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How to Search in Aperture 2

October 15, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

My friend Allison from the Nosillacast podcast emailed me, asking about searching for a specific file name in Aperture 2. I thought it was simple enough because I do it all the time, but when I received her reply asking WHERE is the search, I realized, AH HA! you have to be in a specific view mode to see the search box.

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Aperture 2 Managing Libraries

September 28, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

I am eventually going to run out of space on my Macbook Pro as I import the photos from my iPhoto libraries to Aperture 2.

This means I will have to maintain a smaller library on my MBP (containing current projects), along with a larger library on an external hard drive. Looks like it is pretty easy to do.

I figured out that double-clicking on any library will launch Aperture 2, and I love the idea of creating shortcuts to each library on your desktop or dock for easier access.

Here’s what I learned:
Links for managing multiple Aperture 2 libraries

Editing Aperture 2 Autofill

September 28, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

To add, delete, and edit the autofill contents in Aperture 2, choose
Metadata>Edit Autofill List

Found @ Inside Aperture

I am loving Aperture 2 more and more each day!

Aperture 2 – Inspector on Left or Right

September 27, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

Using Aperture 2 tonight, I was typing a keyword & accidentally hit the “I” key which hid the Inspector.

I don’t know the keyboard shortcuts very well and I somehow must have hit “Shift + I” and the Inspector reappeared but on the opposite right side of my workspace.

At first, I thought okay, let’s give it a try, maybe I will like it on the right side. But after a few minutes, I wanted the inspector back over on the left side. I tried dragging the Inspector, but it didn’t work. Google to the rescue.

http://www.apple.com/aperture/features/100.html

To switch the Inspector on the either side, click “Shift + I”

I really need to find a list of keyboard shortcuts for Aperture 2. Maybe I should try reading the manual, eh? Ha, there is a full pdf list on the Aperture Support page at Apple.

Download the pdf file directly.

Aperture 2 Crashing when Importing from Compact Flash Cards

September 25, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

I have been having a problem w/ Aperture 2 crashing when trying to import photos from my compact flash cards. So, after Aperture 2 crashes, I have to “force quit” and unless I restart or log out/log in, Aperture will not relaunch without crashing again. Very aggravating. It has happened with two different cards, using two different card readers.

Importing works fine if I save all photo files to my hard drive first from the compact flash card.

(Note: it seemed to have started after my last Mac OS X update (10.5.5) but that could be just a coincidence.)

The good news is, I think I found a solution, possibly (hopefully). I erased and reformatted (FAT) each card in Disk Utility, and this morning I was able to import some test shots into Aperture 2 without any issues.

I always format the card in my camera before every new shoot, but I know that doesn’t actually erase everything since photos can still be retrieved after a reformat, so there may be extra gunk lurking. After time, the gunk piles up, and it might just need a thorough cleanup. At least that is my train of thought!! LOL.

I know there are some photographers that say formatting is not necessary, but I have always believed otherwise.

I guess time will tell if my Aperture 2 problem is really fixed.

UPDATE 2008-10-1: I had another problem w/ a card today. I reused a card that had shots already downloaded on it, and I should have formatted it (following my own advice!) I only had a few photos on it; so, after I downloaded them, I stuck the card back in the camera.

UPDATE 2008-10-2: Sigh, I don’t know what is up w/ Aperture now. I can’t import from a card/card reader. It either crashes while trying to read the card, or crashes when I am trying to import from the card. Today, I trashed my preference file (com.apple.Aperture.plist) and allowed Aperture to create a new one. I reset all my preferences and I thought I might have got it working, but it got stuck when trying to read half the photos on the card. Some previews were visible, and the photos toward the end only displayed little square placeholders.

I launched Aperture in my other user account, and the same thing. Only some were displaying previews. I found an article by Tracy Ambrose stating that Aperture chokes on a lot of “different” formats that it doesn’t recognize, and I am wondering if somehow that is what is happening to me. I don’t understand why though, since all I have on the cards are RAW files. It imports them just fine when I import from my hard drive (downloaded from card)

I also found an article on Inside Aperture which recommends to delete any color pickers from your ~/Library/Color Pickers/ directory. I don’t think that would have any affect on me, since my other user account is having the same problem, and there are no color pickers in my Library there.

I will keep looking, but I guess until I find an answer, I will have to import from my hard drive. What a pain!!

UPDATE 2008-11-9: After Apple released the RAW bundle update 2.3, Aperture 2 seems to be working better. Installed the other day, and no problems so far with importing.

Aperture 2 Tip: Selecting Multiple Photo Files

September 19, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

Most Mac users know that they can select multiple files either by using the Shift key or the Command (Apple) key, but did you know in Aperture 2, you can select both consecutive and non-consecutive files by using both keys.

For example, I have 50 files. I can choose the first file, then hold down the shift key to select any sequential files following that file. I can also hold down the Command key to select a non-consecutive file….and the cool part is that I can then again hold down the shift key to select more consecutive files.

It sounds confusing, but try it.

I love Aperture 2. Oh and my “official” copy arrived today from Amazon.

Ordered Apple Aperture 2

September 13, 2008 by debbie T | Aperture 2 • Art and Graphics • Digital Photography • Mac Software

UPDATE 2008-09-19: My official Aperture 2 software arrived from Amazon tonight. I haven’t opened the box yet though.

Yay, I ordered Aperture 2 from Amazon.com tonight

I have been messing around with the trial for a few days (again) and I am really enjoying it. I thought about Adobe Lightroom, and I read some articles & watched a few tutorials, but I just don’t think I would be happy with the interface and workflow.

I know it’s kind of silly to judge Lightroom without even actually using it, but I just don’t have the time to learn two apps when all I need is one. So, I picked Aperture 2. I think it will pair well with Photoshop Elements 6.

Plus, all of my files are organized in iPhoto. Originals, modified, keywords, descriptions, etc. It will be much easier to import into Aperture, while keeping my meta data and modified versions intact. With Lightroom, I would have to create new keywords and descriptions, and import each of my modified photos; that would be very time consuming since iPhoto creates a new jpg for every RAW file whether its actually modified or not. Oh and that is the reason I am switching from iPhoto in the first place. I am drowning in files. I calculated that iPhoto grabs approximately 4gb of file space for every 3gb in original files. It’s just getting to be too consuming, so a change was needed.

Since I ordered Aperture 2 with free shipping at Amazon, it will take its sweet time getting here. It’s supposed to ship next week on the 17th, so probably the week after, I will receive it. I am looking forward to learning more about Aperture. I will probably sign up for a months subscription over at Lynda.com. They have what looks to be a good series of video tutorials for Aperture 2.