your photos in multimedia slideshows.

•

Create premium-quality photo books.

•

Print high-resolution photos.

•

Export your photos in a variety of le formats.

•

Email your photos directly from Aperture.

•

Publish your photos in web galleries and web journals as HTML that you can upload to a

web server.

•

Use My Photo Stream to make your photos available on all your devices—including iOS devices, Mac computers, PCs, and Apple TV—and use iCloud Photo Sharing to share photos

with friends and family members who have iCloud accounts.

Back up your work

After you import photos from your camera and erase memory cards in preparation for the next shoot, Aperture stores a single copy of each photo on your hard disk. It’s important to make backup copies of these photos to safeguard your portfolio. You can set Aperture to back up your managed images (images that are stored in the Aperture library) and all information associated with them, such as keywords and image adjustment settings, on vaults located on hard disk drives. You can also set Aperture to automatically back up your photos during import.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 14

Aperture interface overview

Toolbar: Perform common tasks

Here are the main areas of the Aperture window:

and select a workspace view.

Inspectors: Access the library,

view photo information, and adjust photos.

Browser: View thumbnails

of photos in the item selected in the Library inspector.

Viewer: View the photo

or photos selected in the Browser.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 15

Organize photos using the Library inspector

All your imported photos are available in the Library inspector, one of three inspectors in the Inspector pane on the left side of the Aperture main window. The Library inspector holds containers—projects, folders, and albums—you can use to organize your photos.

Projects

Folders

Albums

The Library inspector also provides a number of ways to view items in the library. For example, you can select Projects at the top of the Library inspector to view your photos organized by project, or Places to view the locations of all the photos in the library. For more information, see

Library inspector overview on page 51.

When you select a folder, a project, or an album in the Library inspector, the images appear in

the Browser and Viewer to the right.

Display photos in the Browser and Viewer

You can arrange the Browser and Viewer to suit your work style, showing either one by itself or both at once. To change the main window layout, click a layout button at the right side of the toolbar.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 16

The Browser layout displays a grid of thumbnail images.

Layout buttons: Click

Viewer layout: The Viewer

main window layout.

Browser layout: The Browser

fills the workspace and displays a grid of thumbnail images.

a button to select a

When you double-click a thumbnail image in the Browser (or click the Viewer button in the toolbar), Aperture switches to the Viewer layout, displaying the selected photo in a larger format. You can use the Viewer to examine a photo at full size or compare multiple photos side by side.

fills the workspace and displays your photo selection.

Tool strip: Use these

tools to adjust and work with your photos.

You can use the tools in the tool strip below the Viewer to adjust and manipulate your photos. For more information, see Work with adjustment tools in the tool strip on page 223.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 17

To display the Viewer and Browser at the same time, click the Split View button at the right side of the toolbar.

Split View layout: The Viewer

and Browser appear together.

For more information about changing the conguration of Aperture windows, see Change the

main window layout on page 474.

Display photos in full-screen view

You can also view your photos in full-screen view, dramatically projecting them onto a solid

background for detailed adjustments and comparisons. Full-screen view oers dierent display

layouts that let you view large-format versions of selected photos, view thumbnails, or view photos by project. For more information, see Full-screen view overview on page 172.

Display metadata associated with photos

To help identify your photos as you work with them, you can set Aperture to display the

metadata associated with photos in the Viewer. You can display keywords, ratings, EXIF information, IPTC information, and more. You can specify whether the information appears

below the photos or over the lower portion of the photo.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 18

You can also specify up to two views of information to be displayed with photos in the Viewer— basic or expanded. For example, one view might be congured to show ratings only, and another view to show all the IPTC information associated with a photo. You can then switch between

views to change the information that appears with your photos.

The caption and keywords are displayed here.

For more information about working with metadata views in the Viewer, see Metadata overlays

overview on page 201.

Basic components of Aperture

Basic components overview

Aperture uses the following basic components in your photo management system:

•

Originals: The original image, video, and audio les imported from your digital camera,

memory card, computer, or external storage media.

•

Versions: Files derived from the originals and used to display your photos with any changes you’ve made, including image adjustments or changes to metadata.

•

Projects: The basic containers used in Aperture to organize photos. Projects can hold versions,

folders, and albums.

•

Albums: Containers that hold versions. You can create albums to organize photos within projects or outside of them.

•

Folders: Containers used to organize projects and albums.

•

Library: The Aperture database that records and tracks your original image, video, and audio

les and all of their corresponding versions. You can also create multiple Aperture library les in dierent locations. The library tracks all the information about the projects, folders, and

albums you create to organize your media.

•

Managed and referenced images: Originals stored in the Aperture library are called managed images because Aperture manages the location of the image les in its database. Managed

image les are physically located in the Aperture Library le. You can also import photos into Aperture without storing the original image les in the library. Image les that are not stored in the library are called referenced images. Aperture links to referenced image les in their current locations on your hard disk, without placing them in the Aperture Library le.

•

Aperture Trash: Container that holds items you delete in Aperture. You can retrieve items from the Aperture Trash until it is emptied.

•

Vaults: Containers that each hold a backup of the library and all its photos and information.

The next sections describe each of these elements and how you work with them in Aperture.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 19

What are originals?

Originals are the original digital RAW, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, DNG, PNG, audio, or video les that are

imported into Aperture from digital cameras, memory cards, computers, CDs, DVDs, or storage devices such as external hard disk drives. Aperture never changes the original, so you always have originals to work from.

Important: Originals—especially RAW les—tend to be quite large. Projects consisting of several

thousand originals require high-capacity hard disks.

For information about importing originals, see Importing photos overview on page 27.

What are versions?

After you import originals to your hard disk, you can review and make adjustments to your images. For example, you can change the exposure, contrast, or saturation, or add information to an image, such as the photographer’s name, the project, and the location. To work with photos, Aperture creates a version of each original that includes your adjustments and embedded information, leaving the original unchanged. A version is linked to the original on your hard disk, but it is not the original itself. Versions store only the thumbnail image, adjustments, and

embedded information. A full image le is not created until you are ready to print or export,

saving valuable hard disk storage.

In many cases, your workow may call for dierent renderings of the same photo. For example, a client may request a color as well as a black-and-white version of the same head shot. You can

create multiple versions of the same photo in Aperture.

Versions

from Original 1

Versions from Original 2

Versions from Original 3

Computer

Pictures

folder

Aperture

Library file

Original

When you create a version, Aperture reads the original image le on disk and displays it on the

screen. As you make adjustments or add information to the image, Aperture displays the version

with your changes, but the original image le is never changed.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 20

What are projects?

You organize your originals and versions using projects, which are similar to events in iPhoto. When you import photos into Aperture, you assign them to a project. You can create as many projects as you like, up to the limitations of your disk space. For example, you can create a new project for each of your shoots. Or, if you do several shoots of the same subject, you can create a project that encompasses all of the shoots.

Project opened to show its contents

You can have multiple projects open at the same time, each represented by its own icon in the

Library inspector.

What are albums?

An album is a container in the Aperture library used to group photo versions. You can create albums at the library level or within a project.

You use albums created at the library level to organize versions from multiple projects. For example, you can create an album to consolidate your favorite photos, or selects, from multiple projects. You can then publish this collection of selects on your website or export the album’s contents for review by a prospective client.

You can also create albums within projects to help you organize your photos into relevant groups. For example, you can organize photos in a project by:

•

Occasion: Break a project into a series of albums according to specic occasions. For example, a wedding project can be divided into albums for the preparation, ceremony, and reception, or a soccer project can be divided up in albums for each game.

•

Day: Break a project that spans multiple days into albums for individual days. For example, a project consisting of a two-week trip to Japan can be divided into 14 individual albums corresponding to each day.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 21

•

Subject: Break a project consisting of multiple photographed subjects into individual albums dedicated to each subject. For example, a studio photographer may shoot three models for a single project. The photographer can create an album for each model. Or you might create

albums to hold specic photo types, such as candid shots or close-ups.

Three albums created within one project

You can also place versions from other projects into an album that resides within a project.

In addition to a standard album that you drag photos into, you can create Smart Albums whose contents are controlled by criteria you specify. When you change a Smart Album’s search criteria, the contents of the Smart Album change automatically. For more information, see Group photos

with Smart Albums on page 155.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 22

What are folders?

In Aperture, you use folders to organize projects and albums. For example, you can import photos into projects and then place the projects in folders based on photo type or location. If you shoot multiple projects for the same client, you can create a folder that holds the client’s projects.

These folders organize projects based on type.

Folders contain only albums, projects, and other folders. They don’t contain originals or versions.

What is the library?

The Aperture library tracks every project, album, folder, original, and version, no matter whether

the photos, video les, and audio les are stored in the Aperture Library le or in other hard disk locations. Aperture automatically creates a library le in the Pictures folder the rst time you open Aperture. You can import media into the library or have Aperture access the les in other

locations. When you back up your originals to vaults on external hard disks, those actions are tracked by the Aperture library as well. For more information about backing up your library, see

Plan your backup system on page 72.

In Aperture you can:

•

Work with multiple libraries: You can work with as many libraries as necessary—including iPhoto libraries—and switch between them without having to quit and reopen Aperture. If your workow calls for several unique libraries, you can switch between them on the y. You

can also check the contents of a library prior to importing it into the library that’s currently open. For more information, see Create new libraries on page 58 and View other libraries on page 58.

•

Merge libraries: You can also transfer libraries from other systems running Aperture and merge them with the library on your local Aperture system. All links between versions and their original photos are maintained when projects are transferred. This is particularly useful if you use a portable computer when on location or away from your studio, and a workstation at your studio. For more information, see Merge libraries on page 59.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 23

•

Move a library to another location: When the library le becomes large and requires more disk

space than is available in its current location, you can move it to a hard disk with greater

storage capacity. To change the location of the library, you move the library le to a new

location and then double-click it to open it in Aperture. You specify where the library is located

using the Preferences window. For information about working with multiple library les in

Aperture, see General preferences on page 478 and View other libraries on page 58.

Tip: To maximize performance, place the library le on an internal hard disk.

What are managed images and referenced images?

Aperture lets you choose how you organize your photos on disk. You can store your photos

in the Aperture library, or you can import photos by simply linking to the image les in their

current locations, without placing them in the library.

Images whose originals are stored in the Aperture library are called managed images. Managed

images are always accessible and are easily backed up to vaults, to name just two benets.

Imported photos whose originals haven’t been placed in the library are called referenced images.

Using referenced images provides a number of substantial benets to your photography workow. For example, you can incorporate your existing portfolio of photos into Aperture without changing the current location of the les. Importing images by reference does not result in a duplication of your image les in the Aperture library, thus saving hard disk space. You can

also connect and disconnect hard disks holding your referenced images’ originals as you need

them. This allows you to keep originals for less-used photos oine or to make specic types of

photos available for editing or adjustments as needed. Using referenced images lets you build a

exible image management system customized to your work style.

You specify whether a photo will be a managed image or a referenced image when you import it. When importing photos, you can:

•

Specify that originals be stored in the Aperture library.

•

Import photos as referenced images, so that their originals remain in their current locations.

•

Move or copy image les to a new location. For example, you might decide to have a certain group of referenced image les, such as photos from 2011, placed in one hard disk location, and another group, such as photos from 2012, placed in a dierent hard disk location.

You can work with referenced images—creating versions, making adjustments, cropping, and adding metadata—just as you can with managed images. Versions that you create from a

referenced image are stored in the library. To make adjustments to a version from a referenced image, the referenced image’s original must be available on your hard disk or other storage device. For example, if you delete a referenced image’s original in the Finder, Aperture no longer has access to the original and so no longer allows you to change your versions or create new ones.

To help you identify referenced images, Aperture marks them with a badge overlay that you

can display or hide. When a referenced image’s original is missing or oine, its badge changes

to show that the image is not accessible. For example, if you disconnect a hard disk that holds originals for many referenced images, Aperture automatically marks the referenced images

in the Browser and Viewer as oine. If you reconnect the hard disk or other storage device

later, Aperture accesses the originals automatically and you can work with and change their versions again.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 24

You can also relocate originals, moving them out of the library or moving referenced originals to

dierent hard disk locations. If needed, you can also move referenced originals into the Aperture

library by choosing the Consolidate Originals command in the File menu.

You can search for photos based on whether they are managed images, referenced images, or

online or oine images. Aperture also provides robust le management tools that let you quickly determine which images are oine and easily reconnect images that have been moved to dierent volumes.

What is the Aperture Trash?

All items deleted in Aperture, including projects, albums, folders, versions, and originals, are

placed in the Aperture Trash in the Library inspector. You can retrieve any item from the Aperture

Trash until you empty it. For more information, see Work with the Aperture Trash on page 56.

What is a vault?

To ensure that you have backup copies of your photos, you create a vault to hold the backup

les. A vault is a container that holds an exact copy of the library. This includes projects, originals,

and any versions you’ve created. You can easily create and update a vault to back up the library. It’s a good idea to create multiple vaults on multiple external hard disk drives to safeguard copies of the library.

You can have as many vaults as you deem necessary. Creating more than one vault is useful if

you work at dierent locations; you can always keep one vault on an external drive onsite and another one osite. All vaults and backup les are tracked by the library so that even if you

disconnect the external hard drive that contains a vault, Aperture can access it the next time you reconnect the drive and update the vault.

All the originals and versions for managed images are backed up, as well as all metadata, previews, and adjustment information associated with managed images. The versions, previews, metadata, and adjustment information associated with referenced originals are also backed up in the vault. Referenced originals are not backed up in the vault with the library.

Important: Because the originals for referenced images are stored outside of the library, you

must manage the backup and archiving of them yourself.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 25

Open Aperture for the rst time

The rst time you open Aperture, a Welcome to Aperture screen presents you with two options, provided you have an iPhoto library:

•

Update and begin using your existing iPhoto library.

•

Start with a new, empty Aperture library and begin importing photos.

Important: Aperture can only open iPhoto libraries upgraded to iPhoto 9.3 or later. To upgrade

your iPhoto library, open it in iPhoto 9.3 or later.

Open Aperture for the rst time

1 In the Applications folder in the Finder, double-click the Aperture icon.

The Welcome to Aperture screen appears.

2 Do one of the following:

•

To update your iPhoto library and begin working with it in Aperture: Click the Update

iPhoto button.

After iPhoto is updated to the latest version, open your iPhoto library so that it is upgraded to the latest version as well. When the upgrade is complete, close iPhoto and open Aperture. The contents of your iPhoto library appear in the Library inspector in Aperture. For more

information, see Library inspector overview on page 51.

•

To open a new, empty Aperture library: Click the Create New button.

Aperture opens a new, empty Aperture library, and you can begin importing photos immediately. For more information, see Importing photos overview on page 27.

Tip: To set Aperture to use the keyboard shortcuts you’re familiar with using in iPhoto, choose Aperture > Commands > iPhoto, and choose your language. For more information, see

Customizing keyboard shortcuts overview on page 488.

Chapter 1 Aperture basics 26

Camera

(external drive)

Import photos

Importing photos overview

Aperture provides tools and workow options that make it easy to import your photos. You can

import photos directly from your digital camera or card reader, and import photos stored on

your computer hard disk or other storage devices. You can also import audio and video les.

In Aperture you can open, view, and work with iPhoto libraries the same way you work with multiple Aperture library les. For more information about opening your iPhoto library in

Aperture, see View other libraries on page 58.

When you import from a digital camera or card reader, Aperture places the photos in a project. If you don’t select an existing project, a new one is created automatically.

As Aperture imports photos, video les, and audio les, it generates a version le, preview, and

thumbnail corresponding to each original.

Import

RAW

& JPEG

Aperture library

(system disk)

Importing

to Aperture

Vault

Project

Back up

Versions

Originals

You can import originals directly from a digital camera or card reader and from your hard

“Do not import

disk drives.

duplicates” checkbox

Grid View and

List View buttons

Viewer button Thumbnail Resize slider

When you connect a digital camera or select an item in the Import pane, the Import browser appears.

You use the options in the Import browser to specify how and where photos are imported. The Import browser shows thumbnails of your photos that you can enlarge or reduce in size using the Thumbnail Resize slider. You can select individual photos to import or import all the photos

at once. You can also set the Import browser to display photos in a list by clicking the List View

button. In list view, you can click a column heading to sort photos by category. If you are unsure

whether a specic photo should be imported, you can click the Viewer button to inspect a high-

resolution version of the photo.

When you import photos, Aperture automatically checks to see if any of the photos are

duplicates of previously imported photos. Aperture checks the lename of the original to

determine if a photo is a duplicate of one in the library. Select the “Do not import duplicates” checkbox to prevent Aperture from importing duplicates. If this checkbox is unselected, Aperture

imports all photos, even if they are duplicates, and creates a new original with a dierent

name for each duplicate. Aperture never overwrites or replaces an original that has already been imported.

As you import photos, you can set Aperture to automatically name and record information about

them. Aperture can assign lenames using custom naming conventions; record metadata such as captions, keywords, dates, copyright and credit information, and IPTC information; and adjust the time when the photo was shot to the correct time zone. If the photo has an XMP sidecar le, Aperture imports it as well and adds the metadata to the image version. You can even set

Aperture to automatically back up your photos as they are imported. For more information, see

Plan your backup system on page 72.

Chapter 2 Import photos 28

When you import photos, you can choose whether to have the originals stored in the Aperture library or on a hard disk outside of the library, where they can be accessed as referenced images. For more information about referenced images, see What are managed images and referenced

images? on page 24.

Important: Audio les, audio attachments, and PDFs imported into your Aperture library are not

visible when you open your Aperture library in iPhoto. To view and work with these items, open

your Aperture library in Aperture.

File formats you can import into the library

Aperture supports most image, audio, and video le formats captured by digital cameras. File

types and formats that can be imported into your Aperture library include:

•

GIF

•

JPEG

•

JPEG2000

•

PDF

•

PNG

•

PSD (8- and 16-bit)

•

TIFF (8- and 16-bit)

•

BMP

•

DNG

•

RAW les from a variety of supported digital cameras

•

AIF

•

WAV

•

MOV

•

AVCHD

Important: Aperture does not support 1080p AVCHD footage recorded at 60 frames per

second (fps) or 50 fps.

Note: For a list of supported digital cameras, go to http://www.apple.com/aperture/specs.

Plan your import strategy

Before you import photos into Aperture, plan the organization of your photos. Eventually your

photo library may contain thousands of photos that you’ll want organized in a exible and easy-

to-manage system.

You may already have a large digital portfolio that you eventually want to import into the Aperture library. As an import strategy, it’s best to try out importing photos in a series of steps:

•

If you have an iPhoto library, you can open your iPhoto library and work with its contents directly in Aperture. For more information about opening iPhoto libraries in Aperture, see View

other libraries on page 58.

•

Make trial imports of a small group of photos directly from your digital camera or card reader. Learn about import features, such as automatic lenaming and the application of metadata

presets. For information about importing from your digital camera or card reader, see Import

from a camera, card reader, or device on page 30.

Chapter 2 Import photos 29

•

Import pane Import browser

Plan how you want to import your legacy digital photos. Because you may have thousands of image les already stored on disk, you need to decide whether you’ll store newly imported

photos in the Aperture library or store them as referenced images, leaving them in their

current hard disk locations. You can also copy or move image les to a dierent hard disk

location when importing them. Also, plan the project organization you’ll need to hold the

photos. For general information about importing les, see Importing photos overview on

page 27.

•

Try out the dierent methods for importing individual les into your system. You can import individual les, import les stored in folders, and drag les or folders from the

Finder into Aperture.

Import from a camera, card reader, or device

Using the Import browser, you can import photos from a digital camera, card reader, or other device. You can import all photos on the camera or storage device or you can import a selection of photos.

Note: When connecting your camera directly to the computer, make sure that you turn the

camera on and set it to the mode for transferring photos (PC, PTP, Normal, or another mode,

depending on the type of camera). Some cameras automatically select the correct transfer mode

when connected to a computer. See your camera’s manual for specic instructions. If you have a

card reader, it’s preferable to transfer photos using the card reader rather than the camera. Using

a card reader saves you time and doesn’t require the use of your camera’s battery.

Import photos from a camera or card reader

1 Connect your camera or card reader to your computer.

The Import browser appears, showing the photos on the camera or card.

Note: If iPhoto opens when you connect your camera or card reader, quit iPhoto. Then, in Aperture, choose Aperture > Preferences and click Import. Choose Aperture from the “When

a camera is connected, open” pop-up menu. Disconnect and reconnect your camera to have Aperture open the Import browser.

Import Checked button

Chapter 2 Import photos 30

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