Aperture 3.
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Contents 12 12 13 15 19 19 20 20 21 21 23 23 24 25 25 26 Chapter 1: Aperture basics 27 27 29 29 30 36 36 36 37 40 40 41 41 42 43 44 44 45 46 47 48 49 49 Chapter 2: Import photos What is Aperture? Aperture workflow overview Aperture interface overview Basic components of Aperture Basic components overview What are originals? What are versions? What are projects? What are albums? What are folders? What is the library? What are managed images and referenced images? What is the Aperture Trash? What is a
51 51 51 53 54 55 56 56 58 58 58 59 61 61 61 64 64 66 66 67 67 72 72 73 75 76 76 Chapter 3: Work with projects and the library 78 78 80 80 81 82 83 83 84 85 87 88 88 89 89 90 91 91 92 92 93 95 95 Chapter 4: Organize and sort photos Organize items in the Library inspector Library inspector overview Create and name items Open and close items in the Library inspector Arrange items in the Library inspector Create and show favorite items Work with the Aperture Trash Work with library files Create new libra
96 97 98 98 98 100 101 104 105 105 108 110 114 118 121 122 122 123 123 123 125 127 130 131 131 133 138 139 142 143 143 144 146 150 150 151 152 154 155 155 156 159 159 160 160 160 Work with stacked photos Compare photos in stacks Work with stacks in list view Rate photos Rating photos overview Rating workflow Rate and compare photos Sort photos by rating Add keywords to photos Keywords overview View a photo’s keywords Apply keywords using the Keywords HUD Apply keywords using keyword controls and keyword pr
162 162 162 164 164 166 167 168 170 171 172 172 172 174 175 177 178 179 180 181 181 182 184 185 185 186 188 190 Chapter 5: View and compare photos 193 193 196 196 198 201 201 202 203 206 206 206 208 210 210 211 212 213 214 214 215 216 Chapter 6: Work with metadata View photos in the Viewer Viewer overview Change the number of photos in the Viewer Compare photos View photos at full resolution View original photos Work with audio and video in the Viewer View photos on multiple displays Show hot and cold
217 217 219 220 220 223 223 224 225 225 228 231 232 235 237 238 238 239 239 240 241 241 242 245 250 258 259 262 263 264 265 266 270 273 276 282 292 295 303 308 309 310 311 313 315 315 316 317 318 319 Chapter 7: Make image adjustments Adjustments in Aperture About making adjustments onscreen Use the adjustment controls Use the Adjustments inspector and Inspector HUD Use sliders Work with adjustment tools in the tool strip Use the brush controls Ways to perform adjustments Apply standard adjustments Apply b
320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 327 328 334 334 335 335 336 337 338 338 339 342 344 344 345 346 Brush the Tint adjustment on an image Brush the Contrast adjustment on an image Brush the Saturation adjustment on an image Brush the Definition adjustment on an image Brush the Vibrancy adjustment on an image Brush the Blur adjustment on an image Brush the Sharpen adjustment on an image Brush the Halo Reduction adjustment on an image Brush the Noise Reduction adjustment on an image Create and apply effects Adju
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 effects
431 Create and share custom themes 432 Copy a book album 432 Order books from third-party print vendors using plug-ins 434 434 434 434 436 437 438 439 439 440 441 441 441 442 443 444 445 448 449 449 450 456 458 460 461 463 463 463 466 467 468 468 470 471 473 Chapter 12: Share photos online Sharing photos overview Use iCloud to keep photos up to date across your devices My Photo Stream overview Set up your iCloud account Turn on My Photo Stream for an Aperture library Automatically transfer photos between
483 483 484 485 487 488 488 490 492 494 494 495 495 495 496 496 497 497 498 iCloud preferences Accounts preferences Advanced preferences Customize the toolbar Use gestures with Aperture Customize keyboard shortcuts Customizing keyboard shortcuts overview Search for commands and keyboard shortcuts Modify keyboard shortcuts and command sets Work with preview images Preview images overview How Aperture displays photos in the Viewer Set preview preferences Automatically manage previews Manually manage previews
Aperture basics 1 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.
•• Process your photos nondestructively. Aperture protects your original image files and uses built-in safeguards to help ensure that you don’t accidentally overwrite or modify originals. •• Automatically back up copies of your image files 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.
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 find.
Aperture interface overview Here are the main areas of the Aperture window: Toolbar: Perform common tasks and select a workspace view. Inspectors: Access the library, view photo information, and adjust photos. Chapter 1 Aperture basics Browser: View thumbnails of photos in the item selected in the Library inspector. Viewer: View the photo or photos selected in the Browser.
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.
The Browser layout displays a grid of thumbnail images. Layout buttons: Click a button to select a main window layout. Browser layout: The Browser fills the workspace and displays a grid of thumbnail images. 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.
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 configuration 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.
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 configured 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.
What are originals? Originals are the original digital RAW, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, DNG, PNG, audio, or video files 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 files—tend to be quite large. Projects consisting of several thousand originals require high-capacity hard disks.
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.
•• 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 specific 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.
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.
•• Move a library to another location: When the library file 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 file 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.
You can also relocate originals, moving them out of the library or moving referenced originals to different 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 offline images.
Open Aperture for the first time The first 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.
2 Import photos Importing photos overview Aperture provides tools and workflow 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 files. In Aperture you can open, view, and work with iPhoto libraries the same way you work with multiple Aperture library files.
You can import originals directly from a digital camera or card reader and from your hard disk drives. “Do not import 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.
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 files, audio attachments, and PDFs imported into your Aperture library are not visible when you open your Aperture library in iPhoto.
•• Plan how you want to import your legacy digital photos. Because you may have thousands of image files 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 files to a different hard disk location when importing them. Also, plan the project organization you’ll need to hold the photos.
2 Do one of the following: •• If you want to import the photos into a new, empty project: Choose New Project from the Destination pop-up menu to create a new project, and enter a name for the project in the Project Name field. Project Name field •• If you want to import the photos into an existing project: Select the project in the Library inspector. The project selected in the Library inspector appears here.
5 Do one of the following: Check All button Uncheck All button •• To import all photos from the camera or card reader: Click the Check All button. The checkboxes for all the photos in the Import browser are selected. •• To import a subset of photos from the camera or card reader: Click the Uncheck All button to clear the checkboxes for all photos, then select the checkboxes for the photos you want to import.
Import files from a storage device You can import image, audio, and video files stored on your computer and other storage devices. You have a choice of storing the imported files in the Aperture library, or importing the files as referenced image, audio, and video files and then moving or copying them to a different location. Note: If you have folders of photos to import, you can import them using the Import Folders as Projects command in the File menu.
4 Do one of the following: •• If you want to import the files into a new, empty project: Choose New Project from the Destination pop-up menu to create a new project, then enter a name for the project in the Project Name field. Project Name field •• If you want to import files into an existing project: Select the project in the Library inspector. The project selected in the Library inspector appears here.
•• To import a subset of files from the selected folder: Click the Uncheck All button to clear the checkboxes for all photos, then select the checkboxes for the photos you want to import. Note: Depending on your camera type, you may be able to double-click a thumbnail image to see a larger version of the photo if you want to verify its contents before importing it. Double-click the photo again to return to the thumbnail image view.
Add import options Import options overview You can use import options to: •• Store imported photos in the Aperture library or select a different location on your hard disk and import the photos as referenced images •• Have Aperture automatically delete the image files on your memory card after the photos are imported •• Have Aperture automatically split the photos into multiple projects based on the length of time between shots •• Have Aperture automatically back up photos as they are imported •• D
Automatically name imported photos The filenames given to photos by the camera are often difficult to distinguish. When you import photos, you can have Aperture use the original name assigned by the camera or use a filenaming convention that you choose or create. For example, you can use a name format that includes a name that you specify, plus the date, the time, and an index number.
Name files during import automatically 1 In the Import browser, choose Rename Files from the Import Settings pop-up menu. The Rename Files controls appear in the Import browser. 2 Do one of the following: •• To apply a preset name format to your files as they are imported: Choose a preset name format from the Version Name pop-up menu. •• To use the existing filenames: Choose None from the Version Name pop-up menu.
Create a custom name format In addition to the preset name formats, you can create custom name formats. To create a name format, you select the name elements you want in the File Naming dialog. 1 In the Import browser, choose Rename Files from the Import Settings pop-up menu, then choose Edit from the Version Name pop-up menu. The File Naming dialog appears. 2 Click the Add button (+) to create a new name format, or select the preset name format you want to change.
Adjust time zone data at import On a trip, it’s easy to forget to update your camera’s clock to match the local time zone. If you didn’t synchronize your camera time to the new location, Aperture lets you correct the time assigned to the image file by whole hours when importing. Adjust time zone data during import 1 In the Import browser, choose Time Zone from the Import Settings pop-up menu. The Time Zone controls appear in the Import browser.
3 Do one of the following: •• To add metadata to the photo while maintaining any associated metadata: Click Append. •• To add metadata and overwrite any associated metadata: Click Replace. When you choose a metadata preset, Aperture displays the list of metadata fields and metadata for that preset. You can edit the metadata preset to store any metadata that you want to apply frequently to your photos using the Info inspector. For more information, see Create metadata presets on page 210.
2 Do any of the following: •• To exclude image files, leaving only audio and video files available for import: Select the “Exclude photos” checkbox. •• To exclude video files during import: Select the “Exclude videos” checkbox. •• To exclude audio files during import: Select the “Exclude audio files” checkbox. •• To exclude all audio files attached to the photos: Select the “Exclude audio attachments” checkbox.
Import the RAW files that match the JPEG files already in your Aperture library If you imported the JPEG image files only, you can go back and import the corresponding RAW files later. 1 Choose “Matching RAW files” from the Import pop-up menu. The Include pop-up menu appears below the Import pop-up menu. 2 Choose an option from the Include pop-up menu: •• To import all matching RAW files regardless of rating: Choose “All matching files.
Automatically back up files at import Creating copies of your photos from the moment you take them is essential to the preservation of your work. In Aperture, you can back up your original files as they are imported, using the Back Up Files import option. Backing up your image, video, and audio files at import ensures that if something catastrophic happens to your computer system, copies of your original files are stored somewhere safe.
Import folders of files from the Finder If you’ve spent time organizing your image, video, and audio files into a meaningful hierarchy on your computer and you want to keep that organization, you can import a folder of files as a project or drag it directly into the Library inspector. When you import a folder of files or drag it into the Library inspector, the top folder becomes a folder in the Library inspector and any subfolders become projects within the folder.
Drag folders into Aperture When you drag folders into the Library inspector, Aperture uses the last import settings you specified to determine how the folders are imported and where they are stored. 1 In the Finder, locate the folder containing the folders, video files, and audio files you want to import. 2 Drag the folder to the Library inspector.
Reset the starting number of a counter in a folder name format When using a counter in your folder name format, you can specify the starting number and the number of digits, from one to six, that appear in the counter. When you use a folder name format with a counter, reset the initial starting number. Otherwise, on the next import, Aperture will continue numbering the image folders starting from the last number of the previous import.
Add audio attachments to image files Although the audio files of photos with audio attachments are automatically imported into Aperture when the filenames match, you can also manually attach an audio file to a photo after it has been imported into Aperture. There are two ways to attach an audio file to a photo. If the project selected in the Library inspector contains an original audio file, you can attach the audio file to a photo in the project using the Info inspector.
Remove an attachment from a photo 1 In the Browser, select the photo whose attachment you want to remove. 2 In the Info inspector, choose Detach Audio File from the Metadata Action pop-up menu. The audio file is detached and placed in the same project as the photo it was attached to. Where Aperture stores your managed files in the library You can always view and work with your photos within the Aperture application.
Because reprocessing a large number of photos can be a time-consuming process, you may find it easier to reprocess photos on an as-needed basis. For example, if you have five-star selects, you may decide to initially reprocess only those photos. Photos are not affected by being reprocessed more than once; if a photo already uses the most current image processing, reprocessing it has no effect.
Work with projects and the library 3 Organize items in the Library inspector Library inspector overview The Library inspector provides access to items tracked by the Aperture library, such as projects and albums, and different views of the contents of the library. For example, you can select Faces in the Library inspector to view your photos grouped by the people in them, or Places to view your photos grouped by where they were taken.
Library category The Library category contains icons that, when selected, display your photos organized in any of four different ways: •• Projects: Select the Projects icon to have all the projects in the library appear in Projects view in place of the Browser and Viewer. Each project is represented by a single thumbnail. You can position the pointer over a project thumbnail and drag to quickly skim the photos in the project.
•• Last Import: Select this item to see all photos, video clips, and audio clips imported into Aperture during the last import session. Select a thumbnail in the Browser to view it or listen to it in the Viewer. •• Flagged: Select this item to see all the photos, video clips, and audio clips in the library that have been flagged. The thumbnails for all flagged media appear in the Browser. Select a thumbnail in the Browser to view it or listen to it in the Viewer.
Aperture prompts you to name new projects, albums, and Light Table albums before adding them to the Library inspector. Aperture immediately adds new folders, Smart Albums, and Smart Web Page Albums to the Library inspector with the item’s “Untitled” name highlighted so that you can rename them as you create them. When you create a new book, slideshow, web journal, or webpage, Aperture prompts you to choose a theme in addition to a name before adding the item to the Library inspector.
Open additional items in the Browser, each with its own tab mm Option-Command-click an item in the Library inspector. The newly opened item appears in the Browser with its own tab, in front of any other open items. Open another item in its own pane mm Option-click an item in the Library inspector. Library items are identified by their tabs. The newly opened item appears in the Browser with its own tab and in its own pane. Switch among several open items mm In the Browser, click a project’s tab.
Move an item in the Library inspector mm Select an item in the Library inspector, and drag it to a new location. The black box indicates where the item will be placed. A black bar indicates where the item will be placed. Move multiple items in the Library inspector Do one of the following: mm Shift-click adjacent items, and drag them to a new location. mm Command-click nonadjacent items, and drag them to a new location.
Delete a version from a project mm Select a photo, a video clip, or an audio clip, and choose File > Delete Version. The version is moved to the Trash, along with the original if you deleted its last version. Delete an original and all its versions from a project mm Select a photo, a video clip, or an audio clip, and choose File > Delete Original Image and All Versions. The original and all versions are moved to the Trash.
Work with library files Create new libraries If the Aperture library becomes large, you can create additional, separate library files to hold more photos. You can create additional library files in different locations on your internal hard disk or on different hard disks. You can also rename library files as needed. Thus, you might have multiple library files with different names in the same location, with Aperture set to access the library file you want.
3 In the dialog that appears, select the library you want to open from the list, and click Choose. Note: You must close iPhoto before opening your iPhoto library in Aperture. Aperture opens the library you selected. Choose which library to use while opening Aperture 1 Hold down the Option key while opening Aperture. A dialog appears, with options for selecting an existing library or creating a new one.
Transfer folders, projects, and albums from one computer to another 1 In the Library inspector, select the items you want to transfer, and choose File > Export > Items as New Library. Note: Items in the Export menu change depending on what is selected. If you have a single item, such as an album, selected in the Library inspector, choose File > Export > Album as New Library. 2 Enter a name and choose a location for the exported library.
Add the contents of the library from the second computer without overwriting the contents of the library on the first computer If you don’t want to overwrite the original projects and albums you exported from the first computer with the projects and albums you modified on the second computer, you can add the modified projects and albums to the library on the first computer as unique items. 1 Transfer the modified library from the second computer to the first computer.
Preview the photos in a project quickly In Projects view, do one of the following: mm Slowly drag the pointer horizontally across the project’s thumbnail. mm Select the project’s thumbnail, and use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to navigate through the photos in the project. Set the key photo for a project You can set any photo within a project as the key photo displayed in Projects view.
View and change project information in the Info HUD In Projects view, you can use the Info HUD to add descriptive information about a project and change the project’s key photo (the thumbnail image that represents the project). 1 If the Aperture main window is not in Projects view, select Projects at the top of the Library inspector. 2 To open the Info HUD for a project, click the Info button on a project’s thumbnail.
Create and delete projects You can create new projects and delete projects in Projects view. Create a new project 1 In Projects view, do one of the following: •• Choose File > New > Project (or press Command-N). •• Control-click a project, and choose New > Project from the shortcut menu. •• Choose Project from the New pop-up menu in the toolbar. 2 In the dialog that appears, enter a name for the project in the Project Name field. 3 Click OK. The new, empty project opens in the Browser.
Group projects by year or by folder mm To group projects by year: Click the Group by Year button at the top of Projects view. mm To group projects by folder: Click the Group by Folder button at the top of Projects view. When you group projects by year or by folder, the number of projects and photos for each year or folder is displayed in the top-right corner of each group’s row. Click the adjacent arrow button to display projects for a single year or folder only.
Import photos into projects You can import files, as well as Aperture projects and libraries, into a project selected in Projects view. Import files into a project In Projects view, do one of the following: mm Select a project’s thumbnail, and choose File > Import > Files (or press Command-I). mm Control-click a project, and choose Import > Files from the shortcut menu. The Import browser appears with the project selected in the Destination pop-up menu.
Duplicate a project structure If you routinely use the same project structure populated with the same types of albums and folders, you can duplicate the structure of an existing project and create a new, empty project with the same arrangement of albums and folders. If the project you’re duplicating has Smart Albums, the settings for those Smart Albums are duplicated as well. For more information about Smart Albums, see Collect photos in a new Smart Album on page 156.
When you delete a referenced original from Aperture, you can specify whether the photo’s version is placed in the Aperture Trash. When you empty the Aperture Trash, the link to the original is deleted, but the original remains in its current location in the Finder. Identify referenced images After you import referenced images, you can identify them in the Browser by turning on referenced image badge overlays.
The Referenced Files In Selection dialog appears. This column shows the names of hard disks where referenced originals are located. This column identifies the hard disk location of the referenced originals. The specific photo and metadata to help you identify the file are displayed here. These columns identify how many originals for referenced images are on the hard disk, and how many are not found.
Reconnect offline referenced images If you disconnected a hard disk drive that holds referenced image’s originals, you can reconnect the drive to your computer, and Aperture automatically reconnects the originals. If a photo is offline or modified in some way that makes it unrecognizable as the original referenced image, you can still select it and have Aperture reconnect the original.
Move originals for referenced images to a new location You can easily move referenced originals to new locations on the same hard disk or a different hard disk. 1 In the Browser, select the referenced images whose originals you want to move. 2 Choose File > Relocate Originals. 3 Select a folder location in the dialog that appears. 4 To specify that the files be stored as separate, individual files in the selected folder, choose None from the Subfolders pop-up menu.
4 Deselect any checkboxes that aren’t part of your query, and choose a file status from the “File status” pop-up menu. Select the “File status” checkbox and choose the file status you want to search for. 5 Choose Any from the pop-up menu in the top-left corner. The photos that match the search criteria appear in the Browser. Back up the library Plan your backup system As you begin working with Aperture, it’s important to perform regular backups of your photos.
A typical backup system used with Aperture might look like the following: Aperture library (internal disk) Vault (external disk) Office Vault (kept offsite and updated regularly) Remote location This system backs up the Aperture library to two vaults stored on external hard disks. You routinely back up the library on one external hard disk. You use the second hard disk as a backup that you keep offsite.
Create a new vault 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > Vault > Add Vault. •• Choose Add Vault from the Vault Action pop-up menu below the Library inspector. Vault Action pop-up menu A dialog appears, listing the number of managed files that will be backed up to the vault and the number of referenced files that will not be included. 2 Click Continue. 3 In the Add Vault dialog, enter a name for the vault, choose a location to save it, and click Add. The new, empty vault appears in the Vault pane.
Permanently remove a vault and delete its information You can delete an entire vault and all the photos on it when you need to reconfigure your backup system. This is useful when you have moved your backup vault to a larger-capacity hard disk and you want to delete the vault information from the current hard disk drive to use it for other purposes. 1 In the Vault pane, select the vault you want to remove. 2 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > Vault > Remove Vault.
Restore your Aperture library If you experience equipment failure or other unexpected events, such as fire or weather-related damage to your computer, you can easily restore your Aperture library from a vault stored on a backup disk. You can also use the backup disk to transfer your library to another computer that has Aperture installed. Restore the entire library from an external backup disk 1 Connect the hard disk drive that contains the most up-to-date vault to your computer, and open Aperture.
3 Do one of the following: •• To repair the permissions of the files within your Aperture library: Select Repair Permissions. This option should be used when Aperture can’t access some of the image files within the database or is unable to open the library. The Repair Permissions option reviews each file in your Aperture library and sets the read-and-write access of each file where appropriate, allowing Aperture to access the files again.
4 Organize and sort photos Browser overview After a shoot, you may need to sort through hundreds or even thousands of photos in a project. Aperture provides efficient methods for increasing your productivity when working with large numbers of photos. When you select a project, a folder, or an album in the Library inspector, thumbnails of its photos appear in the Browser. You select photos in the Browser to work with them.
In the Browser, you can display thumbnails in any of three views: •• Filmstrip view: Displays a single row of photos that you can select and navigate through. Viewer Browser in filmstrip view •• Grid view: Displays thumbnails of your photos in a grid pattern. Use grid view when it’s easiest to identify your photos by sight and work with thumbnails as you organize, stack, or assign keywords to photos. •• List view: Displays a list of your photos with associated file information.
Navigate through and select photos Navigate through photos in the Browser You can select one or more thumbnail-size photos in the Browser, and then modify them in the Browser or see them in a larger format in the Viewer. Photos selected in the Browser are highlighted with a white border. When you select a group of photos, the most recently selected photo, called the primary selection, appears with a thicker white border than the other selected photos. All selected photos display a white border.
Select photos Selecting photos in the Browser is a fundamental task in Aperture. Knowing the many ways you can select photos can help increase your productivity and satisfaction while working with your photos. You can select photos in the following ways. Task Action Select a single photo •• •• Select a range of photos •• •• •• •• •• Click the photo. Press the arrow keys to navigate to the photo.
Navigate through photos in Quick Preview mode As you work with photos in the Browser and Viewer, you can set Aperture to display JPEG representations of the photos called previews. Because the preview’s file size is smaller than that of the original photo, Aperture can display the photo more quickly. For example, the thumbnails in the Browser are preview representations of the originals, reduced to thumbnail size.
Change the Browser view Work with photos in filmstrip view Filmstrip view, the default view for the Browser, displays the photos in your selection in the Library inspector as a strip of thumbnails under the Viewer. You can use filmstrip view in combination with the Viewer to quickly scroll from photo to photo, making changes and comparing photos. For example, you can select several photos in a row, group them in a stack, apply ratings, and compare them side by side in the Viewer.
Work with photos in grid view Grid view displays the photos in your selection in the Library inspector as a grid of thumbnails in the Browser. You can use grid view when you want to review large thumbnail photos quickly. Setting the Aperture main window to show the Browser by itself provides the maximum amount of space to dedicate to viewing thumbnails. You may want to adjust the size of the thumbnails to a size convenient for selecting and working with them.
Lighten or darken the background of the Browser Depending on your work preferences, you may want to lighten or darken the background that your thumbnails appear against in the Browser. The darker the background, the less it interferes with the colors in your photo. It’s a good idea to set the background to a dark color when performing color adjustments to your photo. You can darken the background from shades of gray all the way to black, or lighten it from gray to white.
4 Specify the type of metadata that appears in list view by selecting the checkboxes corresponding to each type (and deselecting the checkboxes for metadata items you want to remove). Each metadata item selected in the Metadata Fields column in the Browser & Viewer Metadata dialog appears as a column in list view. 5 If necessary, rearrange the order in which the metadata columns are displayed by dragging the metadata items up or down in the Display Order column.
Sort photos in list view by a category One of the main advantages of list view is that you can quickly sort photos based on a category of information. When you click a column heading in list view, Aperture reorders the photos, sorting them by that category. For example, you might sort your photos by date. mm Click the category column heading in the Browser.
Set up and arrange photos Rearrange and sort photos in the Browser As you work with photos in the Browser, you can move and rearrange them into any order or grouping you like. For example, you might want to keep all related photos of a wedding project, such as the cake cutting, in close proximity to allow you to easily sort through the best ones and then adjust them. You can drag photos to new locations in the Browser.
Rotate photos When photos are imported into a project, some may be displayed in an incorrect orientation, requiring you to rotate them. The tool strip provides a Rotate tool for rotating selected photos counterclockwise. You can rotate photos individually or select a group and rotate them all at once. You can also select photos and quickly rotate them using keyboard shortcuts.
Delete photos from the Browser If necessary, you can delete versions and even originals. When deleting photos, you can: •• Remove a version of the photo from an album, leaving any other versions in their original locations in the library •• Delete versions from within a stack •• Delete a version from a project •• Delete originals Remove a version from an album mm Select the version and choose Photos > Remove From Album (or press Delete).
Recover a deleted photo If you accidentally delete a photo you meant to keep, and you can’t recover it by choosing Undo, you may be able to recover it from the Aperture Trash. 1 In the Library inspector, select Trash. All photos currently in the Aperture Trash are displayed in the Browser. 2 Do one of the following: •• Drag the photo you accidentally deleted back to its original project. •• Control-click the accidentally deleted photo and choose Put Back from the submenu.
Copy a photo into a different album mm Drag the photo into another album in the Library inspector. Move a photo into a different project mm Drag the photo into another project in the Library inspector. Copy a photo into a different project mm Option-drag the photo into another project in the Library inspector. You can also drag photos out of Smart Albums. If you drag a photo from a Smart Album into another album, the version is copied to the new location.
After creating a stack and selecting the pick, you can close the stack by clicking the Stack button on the pick photo. When a stack is closed, only the stack’s pick photo appears in the Browser. Clicking the Stack button again expands the stack. Only the pick photo is shown when the stack is closed. By closing stacks, you quickly reduce the number of photos you have to visually sort through when selecting photos in the final photo edit. After creating stacks, you can organize and change them as needed.
3 In the Auto-Stack Images HUD, drag the slider to specify the maximum interval for successive shots in a stack. Move the slider to indicate the maximum interval for successive shots. As you drag the slider, the photos in the Browser are stacked according to the interval of time specified. For example, if you typically shoot a series of related photos in 15-second intervals, set the slider to 15 seconds. 4 Inspect the stacks to determine if the time interval should be shortened or lengthened.
Open and close stacks You can close a stack and open it again whenever you wish. You may want to do this to free up space in the Browser. You can also close stacks to quickly reduce the number of photos you must sort through visually when selecting photos for a final photo edit. When a stack is closed, only the stack’s pick photo appears in the Browser. Close or open a stack mm To close a stack: Select an open stack, then choose Stacks > Close Stack (or press Shift-K).
Work with stacked photos You can change the order of photos in a stack, add or remove photos in a stack, split a stack into multiple stacks, and drag a stack (or photos within a stack) to a new location. Promote a photo in a stack You can change the order of photos within a stack to help you choose the pick and alternates. Moving a photo to the left promotes it; moving it to the right demotes it. mm To promote a photo: Select a photo, then choose Stacks > Promote, or press Command–Left Bracket ([).
Drag a stack to a new location mm With the stack closed, drag the stack to a new location in the browser. The entire stack is relocated. You can also drag photos into or out of a stack. However, if you drag a photo within a stack into a new project, the entire stack moves to the new location.
Set the alternate photo as the stack pick photo mm Press Command–Backslash (\). The photo moves to the far left of the stack, becoming the pick photo. Stop comparing photos in a stack Do one of the following: mm Press Command-Return. mm Choose another option from the View > Main Viewer menu. mm Select a photo in the Browser that is not in a stack. Work with stacks in list view If you prefer, you can create and work with stacks in list view.
Aperture provides a system for rating photos from Select to Reject. The easily decipherable photo ratings appear on the photos themselves as overlays. Positive ratings appear as stars; you can rate photos from one to five stars, with five being the highest, or Select, rating. A negative, or Reject, rating appears as an X. Five stars indicate the highest rating (Select). Stars indicate a positive rating. An X indicates a negative rating (Reject).
Rating workflow You can use photo rating as part of your workflow to help reduce a large group of photos to a smaller group of preferred photos. Sometimes you can accomplish the selection process in one pass, especially if the group of photos is small. If the group is large, additional rating and culling passes may be necessary. Rating photos with multiple passes can allow you to take a measured approach to the photo editing process.
11 Specify a rating that is equal to five stars in the Filter HUD. Only the photos rated Select remain visible in the Browser. Now you can focus on those photos that deserve your attention. You can also set up a series of Smart Albums in a project, where each Smart Album represents a rating from Reject to Select. As you rate your photos in the project, the Smart Albums gather the photos with matching ratings.
Rate an individual photo using the rating buttons in the control bar 1 Select a photo. 2 To show the control bar, choose Window > Show Control Bar (or press D). 3 Click the rating buttons in the control bar to assign a rating. Reject Decrease Rating Increase Rating Select •• To assign the highest rating to the photo: Click the Select button. •• To assign a rating of Reject: Click the Reject button. •• To increase or decrease the photo rating: Click the Increase Rating or Decrease Rating button.
The compare photo appears in the Viewer and the Browser with a green border. The next selected photo appears with a white border immediately to the right of the compare photo. If you want to view another photo against the compare photo, simply select it. The alternate photo you selected appears to the right of the compare photo in the Viewer. The compare photo has a green border. The alternate photo has a white border.
6 Navigate to the next alternate by pressing the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key or by clicking the left arrow or right arrow button in the control bar. The new alternate appears in the Browser with a white border. If you discover that the new selection is a better choice or has the best rating, you can make it the compare photo by pressing Return or choosing Edit > Set Compare Item. You can then review and compare your alternates against this photo to confirm it as the best photo.
2 Select the Rating checkbox. Make sure this checkbox is selected, then choose an option from the pop-up menu. Set the slider to a rating. 3 Choose an option from the Rating pop-up menu. •• To show photos with a specific rating only: Choose “is.” •• To show photos with a specific rating or better: Choose “is greater than or equal to.” •• To show photos with a specific rating or worse: Choose “is less than or equal to.” 4 Drag the Rating slider to specify a rating.
After you’ve applied keywords to your photos, you can have Aperture display a photo’s keywords in the Viewer and Browser. You can also view keywords for selected photos in the Info inspector. Keywords assigned to a photo You can use the Smart Settings HUD to quickly locate photos by their keywords, and you can use Smart Albums to automatically group photos that have specific keywords assigned.
There are several ways to apply keywords: •• Using the Keywords HUD Close button Search field Keyword list Keyword group Remove Keyword button Add Subordinate Keyword button Add Keyword button Lock button •• Using keyword controls, presets, and the keyword field in the control bar Keyword controls •• Using the Lift and Stamp tools via the Lift & Stamp HUD Lift tool in the tool strip Stamp tool in the tool strip •• Using the Info inspector Metadata View pop-up menu Add keywords here.
For more information about turning on metadata overlays in the Viewer and Browser, see Metadata overlays overview on page 201. You can also view a photo’s keywords using metadata tooltips—floating info windows that appear when you position the pointer over a photo in the Browser or Viewer. You turn metadata tooltips on and off by pressing Control-T.
View a photo’s keywords using the Info pane of the Inspector HUD 1 Show the Info pane of the Inspector HUD by choosing Window > Show Inspector HUD (or pressing H), then click the Info button. 2 Choose a metadata view that includes keywords, such as General or Caption & Keywords, from the Metadata View pop-up menu. Choose a metadata view from the Metadata View pop-up menu. Keywords field 3 Select a photo to see its keywords.
Apply keywords using the Keywords HUD The Keywords HUD provides an efficient way to apply keywords to photos. You simply drag keywords to any photo or selection of photos in the Viewer or Browser. Keyword list Keyword group The Keywords HUD contains a predefined library of keywords that you can browse and search. You can also add new keywords, remove keywords, and create keyword groups.
•• To search for a keyword: Type the keyword you’re looking for in the Keywords HUD search field. Enter a keyword in the search field. 3 To select the keyword or multiple keywords you want to apply, do one of the following: •• Click to select a single keyword in the list. •• Hold down the Shift key while pressing the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to select several keywords. •• Shift-click a group of adjacent keywords. •• Command-click nonadjacent keywords.
Add new keywords to the keyword library 1 To show the Keywords HUD, do one of the following: •• Choose Window > Show Keywords HUD (or press Shift-H). •• Click the Keywords button in the toolbar. The Keywords HUD appears. 2 Click the Add Keyword button. A new, untitled keyword appears in the keyword list. A new, untitled keyword appears in the keyword list. Click the Add Keyword button to add a new keyword. 3 Type a name for the new keyword, then press Return.
Add keywords to a keyword group 1 In the Keywords HUD, select the keyword group to which you want to add a keyword. 2 Do one of the following: •• Click the Add Subordinate Keyword button, type the new keyword, then press Return. A new, untitled keyword appears in this list within the keyword group. Click the Add Subordinate Keyword button to add a keyword within a keyword group. •• Drag an existing keyword into the keyword group.
2 Do one of the following: •• Click the Remove Keyword button. •• Press the Delete key. The selected keyword is removed. The next keyword in the list is automatically selected. Click the Remove Keyword button to remove a keyword. If the keyword you are attempting to remove is assigned to any photo in your library, a dialog appears, indicating the number of times it’s being used. If you still want to remove the keyword, click “Remove from all versions.
Show the keyword controls in the control bar mm Choose Window > Show Keyword Controls (or press Shift-D). Keyword buttons showing individual keywords assigned to Option-1 through Option-8 Add Keyword field Keyword Preset Group pop-up menu The following keyword controls appear: •• Keyword buttons: These buttons display the preset keywords in the selected keyword preset group.
Add a preset keyword to a photo 1 Select the photo to which you want to assign a keyword. 2 In the control bar, choose a keyword preset group from the Keyword Preset Group pop-up menu. 3 Do one of the following: •• Choose Metadata > Add Keyword, then choose the keyword you want from the submenu. •• Press Option and a number key from 1 to 8 to assign one of the first eight keywords. •• Click a keyword button in the control bar.
Create a keyword preset group and assign keywords to it 1 In the control bar, choose Edit Buttons from the Keyword Preset Group pop-up menu. Choose Edit Buttons to add a new keyword preset group. The Edit Button Sets dialog appears. The Name column on the left lists the keyword preset groups that already exist. When you select a keyword preset group in this column, the keywords included in the group appear in the center Contents column.
3 Type a name for the new keyword preset group, then press Return. 4 Drag keywords from the Keywords Library column to the Contents column. Add Keyword button If you wish, you can select multiple keywords and drag them to the Contents column at the same time. Hold down the Shift key while pressing the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to select several keywords, Shift-click to select adjacent keywords, or Command-click to select nonadjacent keywords.
Lift all the keywords from a photo and stamp them onto another photo or group of photos 1 Select a photo. 2 Select the Lift tool (or press O). Lift tool in the tool strip Stamp tool in the tool strip The Lift & Stamp HUD appears. All information for the selected image appears here. All the photo’s metadata, such as applied adjustments, rating, and keywords, appears in the Lift & Stamp HUD. 3 Deselect all checkboxes except for Keywords, or select items in the HUD and press Delete to remove them.
Stamp a reduced selection of keywords onto a photo In many cases, you do not want to copy all keywords from one photo and paste them onto another. For this reason, you can select specific keywords that apply to the photo you want to stamp them on. 1 Select a photo. 2 Select the Lift tool (or press O). Lift tool in the tool strip Stamp tool in the tool strip The Lift & Stamp HUD appears. 3 In the Lift & Stamp HUD, deselect all image information checkboxes except for Keywords.
You can also lift RAW Fine Tuning parameter values from one RAW image and stamp them onto another. RAW Fine Tuning adjustments are included in lift and stamp operations by default. If you don’t want to lift and stamp RAW Fine Tuning adjustments, you must deselect them in the Lift & Stamp HUD. For more information about lifting and stamping adjustments, see Apply standard adjustments on page 225. For more information about the RAW Fine Tuning adjustments, see RAW Fine Tuning controls overview on page 334.
All keywords assigned to the photo appear in the Keywords field. Metadata View pop-up menu 4 To add a keyword, type a keyword in the Keywords field. Note: All keywords must be separated by commas (,). Apply keywords to photos in the Light Table You can use the Light Table to arrange your photo selection in a freeform manner. After arranging your photos into groups, you can apply keywords to a group of photos at once.
Remove an individual keyword from a group of photos using keyword controls in the control bar 1 Select the group of photos. 2 Do one of the following: •• In the control bar, type the keyword you want to remove in the Add Keyword field, then press Shift-Return. •• If the keyword is a keyword preset, Shift-click the keyword button in the control bar. The keyword is removed from the selected photos.
The Faces technology identifies all the photos in your library that contain faces. You then complete the identification process by assigning names to faces—you select a photo with a face in it and click the Name button to assign a name to the subject in the photo. An “unnamed” face label appears below the subject’s face, and you enter the person’s name in the face label. Now that you’ve identified a person in one of your photos, you can use Faces view to help you assign that person’s name to other photos.
When you double-click a person’s snapshot, Aperture opens the Faces browser and shows the named snapshot and other suggested photos that might contain the same face. You can then confirm or reject the suggested matches. As you add photos to the library, Aperture continues to analyze your photos and suggest matches for named faces. After your photos are named, you can easily review all pictures of a specific person. You can also use Smart Albums to gather all images of specific people.
Assign names to faces in your photos 1 In the Browser, select a photo with people in it. 2 Click the Name button in the toolbar. Face labels appear below the faces of the people in the photo in the Viewer. 3 Click the face label below a person’s face and enter the person’s name in the text field. As you enter the person’s name, names that have already been assigned to faces, as well as names in your Contacts, are suggested in the face label.
Rename a person in a photo 1 Select a photo containing the face of a person you want to rename. 2 Click the Name button in the toolbar. 3 Select the face label for the person whose name you want to change, and enter a new name in the text field. 4 After renaming the face in the photo, click Done. Delete a face label 1 Select a photo containing a face label you want to remove. 2 Click the Name button in the toolbar.
Set a photo as the key photo for a snapshot When you enter Faces view, a snapshot of each person you named in the Aperture library appears. You can quickly view the confirmed photos of a person by skimming over the snapshot with the pointer. You can also choose your favorite photo of the person to represent the snapshot, also known as the key photo. 1 Skim over the snapshot with the pointer. 2 When you find your favorite photo of that person, do one of the following: •• Press the Space bar.
2 To confirm a face as a match, do one of the following: •• To confirm the face in a single photo: Click the photo. The person’s name appears below the photo. •• To confirm the face in multiple suggested photos: Shift-click the photos. The person’s name appears below each photo. 3 To reject a photo as a match, do one of the following: •• Click the photo, then click it again to reject it. •• Option-click the photo. “Not [name of face]” appears below the photo.
Search for photos by face As you name the people that appear in the photos in the library, the number of named faces quickly grows. Locating photos of a particular person is a simple process. Search for photos of a particular person 1 In the Library inspector, select Faces. 2 In Faces view, enter the name of the person you are looking for in the search field. Faces view search field Aperture displays the snapshot of the person whose name you entered in the search field, removing all others from view.
Organize photos by location using Places Places overview In Aperture, you can organize and explore your photos by location using the Places feature. If you have a GPS-enabled camera or iOS device, Aperture categorizes your photos by location and converts the GPS location tags to place names such as Vancouver, Canada. Aperture can also convert photo location information from GPS trackers (including those generated by iPhone apps) and from iPhoto photos.
•• Typing the name of a place or entering an address in the Places view search field, and then clicking the Assign Location button •• Entering the name of a place or an address in the Location field in the Map pane of the Info inspector Show/Hide Map button Chapter 4 Organize and sort photos 132
View photo locations Aperture saves every location that has been assigned to a photo. Important: To use Places, you must be connected to the Internet. If you shot your photos with a GPS-enabled camera or iOS device, Aperture automatically plots the location of each photo on the map in Places view. There are many ways to view a photo’s location and the photos associated with a location using Places view.
•• In Places view, use the Zoom slider and buttons to zoom in to the location of a photo group. Zoom in Zoom out As you zoom in to the map, photo locations grouped together in a single pin begin to be marked by their own pins. •• Position the pointer over a pin that represents the location of a group of photos, then use the pinch gesture to zoom in or out on the map. As you zoom in to the map, photo locations grouped together in a single pin begin to be marked by their own pins.
2 In the Browser, select a photo. A location label appears above a pin in Places view, indicating the location where the photo was shot. The location label indicates the name of the location and the number of photos that were captured there. Location label Selected photo View the photos associated with a location 1 Do one of the following: •• In the Library inspector, select Places.
2 Select a red pin. The photo or photos marked by the pin appear selected in the Browser. Location pin Photos shot in the selected location Find locations quickly As you assign locations to the photos in the Aperture library, the list of locations quickly grows. Although you may have shot photos all over the world, you can quickly find the locations where photos were shot using the search field in Places view. 1 In the Library inspector, select Places. The Aperture main window switches to Places view.
3 Select the correct location in the list that appears below the search field. The location pin for the location you selected appears in Places view. Note: You can also remove location information from photos using the Map pane of the Info inspector. For more information, see Work with location information using the Info inspector on page 146.
mm Command-drag a specific area of the map. The map zooms in to the area indicated by the selection rectangle. Command-drag a rectangle over the map to zoom in to that area. Reposition the map in Places view As you zoom in to the map, you may need to reposition it. You can also click the Overview Map Pane button to open or close the Overview Map pane. Do one of the following: mm Move the map by dragging it.
Change the map view within Places view mm To switch to the Standard view: Click the Standard button. mm To switch to the Hybrid view: Click the Hybrid button. mm To switch to the Satellite view: Click the Satellite button. Add locations to photos You don’t need a GPS-enabled camera or iOS device to use Places. Adding location information in Places view is as simple as dragging photos from the Browser to the area on the Places view map where they were shot.
A dialog also appears at the bottom of Places view, informing you that you can move the pin to change the location assigned to all photos associated with the pin. A red pin with a location label marks the location where the photo selection was shot. Selected photo 5 Click Done. The pin indicates that the location you specified has been assigned to the selected photos, and a location badge (a red pin) appears over the thumbnail images in the Browser.
4 Choose Metadata > Assign Location. 5 In the dialog that appears, enter the location you want to search for in the search field. For example, you can enter a city name or an address. Locations whose names match the text you entered are listed below the search field. 6 Select the appropriate location in the search results list. A location is plotted on the map with a purple circle surrounding it. The purple circle is used to determine the geographical area encompassed by the location.
Change photo locations If you’ve assigned incorrect locations to photos, it’s easy to change their location information. There are three methods for reassigning photo locations: •• Change the location assignment for all photos associated with a location: You can move the location pin in Places view. •• Change the location assignment for a subset of photos associated with a location: You can reassign the location for the photo subset using the Assign Location dialog.
Remove locations If you have assigned a location to a photo or group of photos by mistake, you can remove it. Remove location information from a photo or group of photos 1 Do one of the following: •• To remove a location assignment from all photos associated with a location: In Places view, select the location pin. •• To remove a location assignment from a subset of photos associated with a location: In the Browser, select the photos whose location information you want to remove.
3 Do one of the following: •• To assign photo location information to other photos in the project based on time in the GPS track file: Click Assign Locations. •• If you don’t want to assign photo location information to other photos in the project: Click Done. Assign location information from a GPS waypoint to a photo selection 1 In the Browser, select the photo or photos to which you want to assign location information.
3 In the Info HUD, click Assign Location. Assign Location button 4 In the dialog that appears, enter a specific address or the name of a place, a city or town, or a significant geographical location such as a national park in the search field. Aperture searches for the location you entered in the search field and displays a list of search results. Place names that match the text you entered are displayed at the top of the search results list.
Work with location information using the Info inspector In addition to working with location information in Places view and Projects view, you can also work with location information in the Map pane of the Info inspector. The Map pane of the Info inspector provides a convenient means of modifying a photo’s location information without having to switch to Places view.
3 In the Map pane of the Info inspector, do one of the following: •• Use the Zoom buttons to zoom in to or out of the location where the photo was captured. •• Use the pinch gesture to zoom in and out. •• Double-click the location pin to zoom in to the area where the photo was captured. Doubleclick the location pin again to zoom in further. Zoom button Double-click the location pin to zoom in to the map.
3 Enter the name of the location you want to assign to the photo in the Location field, then select the location in the search results list that appears. The map view changes to show the new location, with a purple location pin and a location label at its center. 4 Click the Assign Location button in the location label. Assign Location button Cancel button The location information is assigned to the photo.
4 Enter the name of a new location to assign to the photo in the Location field, then select the location in the search results list that appears. The map view changes to show the new location. 5 Do one of the following: •• To assign the location to the photo: Click the Assign Location button in the location label. •• To cancel the location change: Click the Cancel button in the location label.
Search for and display photos Searching overview In Aperture, you can search for photos in multiple ways. You can use the search field and pop-up menu in the Browser to quickly locate photos by name or display photos by rating, flag status, and color label. To perform more complex searches, you can open the Filter HUD by clicking the button to the left of the Browser search field.
Perform quick searches using the Search Field pop-up menu The search field pop-up menu in the Browser provides a set of options that let you quickly remove photos from view in the Browser so that you can focus on the photos with which you want to work. You can either enter the name of a photo in the search field or choose a rating, flag status, or color label from the search field pop-up menu to filter photos in the Browser.
•• To reset the search field pop-up menu to the default setting of Unrated or Better: Click the Reset button on the right sisde of the search field, or delete the text in the search field. Reset button For more information about rating photos, see Rating photos overview on page 98. For more information about flagging photos, see Modify metadata in the Info inspector and Inspector HUD on page 198.
When you choose an item from the Add Rule pop-up menu, additional controls become available in the Filter HUD. The Add Rule pop-up menu contains the following items: •• Adjustments: Search for photos based on the type of adjustment that has been applied to them in Aperture, as well as which RAW decoding version was used to render the image. You can also search for photos that do not have a specific type of adjustment applied to them.
•• Rating: Search for photos based on the ratings assigned to them in Aperture. •• Text: Search for photos based on any text associated with a photo. For example, you might search for photos based on text in a photo’s caption or keywords, or in any other text entry. You can also search by multiple text entries. 5 Do one of the following: •• To specify that a photo must match at least one of the criteria or keywords: Choose Any from the Any/All pop-up menu and “match” from the Match pop-up menu.
•• To create a new book album, Light Table album, slideshow album, Flickr album, Facebook album, Smart Web Page Album, webpage album, or web journal album: Choose the appropriate item from the Filter HUD Action pop-up menu , enter a name for the album, then press Return. Filter HUD Action pop-up menu All photos that match the search criteria are placed in the new album you created.
You can create Smart Albums that: •• Collect photos of certain poses or subjects, such as head shots, photos of particular models, or photos of sports scenes •• Collect photos suitable for a specific purpose, such as distribution on the web or submission to stock photography houses •• Gather the best photos of your collection into a portfolio of poster photos that you use to present or introduce your work •• Gather a project’s select photos •• Gather specific types of media, such as audio and video
4 In the Smart Settings HUD that appears, specify search criteria. Close button Specify the search criteria for photos you want in the Smart Album. The controls in the Smart Settings HUD are nearly identical to those in the Filter HUD. For more information about using the Filter HUD and specifying search criteria, see Searching overview on page 150. 5 Click the Smart Settings HUD’s close button.
Configure a Smart Album to collect photos of particular people You can create a Smart Album and specify a person or a group of people as search criteria. For example, you can create a Smart Album that is set to collect photos of your family members. First you create the Smart Album, and then you use the Smart Album’s Smart Settings HUD to specify that it collect photos of each individual in your family. 1 In the Library inspector, select Projects.
Search within a Smart Album After creating a Smart Album, you can search for specific photos within the contents of the Smart Album. Search within the contents of a Smart Album 1 In the Library inspector, select the Smart Album whose contents you want to search, then click the Filter HUD button in the Browser. Select the Smart Album you want to search within. Show the Browser’s Filter HUD and specify search criteria.
Transfer Smart Album photos to an album You can transfer photos from a Smart Album to another album, such as a slideshow album or a book album. You transfer photos by selecting the photos in the Smart Album and dragging or copying them into another album. You can also select the photos in the Smart Album and have Aperture create a new album to hold them.
Work with library albums mm Open an Aperture library created in a previous version of Aperture. The library albums appear in the Albums section of the Library inspector. For information about switching libraries, see View other libraries on page 58. Remove the library albums from the Library inspector If you’re working with an Aperture library created in a previous version of Aperture and you no longer want to see the library albums, you can remove them.
5 View and compare photos View photos in the Viewer Viewer overview The Viewer displays a detailed view of the photo or photos selected in the Browser. You can view one photo in incredible detail or view several photos at a time. A detailed view of the selected photo appears in the Viewer. Selected photo in the Browser You use the Viewer to make adjustments, closely compare similar photos, and inspect photos at full resolution.
When rating or adjusting photos, you can set the Viewer to compare two photos at once. You select a photo to compare against and then display other similar or related photos next to it for inspection. You might use the Aperture comparison feature to select photos from a series or compare versions of adjusted images to see which is best. You can use the Viewer to compare two photos. Depending on the size of your display and Viewer, photos may be displayed at a reduced size to fit in the Viewer.
Change the number of photos in the Viewer You can specify whether the Viewer displays one photo, three photos, or multiple photos at a time. If your system uses multiple displays, you can configure your main and secondary displays to show single photos, three photos, or multiple photos simultaneously. The display settings you choose also control the display of photos in full-screen view.
The compare photo appears on the left with a green border, and an alternate photo appears on the right. The compare photo is displayed with a green border, visible in the Viewer and Browser. The photo you want to examine against the compare photo is shown to the right. 3 Do any of the following: •• To view a photo against the compare photo: In the Browser, select another photo, or navigate to another photo using the arrow keys.
View photos at full resolution A full-resolution view of a photo shows every pixel in the photo. You can set Aperture to display a photo at full resolution even though the photo may not fit within the Viewer. Viewing photos at full resolution allows you to inspect your photo using the finest level of detail possible. A detailed view of the selected photo appears in the Viewer.
Display a selected photo at full resolution Do one of the following: mm Choose View > Zoom to Actual Size (or press Z). mm Click the Zoom Viewer button in the tool strip. To turn off the full-resolution display, click the button again. mm Double-tap with two fingers. To turn off the full-resolution display, double-tap with two fingers again. Note: Smart zoom must be turned on in the Trackpad pane of System Preferences. For information about turning on smart zoom, see Help Center.
Work with audio and video in the Viewer If you have imported audio and video files into Aperture, you can use the Viewer to review and edit them. You can edit the length of video and audio clips using the video and audio controls in the Viewer. You can also set the poster frame for a video clip (the frame that appears as the video’s thumbnail in the Browser), as well as create a JPEG image from any frame in the video clip.
Trim an audio clip 1 Select the audio clip in the Browser. The audio controls appear in the Viewer with the selected audio clip’s filename displayed at the top. Play button Trim button Playhead 2 In the Viewer, click the Trim button. The Trim controls appear. 3 Click the Play button to listen to the audio clip and determine which parts of the audio you want to keep. 4 Drag the Start point to the beginning of the audio you plan to use, and drag the End point to the position where you want the audio to end.
5 Drag the Start point to the beginning of the video you plan to use, and drag the End point to the position where you want the video to end. The Trim button turns yellow, indicating that the length of the video clip has changed. Drag the Start and End points to trim the video. 6 When you’re satisfied with the length of the video clip, click the Trim button.
This option splits the display of the currently selected photos between the Main Viewer and the Secondary Viewer. For example, if you select seven photos to view, the Main Viewer shows as many as fit its screen size, and the remaining photos appear in the Secondary Viewer. Thus, one Viewer might show four photos, and the other Viewer might show the remaining three of the seven. You can also use the Span option to select two photos and compare them, showing one photo per display.
Set up the Viewer for onscreen proofing Photos displayed on your computer screen may look different when displayed on computer screens that use different color technologies. Your photos may also reproduce differently in print depending on the type of printer, the paper used, and the color profile of the printing device. To see what a photo will look like when you print it or view it on a different display, you can have Aperture adjust your display so that your photos resemble the final results.
Full-screen view has three modes that you can access by pressing the V key: •• Viewer mode is similar to the Split View layout in the Aperture main window. Use the filmstrip to navigate through, organize, and rate your photos. Photos selected in the filmstrip appear above the filmstrip in high resolution, filling the screen. Toolbar available in Full Screen view The displayed photo fills the screen.
For more information, see Work in Browser mode in full-screen view on page 177. •• Projects mode is similar to the Projects view in the Aperture main window. Each project is displayed as a thumbnail image. You can group projects by the year the photos were created or by the folders in which they reside in the Library inspector. For more information, see Work in Projects mode in full-screen view on page 178.
Note: When you quit Aperture while working in full-screen view, Aperture returns to full-screen view the next time you open the application. You can bypass full-screen view and return to the main Aperture workspace by pressing Option-Shift while opening Aperture. Work in Viewer mode in full-screen view When you first enter full-screen view, Viewer mode is shown.
Search for a photo in the filmstrip When you have more photos than the filmstrip can display at once, you can use the search field in the filmstrip to quickly locate photos. The search is confined to the selection in the Library pane of the Inspector HUD. mm Enter text associated with that photo in the filmstrip’s search field. Aperture finds the relevant photo or photos for you, removing others from view.
View the full-screen view toolbar The toolbar displayed in full-screen view is similar to the toolbar in the Aperture main window. You use the toolbar’s buttons and tools to make image adjustments and to control your displays. mm In full-screen view, move the pointer to the top of the screen on the main display. You can have the toolbar always appear on the screen by clicking the Always Show Toolbar control in the toolbar.
Work in Projects mode in full-screen view When you want to view your projects using as much screen space as possible and with a minimum of color interference, you can set full-screen view to Projects mode. Set full-screen view to Projects mode 1 If Aperture is not already in full-screen view, enter it by pressing F. 2 To set full-screen view to Browser mode, press V. 3 Click the Projects button in the top-left corner of the screen. Full-screen view switches from Browser mode to Projects mode.
Use HUDs in full-screen view You can use these HUDs to work with your photos in full-screen view: •• Keywords HUD: Create and organize keywords and add keywords to your photos. •• Inspector HUD: Navigate through the library, modify metadata in your photos, and perform adjustments. •• Tool HUDS: Use any of the adjustment tools that work in conjunction with HUDs. HUDs are available for use in full-screen view and can make adjusting photos easier.
Show or hide the Inspector HUD mm Press H. Use the Inspector HUD in full-screen view to open the Library pane, Info pane, or Adjustments pane when working with photos. Tip: To temporarily hide the Inspector HUD while performing an image adjustment, so that you have an unobstructed view of your photo, hold down the Shift key while dragging a slider in the Adjustments pane. When you release the Shift key, the Inspector HUD reappears.
Turn the display of metadata in full-screen view on or off mm Press Y. Switch between metadata views for photos in full-screen view mm Press Shift-Y. Hide or show metadata in the filmstrip and the full-screen view Browser mode mm Press U.
Magnify photos using the Loupe You can magnify a portion of a photo by placing the Centered Loupe over it. You can also leave the Loupe stationary and set it to magnify the portion of the photo at the position of the pointer. Using the pointer to magnify the photo is useful when you don’t want the Loupe to cover part of the photo. The Loupe shows a magnified view of the portion of the photo at the position of the pointer.
Use the pointer to magnify parts of a photo mm Choose Focus on Cursor from the Loupe pop-up menu. Choose Focus on Cursor from the pop-up menu. To turn off this feature, choose Focus on Loupe from the Loupe pop-up menu. Change the size and magnification of the Loupe You can change the size of the Loupe and increase or decrease its magnification level. mm To increase the size of the Loupe: Choose View > Loupe Options > Increase Diameter, or press Option–Shift–Plus Sign (+).
Set the Loupe to show a pixel grid 1 Set the Loupe’s magnification to 400 percent or higher. 2 Do one of the following: •• Choose View > Loupe Options > Show Pixel Grid in Loupe. •• Choose Pixel Grid from the Loupe pop-up menu. To turn off this feature, choose the menu item again. Turn on the display of color values in the Loupe Do one of the following: mm Choose View > Loupe Options > Show Color Value in Loupe, or press Option-Shift-Tilde (~). mm Choose Color Value from the Loupe pop-up menu.
Show the alternate Loupe 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose View > Show Loupe, or press the Grave Accent key (`). •• Click the Loupe button in the toolbar. 2 To turn off the display of the Centered Loupe, choose View > Loupe Options > Use Centered Loupe. The checkmark next to the Use Centered Loupe menu item disappears, and the Centered Loupe changes to the alternate Loupe.
You can use the Light Table to: •• Color correct many related photos. You can arrange related photos together and carefully compare the color values between photos. •• Sort photos into related piles. After sorting, you can select groups of photos and assign keywords to all the photos in a group at once. •• Create editorial layouts, arranging photos onscreen to tell a story.
3 In the dialog that appears, enter a name for the Light Table album, and make sure the “Add selected items to new light table” checkbox is not selected. Make sure this checkbox is not selected. 4 Click OK. The new, empty Light Table album appears in the Library inspector. You can drag photos into the new Light Table album from any item in the Library inspector. Create a Light Table album that holds a selection of photos 1 In the Browser, select the photos you want in the Light Table album.
Delete a Light Table album 1 Select the Light Table album in the Library inspector. 2 Choose File > Delete Light Table (or press Command-Delete). The deleted Light Table album is placed in the Aperture Trash. For more information, see Work with the Aperture Trash on page 56. Place and view photos in the Light Table After adding photos to the Light Table album, you can select the ones you want to work with and place them in the Light Table for viewing.
See only photos in the Browser that remain unplaced If you have many photos in a Light Table album, it may be difficult to remember which photos you haven’t yet placed in the Light Table. You can set the Browser to show only unplaced photos. mm Click the Show Unplaced Images button. Show All Images button Show Unplaced Images button To see the entire contents of the Light Table album in the Browser again, click the Show All Images button.
Move, resize, and align photos in the Light Table You can drag photos to new locations in the Light Table, trying out different combinations and orientations. For example, you might take a group of related photos and arrange them to see how they’d appear on a print page. You can also enlarge or reduce photos. After resizing a photo, you can quickly reset the photo back to its original size.
Align and arrange photos in the Light Table mm To manually align photos: In the Light Table, select the photos you want to align, making sure that the photo or photos you want to align with remain unselected, and then drag the selected photos. As you drag, yellow guidelines appear to help you align the selected photos with the unselected ones. When you quit dragging, the yellow guidelines disappear.
2 Click the Uncover button (or press Shift-X). Click the Uncover button to reveal all photos under the selected photo. To regroup the photos, select an uncovered photo. The photos are regrouped, with the selected photo on top. After arranging photos in the Light Table, you can print the photo arrangement for further review. For more information, see Print Light Table arrangements on page 355.
Work with metadata 6 Working with metadata overview Information about your photos, including the types of adjustments applied, information recorded by the camera, and descriptive information about the photos, is called metadata.
You can view metadata in any of three places: •• In the Info inspector Choose a metadata view from the Metadata View pop-up menu. Apply and edit metadata presets, manage custom fields, and attach audio files to images using the Metadata Action pop-up menu.
•• In caption-style overlays that appear underneath photos in the Browser and Viewer A photo in the Viewer with metadata shown in the expanded metadata overlay view •• In metadata tooltips—floating info windows that appear when you position the pointer over a photo in the Browser or Viewer Metadata tooltip You can turn the display of overlays on or off.
View and change metadata in the Info inspector or Info HUD Show the Info inspector and modify views You can view the metadata for a selected photo in the Info inspector and the Info pane of the Inspector HUD. Here you can display different sets of metadata (general information, ratings, file info, EXIF info, and so on) and create custom sets to display the information most useful to you. You can also modify some types of metadata (ratings, version names, captions, and so on).
Show the Info pane of the Inspector HUD mm Choose Window > Show Inspector HUD (or press H), then click Info. Choose a metadata view from the Metadata View pop-up menu. Apply and edit metadata presets, manage custom fields, and attach audio files to images using the Metadata Action pop-up menu.
Modify metadata in the Info inspector and Inspector HUD You can view or change the metadata for a selected photo in the Info inspector and the Info pane of the Inspector HUD. The selected photo’s metadata appears in text fields. You can change the metadata fields shown in the Info inspector and the Info pane of the Inspector HUD by choosing a different metadata view from the Metadata View pop-up menu.
The top portion of the Info inspector and the Info pane of the Inspector HUD displays basic camera information about a photo, if it’s available. This area is called the Camera Info pane. If a video clip is selected, the Camera Info pane displays the length of the video clip, frame size, and number of frames per second. If an audio clip is selected, the Camera Info pane displays the length of the audio clip, the bit rate, and the type of audio file.
Show and hide the Large Caption field To quickly add caption text to all of your photos, you can set the Info inspector and the Info pane of the Inspector HUD to show an enlarged version of the Caption field by itself. Then you apply the caption text to each selected photo by entering it in this space. mm In the Info inspector or the Info pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Large Caption from the Metadata View pop-up menu.
View and reply to comments that friends post about your Facebook photos If you’ve created Facebook albums in Aperture and shared photos from your Aperture library with your Facebook account, you can use the Info inspector to view comments posted about the photos by your friends. Aperture makes it easy to reply to comments that appear in the Info inspector or add your own by opening the appropriate page in your web browser. 1 In the Browser, select a photo shared with Facebook.
Turn the display of metadata on or off You can turn the display of metadata on and off and switch between metadata overlay views in the Viewer and Browser independently using menu commands or the Metadata Overlays pop-up menu in the tool strip. Metadata Overlays pop-up menu Hide or show metadata in the Viewer Do one of the following: mm Choose View > Metadata Display, then choose Show Metadata from the Viewer section of the submenu (or press Y).
Specify the type of metadata to display in the Viewer and Browser You use the Browser & Viewer Metadata dialog to specify the types of metadata that are shown in the basic and expanded views for the Viewer, the Browser in grid view and filmstrip view, and the Browser in list view. You can also specify the types of metadata shown in metadata tooltips. Note: When you choose a metadata overlay view for the Browser in list view, the metadata overlay view determines the number of columns that appear.
•• To add audio and video clip information, such as duration, data rate, and frames per second (fps): Click the Audio/Video disclosure triangle, then select the checkboxes next to the metadata fields you want to add to the metadata overlay view. •• To add information about photo usage, such as whether or not a photo has been printed or emailed: Click the Photo Usage disclosure triangle, then select the checkboxes next to the metadata fields you want to add to the metadata overlay view.
3 In the Metadata Fields column, do any of the following: •• To add EXIF information, such as exposure and aperture settings: Click the EXIF disclosure triangle, then select the checkboxes next to the metadata fields you want to add to the metadata tooltip. •• To add IPTC information, such as copyright information and keywords: Click the IPTC disclosure triangle, then select the checkboxes next to the metadata fields you want to add to the metadata tooltip.
Work with the AutoFill Editor As you enter metadata in the Info inspector’s fields, Aperture checks for previous entries, and if it locates a match, it completes the entry for you. For example, if you used the keyword Landscape previously, and you type the first few letters of Landscape again, Aperture automatically enters Landscape in the field. You can set up and change the list of metadata that Aperture automatically enters using the AutoFill Editor. You can enter up to 20 entries for a field type.
The following table lists the metadata views that you can choose and the information that each view displays.
Create, modify, and manage metadata views You can create new metadata views that display different combinations of metadata. You can change the combination of metadata that appears in a metadata view. You can also add or remove metadata fields, create new ones, and rearrange the order in which the metadata fields are displayed. Note: You cannot modify the IPTC Core, Large Caption, and Custom Fields metadata views.
Change the metadata fields that appear in an existing metadata view 1 Choose Edit from the Metadata View pop-up menu in the Info inspector or the Info pane of the Inspector HUD. The Metadata Views dialog appears. 2 Select the metadata view you want to change in the Metadata Views column.
Work with metadata presets Create metadata presets You can create your own preset combinations of metadata that you can save and then apply to your photos as needed. You create a preset by selecting a version that has metadata applied to it and saving the metadata as a preset. You can also select a version with no metadata applied to it, add the metadata you want to apply to the version, and then save the information as a metadata preset.
The changes to the metadata preset are saved. If you want, you can rearrange the order of metadata presets in the Append with Preset and Replace with Preset submenus of the Metadata Action pop-up menu. Manage metadata presets 1 In the Info inspector or the Info pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Manage Presets from the Metadata Action pop-up menu .
Import a metadata preset 1 In the Info inspector or the Info pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Manage Presets from the Metadata Action pop-up menu . 2 In the Metadata dialog, choose Import from the Action pop-up menu corner of the dialog. in the bottom-left 3 In the dialog that appears, select the metadata preset file that you want to import, then click Import. The metadata preset is imported into Aperture and placed at the bottom of the Preset Name column in the Metadata dialog.
About IPTC metadata In Aperture, you can import and export IPTC metadata for a photo in an XMP sidecar file. XMP sidecar files are XML files that accompany each photo containing IPTC and other metadata associated with the photo. Any field containing information in the IPTC Core metadata view for a selected photo version can be exported to the XMP sidecar file for that version. The IPTC Core metadata view is compliant with the IPTC Core specification version 1.0.
IPTC field and character limit Description and example Headline (256 characters) The headline published with the photo Example: Mayor Alvarado Opens New Soccer Season in San Jose Source (32 characters) The source that provided the photo Example: Mercury News Understanding badge overlays Badge overlays overview When you apply adjustments, keywords, or other changes to a photo, Aperture marks the photo with a badge overlay.
Badge Definition The photo is an album’s pick photo, the identifying photo for that album, webpage album, web journal album, Light Table album, slideshow album, or book album. Because of low image resolution, the photo’s print quality may be affected. This badge appears on photos placed in book pages and webpages. The number indicates the number of times the photo has been used in a given book, web journal, or Light Table arrangement. The photo is a referenced image.
4 Click OK. 5 Make sure both Show Metadata and the metadata overlay view you just modified are selected for the Viewer and/or Browser in the Metadata Overlays pop-up menu in the tool strip. Badges are now visible in the Viewer or Browser depending on what you selected. You can turn off the display of badge overlays in the Viewer or in the Browser by turning off the display of metadata. For more information, see Turn the display of metadata on or off on page 202.
Make image adjustments 7 Adjustments in Aperture Aperture includes a standard set of adjustments you can apply to images using the controls in the Adjustments inspector and the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD. The standard adjustments target specific pixels in an image, no matter where they occur. For example, you can use the Highlights & Shadows adjustment to target just the highlights, shadows, or midtones of your image.
Adjustment Function Chromatic Aberration Corrects chromatic aberration, produced by certain lenses during shooting. Devignette Corrects a vignette created when the image was shot. Noise Reduction Reduces digital noise in an image. White Balance Sets an image’s white balance by evaluating the image for natural gray or skin tone in identified faces, as well as by adjusting the color temperature and tint. Exposure Adjusts exposure, recovery, black point, and brightness.
Quick Brush Function Polarize (Multiply) Deepens the colors in brushed areas of an image by specifically darkening the shadows and midtones while preserving the highlights. Intensify Contrast (Overlay) Corrects shadows that appear washed out in brushed areas of an image by intensifying the contrast between pure black and 50% gray. Tint Shifts the tint in brushed areas of an image. Contrast Applies additional contrast in brushed areas of an image.
Use the adjustment controls Use the Adjustments inspector and Inspector HUD You can use menu commands, keyboard shortcuts, or the Inspector button on the left side of the toolbar to show and hide the Inspector pane containing the adjustment controls. The adjustment controls in the Adjustments inspector are also found in the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD. You can use menu commands and buttons in the full-screen view toolbar to show or hide the Inspector HUD.
For more information, see Perform adjustments in full-screen view on page 238. Add Adjustment pop-up menu Effects pop-up menu Histogram Reset button Auto Enhance button Adjustments Double-click the top of an adjustment to show and hide the adjustment’s controls. Adjustment Action pop-up menu Note: The adjustment controls in the Adjustments inspector and the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD are dimmed when an audio clip or a video clip is selected.
Add additional adjustments The first time you show either the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, only the White Balance, Exposure, Enhance, and Highlights & Shadows adjustments are available. Note: A photo must be selected in the Browser for adjustment controls to appear in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD.
The adjustment controls for the Quick Brush appear in both the Adjustments inspector and the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, if both are shown. Also, a floating window containing the Quick Brush controls appears, and the pointer changes to a brush. For more information, see Apply Quick Brush adjustments on page 231. Use sliders There are two types of slider controls for changing parameter values—sliders and value sliders. Slider controls have varying value ranges depending on the parameter.
Use the brush controls Whenever a photo is selected and displayed in the Viewer or in full-screen view, you can retouch it using a brushed adjustment, which allows you to manually target a specific part of the image using brush controls. Most adjustments can be brushed on images. You choose a brush for an adjustment from the adjustment’s Action pop-up menu. A Brush button appears when the adjustment is brushed on the photo. Click the button to open the Brush HUD for the adjustment.
Ways to perform adjustments Apply standard adjustments To modify the appearance of the entire image, you apply a standard adjustment and adjust its settings. Before Exposure adjustment After Exposure adjustment Some images can be difficult to perfect. Images shot in mixed-lighting and low-light conditions often require the same adjustment applied multiple times in small increments to achieve the appearance you’re looking for.
3 If the adjustment you want to apply to the image isn’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose an adjustment from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu. Add Adjustment pop-up menu 4 Specify parameter settings for the adjustment while viewing the effect on the image. For information about applying a particular standard adjustment, see the topic for the adjustment.
The Lift & Stamp HUD appears, showing the adjustments, IPTC metadata, and keywords applied to the image. 3 Deselect all metadata-related checkboxes to prevent Aperture from copying the metadata from the selected photo. Deselect a checkbox to prevent Aperture from copying the item from the selected photo. 4 If necessary, remove any unwanted adjustments by clicking the Adjustments disclosure triangle in the Lift & Stamp HUD, selecting the unwanted adjustments, and pressing Delete.
6 Do one of the following: •• In the tool strip, select the Stamp tool. •• In the Lift & Stamp HUD, click the Stamp Selected Images button. Click the Stamp Selected Images button to apply the adjustments to the selected images. The adjustments copied from the first photo are applied to the selected photos. For more information about using the Lift & Stamp HUD, see Apply keywords using the Lift & Stamp HUD on page 118.
After applying a brushed adjustment to an image, you can still modify the effect of the adjustment on the image. Whether you brushed a standard adjustment or a Quick Brush adjustment, you can modify the adjustment using the controls for that adjustment in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD. Note: The parameter settings for the Retouch and Halo Reduction brushed adjustments cannot be modified after the adjustments have been applied.
Brush an adjustment away 1 Select a photo. 2 If the adjustment you want to apply to the image isn’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose the adjustment from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu. Note: The Red Eye Correction, Spot & Patch, Straighten, Crop, Flip, White Balance, and Exposure adjustments cannot be brushed on images. 3 Specify parameter settings for the adjustment while viewing the effect on the image.
Apply a brushed adjustment to the entire image You can extend a brushed adjustment to cover the entire image rather than just the area you brushed over. 1 Select the photo with the adjustment you want applied to the entire image. 2 Select the brushed adjustment in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, and click the Brush button in the adjustment controls. Click the Brush button. 3 In the Brush HUD, choose “Apply to entire photo” from the Brush Action pop-up menu.
•• To adjust the softness of the brush: Use the Softness parameter controls. •• To adjust the intensity of the brush: Use the Strength parameter controls. •• To specify that the adjustment detect edges in order to preserve detail: Select the Detect Edges checkbox. Note: For additional options, see Work with brush strokes on page 232. 4 Brush the adjustment over the areas of the image you want to apply it to.
3 In the Brush HUD, click the Feather button. Click the Feather button. 4 Specify the diameter of the brush and its intensity using the Brush Size and Strength sliders and value sliders. 5 Drag the brush over the edges of the previously applied brush strokes. Tip: When feathering brush stokes, it’s a good idea to display the brush strokes as color overlays to help identify the boundaries of each brush stroke.
1 Select the photo with the brushed adjustment whose brush strokes you want to erase. 2 Select the brushed adjustment in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, and click the Brush button in the adjustment controls. Click the Brush button. 3 In the Brush HUD, click the Eraser button. Click the Eraser button. 4 Specify the diameter of the brush, its softness, and its intensity using the Brush Size, Softness, and Strength sliders and value sliders.
Work with brushed adjustment overlays Overlays are useful tools for identifying where brush strokes for the selected brushed adjustment have been applied to the image. When you’ve brushed an adjustment with a subtle softness and strength over the image, it can be difficult to discern the boundaries of the brush strokes. Aperture provides several types of overlays to help you visually identify the selected brushed adjustment’s cumulative brush strokes.
•• On Black: Displays a pure black mask over the image, with the brush strokes revealing the image beneath. This option is useful for showing detailed brush strokes over a bright area in the image. •• On White: Displays a pure white mask over the image, with brush strokes revealing the image beneath. This option is useful for detailed brush strokes over dark areas in the image.
Limit the tonal range of brushed adjustments You can limit the adjustment you’re about to brush on an image to a specific tonal range. For example, if you want to brush an adjustment on an image and have the adjustment affect only the shadows, you choose Shadows from the Brush Action pop-up menu and then brush the adjustment on the image. If the brush touches a midtone or highlight, that part of the image is not changed.
Remove adjustments In Aperture, you can temporarily turn adjustments on and off to verify the cumulative effect of the adjustments on your image. You can also remove specific adjustments or remove all adjustments from a photo selection at once. Turn an adjustment on and off mm In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, select the checkbox next to the adjustment’s name to turn the adjustment on, and deselect the checkbox to turn it off.
Show the Inspector HUD while in full-screen view mm Press H. Lock the Inspector HUD to the side of the screen so that it doesn’t overlap the image mm Click the control in the top-right corner of the HUD. Select adjustment tools in full-screen view mm Move your pointer to the top of the screen until the full-screen view toolbar appears, and select a tool. If you want to set the toolbar to remain on the screen, move the pointer to the top of the screen and click the Always Show Toolbar control.
3 Choose the appropriate file format (TIFF or PSD) from the External Editor File Format pop-up menu, and enter a resolution in the dpi field. This is the file format Aperture uses when opening files in external editors. Tip: It’s a good idea to choose the 16-bit option for the External Editor file format because the greater bit depth allows each pixel to express an exponentially larger number of colors and helps reduce color clipping and banding.
3 Do either or both of the following: •• To apply the Black & White, Sepia, or Antique effect to the image: Choose an option from the Effect pop-up menu. The Amount slider and value slider appear when you choose Antique from the Effect pop-up menu. Use the Amount controls to adjust the intensity of the Antique effect. Note: The None option removes the Black & White, Sepia, or Antique effect.
Retouch an image You use the Retouch brushes to touch up imperfections in the image caused by sensor dust, image artifacts, and other environmental conditions. You can also copy an element of an image and paste it in another area for purely aesthetic reasons. Aperture provides two methods of retouching your images. If the area you need to repair has a hard edge near the problem area, you use the “repair” method.
Note: Aperture provides two sets of retouching controls: Retouch and Spot & Patch. In the vast majority of cases, the Retouch controls will best serve your image-repair needs. The Spot & Patch controls are included in Aperture 3 to retain the integrity of images adjusted with earlier versions of Aperture. You can often improve image repairs by removing an existing Spot & Patch repair and replacing it with a Repair or Clone adjustment performed with the Retouch tool.
7 Brush over the area with the imperfection. Brush over the blemish with the Repair brush. Retouch an image using the Clone brush 1 Select a photo. 2 To display the photo at full size, click the Zoom Viewer button in the tool strip or the full-screen view toolbar (or press Z). Setting the photo to appear at full size (100 percent) prevents image scaling from obscuring details. 3 Choose Retouch from the Quick Brush pop-up menu view toolbar.
6 Brush over the area with the imperfection. Brush over the blemish with the Clone brush. Delete brush strokes Because pixels in brush strokes are sampled sequentially, brush strokes can be deleted only in reverse order. Do one of the following: mm To delete single brush strokes: Repeatedly click the Delete button in the Retouch area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD until the brush stroke you want to remove is deleted.
Remove red-eye with the Red Eye tool 1 Select a photo. 2 To display the photo at full size, click the Zoom Viewer button in the tool strip or the full-screen view toolbar (or press Z). Setting the photo to appear at full size (100 percent) prevents image scaling from obscuring details. 3 Select the Red Eye tool in the tool strip or the full-screen view toolbar (or press E). The pointer changes to a target, and the Red Eye HUD appears.
To view the corrected image with the Red Eye target overlays turned off, select the Selection tool in the tool strip or the full-screen view toolbar (or press A). To turn the Red Eye target overlays on again, select the Red Eye tool in the tool strip or the full-screen view toolbar (or press E), or click the Red Eye Tool button in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD.
Adjust the sensitivity of a Red Eye target overlay When you target a red eye in a picture, Aperture automatically desaturates the area within the target overlay circle. In a few cases, the area might be either slightly too large or slightly too small (typically including a few pixels in the eyelid skin, or missing a few red pixels inside the pupil). For these difficult cases, you can adjust the Sensitivity parameter to change the area where desaturation occurs.
Move a Red Eye target overlay 1 Select the Red Eye tool , and place the Red Eye tool’s target over the Red Eye target overlay you want to move until the target changes to a hand icon. 2 Drag the Red Eye target overlay to the appropriate position over the subject’s eye. Drag the Red Eye target overlay over the red eye in the image.
Spot and patch an image You use the Spot & Patch adjustment controls when you need to modify a Spot & Patch adjustment that was applied using a previous version of Aperture. Note: Aperture provides two sets of retouching controls: Retouch and Spot & Patch. In the vast majority of cases, the Retouch controls will best serve your image-repair needs. The Spot & Patch controls are included in Aperture 3 to retain the integrity of images adjusted with earlier versions of Aperture.
When you need to clone pixels from a different area of an image to fix the area where the blemish is, you use the “patching” method. Patching is similar to spotting, except that there are some additional steps. You first place a Spot & Patch target overlay (yellow) over the blemish, and then you place a source target overlay (white) over the area you want to clone. The pixels in the Spot & Patch target overlay are replaced by the pixels copied from the source target overlay.
4 Change the size of the Spot & Patch target using the Radius parameter control in the Spot & Patch HUD, or use the scroll gesture. It’s best to adjust the size of the target overlay so that it fits the area around the blemish as tightly as possible. A tight fit minimizes visual aberrations. 5 Click the blemish area to place the Spot & Patch target overlay on it. The yellow Spot & Patch target overlay is placed over the blemish, and the blemish disappears.
3 Choose Spot & Patch from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD. The pointer changes to a target, and the Spot & Patch HUD appears. 4 Change the size of the Spot & Patch target using the Radius parameter control in the Spot & Patch HUD, or use the scroll gesture. It’s best to adjust the size of the target overlay so that it fits the area around the blemish as tightly as possible. A tight fit minimizes visual aberrations.
7 Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all blemishes are removed from your image. To view the corrected image with Spot & Patch overlays turned off, select the Selection tool in the toolstrip or the full-screen view toolbar (or press A). To turn the Spot & Patch target overlays on again, click the Spot & Patch Tool button in the Spot & Patch area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD.
Modify a Spot & Patch overlay’s settings You can change the settings for a Spot & Patch target overlay using controls in the Spot & Patch area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD. mm To adjust the softness of pixels in a Spot & Patch target overlay: Use the Softness parameter controls. Use the Softness slider and value slider to make the edges of the Spot & Patch overlay blend better with the surrounding image area.
mm To adjust the amount of detail in cloned pixels in a Spot & Patch target overlay: Use the Detail parameter controls. Use the Detail slider and value slider to adjust the amount of detail in the cloned pixels in the target overlay. The Detail parameter controls the amount of detail, such as texture or grain, that is preserved in the cloned pixels. You can adjust the amount of detail in the cloned pixels.
Move a Spot & Patch target overlay 1 Make sure the Spot & Patch HUD is shown, and place the Spot & Patch target over the Spot & Patch target overlay you want to move until a hand icon appears. A hand icon appears to indicate that you can select the Spot & Patch target overlay. 2 Drag the Spot & Patch target overlay to reposition it.
Straighten an image’s horizon When you shoot photos, environmental conditions often make it difficult to frame an image that is level in relation to the horizon—either real or virtual. In Aperture, you can straighten an image so that the horizon in the image is parallel to the bottom and top edges. Before Straighten adjustment After Straighten adjustment You can straighten your images using either the Straighten tool or the Straighten adjustment controls.
Rotate an image using the Straighten controls The Straighten adjustment controls provide a high degree of precision for straightening your images. 1 Select a photo. 2 In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Straighten from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu, and use the Angle parameter controls to straighten the image. Use the Angle slider and value slider to straighten the photo.
3 With the Crop tool selected, drag a rectangle over the image to exclude the areas that you want to trim. A Crop overlay appears on the image with resize handles, and the trimmed edges are dimmed. Drag across the photo with the Crop tool. A dark overlay is placed over the trimmed areas. 4 Do any of the following: •• To set the aspect ratio of the Crop overlay: Choose an aspect ratio from the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu, or set a custom aspect ratio by entering values in the Width and Height fields.
•• To change the size and shape of a Crop overlay: Drag a resize handle on the Crop overlay. Note: If you have choosen a fixed aspect ratio from the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu in the Crop HUD, the shape of the crop remains fixed to respect the aspect ratio setting. Drag a resize handle to resize the Crop overlay. •• To adjust the placement of the crop on the image: Drag the Crop overlay to the appropriate position. Drag the Crop overlay to adjust its position.
1 Select a photo. 2 If you wish, use the Crop tool to place a rough crop on the image. 3 If the Crop controls aren’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Crop from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu. 4 Use the X and Y value sliders to set the position of the bottom-left corner of the crop overlay relative to the original photo. The X and Y values are measured in pixels.
Remove chromatic aberration When you want to fix chromatic aberration, also known as purple fringing, you use the Chromatic Aberration adjustment controls. For example, if your image has a ghost image in high-contrast boundary areas, you use the Chromatic Aberration adjustment controls to neutralize the color fringing. Chromatic aberration can be caused by a poorly designed lens that fails to focus light at the correct point on the focal plane when the lens is set at different focal lengths.
Remove a vignette You use the Devignette adjustment controls to correct a vignette that was applied to an image as it was shot. The term vignette describes an image whose brightness fades at the edges. Vignettes are usually caused by poor lens design, stacked filters, lens hoods, and wide-angle zoom lenses. Aperture corrects the image by increasing the brightness at the edges of the image where vignettes typically occur.
Reduce digital noise You use the Noise Reduction adjustment controls when you need to reduce digital noise in an image. Digital noise is often caused by shooting at high ISO settings in low-light conditions. When you reduce noise in an image, you often have to sharpen the image to prevent blurry edges or loss of detail. For more information, see Sharpen an image on page 311.
White balance an image If an image has unnatural skin tones or pixels that should be pure white, you can use the White Balance adjustment controls to remove the color cast from the image. Aperture provides three methods for adjusting an image’s white balance: •• Balance the warmth of the image based on natural gray. •• Balance the warmth of the image based on skin tones. •• Balance the image based on traditional color temperature (in degrees kelvin) and tint.
Adjust an image’s white balance using the White Balance eyedropper When you have pixels in your image that should be pure white, you can use the White Balance eyedropper tool to automatically set the color temperature and tint of the image. 1 Select a photo. 2 In the White Balance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, specify the method Aperture uses to adjust the image’s white balance by choosing an option from the White Balance pop-up menu.
•• If you chose Skin Tone from the White Balance pop-up menu: Position the target area of the Loupe over a skin tone in the image, and click. The color tonality of the image is shifted either cooler or warmer, depending on the tonality of the original image. Important: Make sure that there is as little digital noise in the target area of the Loupe as possible. Digital noise can skew the white balance calculation results, introducing a color cast that wasn’t previously there.
1 Select a photo. 2 In the White Balance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, specify the method Aperture uses to adjust the image’s white balance by choosing an option from the White Balance pop-up menu. Choose how you want to adjust the image’s white balance from this pop-up menu. •• To adjust the image’s white balance based on natural gray: Choose Natural Gray. •• To adjust the image’s white balance based on a skin tone: Choose Skin Tone.
Correct exposure, highlight detail, shadow detail, and brightness You use the Exposure adjustment controls to set the exposure, recovery (highlight detail), black point (shadow detail), and brightness values. You can quickly adjust the exposure of a RAW image using the Auto Exposure button. You can also correct an image’s exposure manually by adjusting the Exposure parameter.
Correct the exposure of a RAW image automatically 1 Select a photo. 2 In the Exposure area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, click the Auto Exposure button. Click the Auto Exposure button to automatically set the exposure for the photo. Correct the exposure of an image manually You can fine-tune the automatic adjustment using the Exposure adjustment controls. 1 Select a photo.
Set the image’s blacks Shadow detail and the importance of visual elements in shadow vary from image to image. In addition, some cameras are more capable of capturing shadow details than others. In some photos, such as an image of a person’s face in the shadow of an alley, the shadow is the most important visual element. In other photos, the details in the shadows have nothing to do with the main subject. For example, the shadow area of the image may obscure trash that would otherwise ruin a pristine image.
Adjust contrast, clarity, and saturation You use the Enhance adjustment controls to set the contrast, definition, saturation, and vibrancy. If you want to adjust the difference between the dark and bright areas of the image, you can modify the Contrast parameter. Before Contrast adjustment After Contrast adjustment When you want to add a little clarity and definition to an image without adding too much contrast, you use the Definition parameter controls.
You use the Vibrancy parameter controls when you want to add a bit of punch to the image without affecting skin tones. Before Vibrancy adjustment After Vibrancy adjustment (reduced saturation except for the skin tones) You can also brush the Enhance adjustment on specific areas of an image. For more information, see Apply brushed adjustments on page 228.
Adjust definition in an image The Definition parameter is useful for adding local contrast (adding contrast only to the areas of the image that need a contrast adjustment) as well as reducing haze. 1 Select a photo. 2 In the Enhance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, use the Definition parameter controls to add clarity and definition to the image. Use the Definition slider and value slider to add local contrast to the photo. A value greater than 0.
Adjust vibrancy in an image The Vibrancy parameter applies saturation to the image in a nonlinear manner. Colors that are already saturated are left alone, while saturation is added to all other colors. In addition, the Vibrancy parameter takes skin tones into account, leaving them untouched. This allows you to take a portrait and desaturate the image except for the skin tones. 1 Select a photo.
You use the Black Tint eyedropper to remove color casts from the shadows in your images. Before Black Tint adjustment After Black Tint adjustment You use the Gray Tint eyedropper to remove color casts from the midtones in your images. Before Gray Tint adjustment After Gray Tint adjustment You use the White Tint eyedropper to remove color casts from the highlights in your images.
Set the tint of the shadows in an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Click the Tint disclosure triangle in the Enhance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD to reveal the Tint color wheels, and select the Black Tint eyedropper. Click the disclosure triangle to reveal the Tint color wheels. Select the Black Tint eyedropper to activate the Loupe. The pointer changes to the Loupe, showing a magnified view of the target area.
Set the tint of the midtone values in an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Click the Tint disclosure triangle in the Enhance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD to reveal the Tint color wheels, and select the Gray Tint eyedropper. Click the disclosure triangle to reveal the Tint color wheels. Select the Gray Tint eyedropper to activate the Loupe. The pointer changes to the Loupe, showing a magnified view of the target area.
Set the tint of the highlight values in an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Click the Tint disclosure triangle in the Enhance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD to reveal the Tint color wheels, and select the White Tint eyedropper. Click the disclosure triangle to reveal the Tint color wheels. Select the White Tint eyedropper to activate the Loupe. The pointer changes to the Loupe, showing a magnified view of the target area.
Manually adjust the tint of the shadow, midtone, and highlight values in an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Click the Tint disclosure triangle in the Enhance area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, and specify the following settings: •• To adjust the tint of the shadows: Drag the Black point in the Black Tint color wheel. •• To adjust the tint of the midtones: Drag the Gray point in the Gray Tint color wheel.
Adjust the tonal curve of an image You use the Curves adjustment controls when you want to manually set the tonal values of the shadows, midtones, and highlights in an image using a tonal curve. Unlike the Levels adjustment controls, the Curves controls don’t reapportion the luminance values in the image by constraining the white and black points. Instead, the Curves controls precisely remap the position of the midtones relative to the white and black points.
When you want to automatically adjust the tonal curve of an image based on individual evaluations of the red, green, and blue channels, you use the Auto Curves Separate button. Red, green, and blue channels are adjusted based on an evaluation of each channel. The Auto Curves Separate button corrects the color cast in the image in addition to the contrast. Before Auto Curves Separate adjustment After Auto Curves Separate adjustment 1 Select a photo.
•• To adjust the tonal curve of an image based on an evaluation of each color channel: Click the Auto Curves Separate button. Click the Auto Curves Separate button to automatically set the tonal curve for the photo based on an evaluation of each color channel’s luminance values. The tonal curve of the image is adjusted. To fine-tune the tonal curve adjustment, see the following instructions.
3 Do one of the following: •• To modify both the contrast and the tint in the image: Choose RGB from the Channel pop-up menu. Choosing the RGB tonal curve allows you to manipulate the tonal curve of the red, green, and blue color channels combined. •• To manipulate the luminance of the combined red, green, and blue channels without affecting the tint: Choose Luminance from the Grayscale section of the Curves Action pop-up menu .
7 To set a point along the curve, do one of the following: •• Click the Add Point button and use the eyedropper tool to sample a portion of the image. Click the Add Point button to use the eyedropper tool to sample a portion of the photo and add a point to the tonal curve. Click the tonal curve to add a new point, and drag the new point to set the tonal value. Note: You can change the Loupe’s color value sample size by choosing an option from the Adjustment Action pop-up menu .
Use eyedropper tools to set black, gray, and white points You use the Black Point, Gray Point, and White Point eyedropper tools in the Curves adjustment controls when you want to have Aperture selectively modify the tonal values of the shadows, midtones, and highlights in an image automatically.
In some difficult cases, you can use the Black Point, Gray Point, and White Point eyedropper tools in combination with points that you manually place on the tonal curve to neutralize a tint or create the specific contrast you want in the image. 1 Select a photo. 2 If the Curves controls aren’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Curves from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu.
•• To set the gray point in an image: Select the Gray Point eyedropper tool to activate the Loupe, position the eyedropper over a midrange color that is as close as possible to medium gray, and click. Click the Gray Point eyedropper button to activate the Loupe.
•• To set the white point in an image: Select the White Point eyedropper tool to activate the Loupe, position the eyedropper over the lightest pixels in the image, and click. Click the White Point eyedropper button to activate the Loupe. By default, the Loupe is set to magnify the image to 100 percent (full size). If necessary, you can increase the magnification of the Loupe by choosing an increased magnification level from the Loupe pop-up menu. For more information, see Loupe overview on page 181.
You adjust the tonal curve of the green color channel when you want to remove green and magenta color casts in the image. Before Green Curves adjustment After Green Curves adjustment You adjust the tonal curve of the blue color channel when you want to remove blue and yellow color casts in the image.
2 To adjust the tonal curve of the red color channel, choose Red from the Channel pop-up menu, place points on the curve, and adjust the points as necessary to remove or accentuate red and cyan color casts. For information about placing points on the curve, see “Manually adjust the tonal curve of an image,” above. You can adjust the red tonal curve in the following ways: •• To add cyan to the shadows, removing red: Move the tonal curve down in the shadows.
When you want to adjust the brightness values in the highlight areas of the image without affecting the midtones and shadows, you adjust the Highlights parameter. Although the human eye is more sensitive to details in shadow areas than in highlight areas, such as snow, there is usually a fair amount of visual information that you can retrieve in the highlights using the Highlights parameter controls.
Adjust the highlights, shadows, and midtone contrast in an image 1 Select a photo. 2 In the Highlights & Shadows area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, specify the following settings: •• To recover details in the highlight areas of the image: Use the Highlights parameter controls. Use the Highlights slider and value slider to adjust the brightness values in the photo’s highlights.
2 In the Highlights & Shadows area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, specify the following settings: •• To recover details in the highlight areas of the image: Use the Highlights parameter controls. •• To recover details in the shadow areas of the image: Use the Shadows parameter controls.
There are two ways to perform an automatic levels adjustment. When you want to correct an image’s contrast without modifying its color cast, you use the Auto Levels Combined button to adjust levels based on the total luminance of the combined red, green, and blue color channels.
3 Do one of the following: •• To adjust levels based on the total luminance of the red, green, and blue channels combined: In the Levels area of the Adjustments inspector, choose Luminance from the Channel pop-up menu, and click the Auto Levels Combined button. Click the Auto Levels Combined button to automatically set the levels for the photo based on the combined luminance of all three color channels.
•• To adjust the white clipping point: Use the “Auto adjust White Clip” parameter controls. Use the Auto Adjust White Clip slider and value slider to add tolerance to Auto Levels adjustments when evaluating colors beyond white. Dragging the slider to the right increases the tolerance of Auto Levels adjustments to colors beyond the analyzed white point in the image.
You can also use the Gray Levels slider if you need to adjust the brightness values of the midtones while limiting the brightening effect in the black and white points. The brighter areas of shadows and the darker areas of highlights are affected, but the effect tapers off as it nears dark blacks and bright whites. Before Gray Levels adjustment After Gray Levels adjustment 1 Select a photo.
•• To adjust the image’s brightness values: Drag the Gray Levels slider until the image’s midtones are correct. Gray Levels slider You can also select the number in the Gray (G) field, and enter a value from 0.02 to 0.98 to correct the brightness values in the image’s midtones. By default, the gray point is set to 0.50. The tonal values for shadows and highlights in the image are updated, resulting in more defined blacks and highlight values as well as increased overall contrast.
mm To selectively adjust the brightness of the shadows and highlights in an image: Drag the Shadow Brightness Levels and Highlight Brightness Levels sliders until the brightness values of the shadows and highlights in the image are correct. Drag the Shadow Brightness Levels (on the left) and Highlight Brightness Levels sliders to selectively adjust the brightness of a photo.
You adjust the levels of the blue color channel when you want to remove blue and yellow color casts in the image. Before Blue Levels adjustment After Blue Levels adjustment (moved White Levels and Gray Levels sliders left) 1 If the Levels controls aren’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Levels from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu.
Selectively adjust the color values in an image You use the Color adjustment controls to selectively adjust the red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow colors in an image. Each color has individual Hue, Saturation, and Luminance controls. If you need to adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance of a color that doesn’t appear in the Color controls, you can use the Color eyedropper to identify a hue in the image that needs adjusting.
•• Luminance (L): Describes the brightness of the selected color. An increase in luminance brightens the selected color value. A maximum luminance adjustment results in pure white. Conversely, a decrease in luminance darkens the selected color. A minimum luminance adjustment results in pure black. L H S Adjust a color value in an image When you want to adjust the color values in an image, you must first identify the colors that have the most influence on the colors you want to change.
Note: You can also click the Expanded View button to expand the Color area to show the controls for all colors at the same time. Click the Expanded View button to view the controls for all colors at the same time. 4 To remap the hue of the selected color in the image, use the Hue controls. Use the Hue slider and value slider to remap the hue of the selected color.
5 To adjust the intensity of the selected color’s hue, use the Saturation parameter controls. Use the Saturation slider and value slider to correct the intensity of the hue of the selected color. 6 To adjust the brightness of the selected color, use the Luminance parameter controls. Use the Luminance slider and value slider to correct the brightness of the hue of the selected color. 7 To limit or expand the chromatic range of the adjustment on the selected color’s hue, use the Range parameter controls.
Adjust a custom color value in an image If you require a specific hue as a starting point for your color adjustment, you can use the Color eyedropper to identify a hue in the image. 1 Select a photo. 2 In the Color area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, click the color with the hue closest to the one you plan to adjust, and select the Color eyedropper tool. Click the Color eyedropper and select the color in the photo you want to adjust.
Manually convert an image to black and white You use the Black & White adjustment controls when you want more control over converting a color image to black and white than simply desaturating it gives you. The Black & White adjustment controls allow you to adjust tonal relationships and contrast by adjusting the red, green, and blue channels independently. The effects of a Black & White adjustment are similar to the effects of attaching a color filter to a camera lens and shooting black-and-white film.
Convert a color image to black and white with a color tint The Color Monochrome adjustment controls are useful when you want to perform a basic conversion from color to black and white while simultaneously applying a color tint to the image’s midtones. Before Color Monochrome adjustment After Color Monochrome adjustment (applied blue tint) Convert a color image to black and white and add a color tint 1 Select a photo.
Apply a sepia tint The Sepia Tone adjustment controls behave similarly to the Color Monochrome controls, except that the sepia color is already selected. Before Sepia Tone adjustment After Sepia Tone adjustment Apply a sepia tint to an image 1 Select a photo. 2 If the Sepia Tone controls aren’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Sepia Tone from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu.
Sharpen an image You use the Edge Sharpen controls to sharpen the detail in your image. Images shot with digital image sensors are often a bit soft in focus because of the demosaic filter applied by the camera’s processor. The Edge Sharpen controls adjust the luminance values in the image, increasing the contrast between light and dark pixels that touch, creating an “edge.” Increasing the contrast between these neighboring light and dark pixels gives the image a crisper, or sharper, appearance.
Sharpen an image using the Edge Sharpen controls 1 Select a photo. 2 If the Edge Sharpen controls aren’t shown in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Edge Sharpen from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu (or press Control-S), and specify the following settings: •• To adjust the strength of the Edge Sharpen adjustment: Use the Intensity parameter controls. Use the Intensity slider and value slider to adjust the strength of the sharpening adjustment. A value of 0.
3 Adjust the Falloff slider so that the edge sizes you want sharpened the most are accentuated. 4 Decrease the Intensity parameter value until the sharpening effect is appropriately subtle. Values below 0.5 usually work best. Sharpen an image using the legacy Sharpen controls You use the Sharpen adjustment controls when you need to modify Sharpen adjustment parameter settings that were applied to an image in a previous version of Aperture. 1 Select a photo.
The Gamma vignette is designed for artistic effect and applies a gamma adjustment to the affected pixels within the vignette. Because the Gamma vignette intensifies colors in the affected pixels, it creates a more pronounced vignette effect than the Exposure vignette. Before Gamma Vignette adjustment After Gamma Vignette adjustment Note: You can add a vignette to any image cropped in Aperture. The adjustment is applied after the image is cropped.
Apply specific Quick Brush adjustments Brush the Skin Smoothing adjustment on an image You use the Skin Smoothing Quick Brush adjustment to smooth a person’s skin by subtly blurring wrinkles and skin pores. Before Skin Smoothing Quick Brush adjustment After Skin Smoothing Quick Brush adjustment Smooth a person’s skin 1 Select a photo.
Brush the Dodge adjustment on an image You use the Dodge Quick Brush adjustment to lighten a specific area of an image. For example, you could emphasize a subject in the foreground of the image by making it slightly lighter than the background. Before Dodge adjustment After Dodge adjustment (lightened the hills in the foreground) Selectively lighten an image 1 Select a photo.
Brush the Burn adjustment on an image You use the Burn Quick Brush adjustment to darken a specific area of an image. For example, if you want to obscure a visual element in the shadows of the image without using the Levels or Curves adjustment to crush the blacks (changing the tonality of all shadows in the image), you use the Burn Quick Brush adjustment. For information about Levels and Curves adjustments, see Adjust the levels of an image on page 295 and Adjust the tonal curve of an image on page 282.
Brush the Polarize adjustment on an image You use the Polarize Quick Brush adjustment to deepen colors in a specific area of an image by darkening the shadows and midtones without affecting the black and white points. The Polarize Quick Brush adjustment uses a Multiply blend to create an effect similar to that of a polarizing filter.
Brush the Intensify Contrast adjustment on an image You use the Intensify Contrast Quick Brush adjustment to correct shadow areas of the image that appear washed out. The Intensify Contrast adjustment increases the contrast between pure black and 50 percent gray in brushed areas of the image, and is equivalent to applying an Overlay blend.
Brush the Tint adjustment on an image You use the Tint Quick Brush adjustment to shift the tint in a specific area of an image. For example, if an object in your image has a cyan tint that you want to neutralize, you can add magenta to just that object without changing the overall tint of the image. Before Tint adjustment After Tint adjustment (changed the color of three flower petals) Note: You can also apply a Tint adjustment by brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image.
Brush the Contrast adjustment on an image You use the Contrast Quick Brush adjustment to modify the contrast in a specific area of an image. Before Contrast adjustment After Contrast adjustment (added contrast to elk and grass) Note: You can also apply a Contrast adjustment by brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image. However, brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image applies the Contrast, Definition, Saturation, Vibrancy, and Tint parameter settings.
Brush the Saturation adjustment on an image You use the Saturation Quick Brush adjustment to modify the saturation of the colors in a specific area of an image. Before Saturation adjustment After Saturation adjustment (added saturation to the green trees in the background) Note: You can also apply a Saturation adjustment by brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image. However, brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image applies the Contrast, Definition, Saturation, Vibrancy, and Tint parameter settings.
Brush the Definition adjustment on an image You use the Definition Quick Brush adjustment to add clarity and reduce haze in a specific area of an image, without adding too much contrast. Before Definition adjustment After Definition adjustment (added definition to the flower in the foreground) Note: You can also apply a Definition adjustment by brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image.
Brush the Vibrancy adjustment on an image You use the Vibrancy Quick Brush adjustment to add saturation just to desaturated colors in a specific area of an image. Skin tones are not affected. Before Vibrancy adjustment After Vibrancy adjustment (added saturation to desaturated colors in the green wave) Note: You can also apply a Vibrancy adjustment by brushing the Enhance adjustment on an image.
Brush the Blur adjustment on an image You use the Blur Quick Brush adjustment to soften a specific area of an image. Before Blur adjustment After Blur adjustment (blurred the background) Blur portions of an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Do one of the following: •• In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Quick Brushes > Blur from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu. •• In the tool strip, choose Blur from the Quick Brush pop-up menu .
Brush the Sharpen adjustment on an image You use the Sharpen Quick Brush adjustment to fine-tune details in a specific area of an image. Before Sharpen adjustment After Sharpen adjustment Selectively sharpen an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Do one of the following: •• In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Quick Brushes > Sharpen from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu. •• In the tool strip, choose Sharpen from the Quick Brush pop-up menu .
Brush the Halo Reduction adjustment on an image You use the Halo Reduction Quick Brush adjustment to remove the blue and purple fringes that are occasionally produced with certain lenses when an image is overexposed. Selectively blue and purple fringing in an image 1 Select a photo. 2 Do one of the following: •• In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Quick Brushes > Halo Reduction from the Add Adjustment pop-up menu.
4 Brush the adjustment on the area of the image where you want to reduce the digital noise. Modify the Noise Reduction adjustment after it has been applied to an image 1 Select a photo with the Noise Reduction adjustment applied to it. 2 In the Noise Reduction area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, adjust the following settings: •• To specify the area over which the Noise Reduction adjustment is applied: Use the Radius parameter controls.
Create an effect 1 Select a photo with the adjustment parameter settings you want to save. 2 At the top of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Save as Effect from the Effects pop-up menu. Choose Save as Effect from the Effects pop-up menu. 3 In the Effect Presets dialog, enter a name for the new effect, and click OK. Enter a name for the effect here.
Apply an effect to an image When you apply an effect to an image, the adjustment controls and parameter values update to reflect the settings saved in the effect. If you prefer, you can use an effect as a starting point in your image adjustment workflow and then fine-tune the effect after it’s applied to the image. 1 Select a photo.
Modify effects 1 In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Edit Effects from the Effects pop-up menu. 2 In the Effect Presets dialog, do any of the following: •• To remove an adjustment from an effect: Select the effect you want to modify, click the Remove button (–) beside each adjustment you want removed from the selected effect, and click OK. Click the Remove button to remove an adjustment from the selected effect.
•• To reorder effects: Drag the effects into the order you want, and click OK. When you drag an effect, a blue bar indicates where the effect will be placed. Drag an effect to its new position. A blue bar indicates where it will be placed. The effects list in the Effects pop-up menu is updated to match the order of effects in the Effect Presets dialog. •• To delete an effect: Select the effect you want to delete, and press the Delete key.
1 In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Edit Effects from the Effects pop-up menu. 2 In the Effect Presets dialog, choose New Preset Group from the Effect Action pop-up menu . 3 Give the new effect group a name and press Return. 4 Drag effects into the effect group. Drag effects into an effect group. The effects are consolidated into the effect group and can be accessed by clicking the disclosure triangle to the left of the effect group’s name. 5 Click OK.
Adjust how Aperture decodes RAW images RAW Fine Tuning controls overview You can modify how OS X decodes RAW files using the adjustment controls in the RAW Fine Tuning area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD. OS X characterizes the RAW file format for each digital camera supported by Aperture. This calibration data usually results in the optimal decoding of the RAW image files for a particular camera.
Use the Boost controls OS X characterizes each digital camera’s RAW file format to determine an optimal contrast setting. The Boost controls allow you to set the strength of the contrast when the RAW file is decoded. The Hue Boost controls are used to maintain the hues in the image as the contrast is increased using the Boost controls. When the Hue Boost parameter is set to 1.00 and the Boost parameter is set to 1.
Adjust sharpening applied during RAW decoding 1 Select a RAW photo. Note: If the RAW Fine Tuning controls don’t appear in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, the selected image is from a previous version of Aperture. You must first reprocess the image using the most current RAW image processing. For more information, see Reprocess photos from earlier versions of Aperture on page 49.
Adjust moire reduction during RAW decoding 1 Select a RAW photo. Note: If the RAW Fine Tuning controls don’t appear in the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, the selected image is from a previous version of Aperture. You must first reprocess the image using the most current RAW image processing. For more information, see Reprocess photos from earlier versions of Aperture on page 49.
3 Adjust how the noise reduction is applied to edges using the Edges slider and value slider. Use the Edges slider and value slider to adjust how the sharpening effect is applied to the edges during the RAW decoding process. A value greater than 0.00 intensifies the sharpening effect on hard edges. Work with DNG files In Aperture, you can adjust how OS X decodes RAW images in the DNG format.
Clear the camera default settings To remove a RAW Fine Tuning adjustment preset from the list of camera default settings, you have to delete it. 1 In the RAW Fine Tuning area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Apple from the Action pop-up menu to make it the camera default setting, and then choose Edit Effects from the Action pop-up menu.
Use the pointer to sample the color values in an image 1 In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose Show Camera/Color Info from the Adjustment Action pop-up menu . 2 Place the pointer over the area of the image where you want to sample the color values, and view the values at the top of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD.
Choose a color value option for the Color meter mm In the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, choose a color value option from the Adjustment Action pop-up menu . Choose a color value option here. Choose a color value sample size for the Color meter You can set the sample size (pixel area) Aperture uses to determine color values.
Use modifier keys to identify color clipping When performing adjustments, it’s useful to know if you’re clipping one or more color channels and thereby losing important image details. In Aperture, you can use modifier keys to get instant feedback on channel clipping when using controls in the Exposure and Levels adjustments. Color overlays appear on the image when you press the Command key and drag the sliders to indicate that any, all, or a combination of color channels have been clipped.
The following table lists the color overlays and the corresponding color channels that have been clipped by the adjustment parameter setting.
Adjustments Color clipping information Black Point parameter (Exposure adjustment) •• Black Levels parameter (Levels adjustment) •• •• •• White: Indicates no shadow clipping in any color channel. 66% gray: Indicates shadow clipping in one color channel. 33% gray: Indicates shadow clipping in two color channels. Black: Indicates shadow clipping in all three color channels.
About evaluating exposure Histograms are good tools for evaluating exposure. For example, a series of peaks in the darker side of the histogram often indicates an underexposed image that consists mainly of dark pixels. A series of peaks in the center of the histogram often indicates a balanced exposure because a majority of the pixels are concentrated within the midtones of the histogram. They’re not too dark or too bright.
About evaluating tonality and contrast Although histogram graphs are good tools for evaluating an image’s exposure, you shouldn’t interpret histograms for exposure information only, because the shape of the histogram is also influenced by the tonality in the scene. You need to take the subject of the image into account when evaluating its histogram. For example, images shot at night naturally have a majority of peaks in the darker side of the histogram.
Likewise, histograms can depict a lack of contrast in an image. For example, an image of a rainbow in the fog lacks contrast. Without directional lighting, there aren’t any highlights or shadows in the image. In this case, the peaks of the histogram are concentrated in the center and don’t come close to either the dark or bright side.
8 Print photos Printing overview You can use Aperture to print single photos, contact sheets, webpages, books, and photos selected in the Light Table, as well as create PDF files that you can send others for review. Aperture also offers a variety of printing options, including using a standard, roll, or custom paper size and assigning a specific ColorSync profile. The easiest way to print photos is to use one of the Aperture print presets in the Print dialog.
When you select a print preset, the print options area changes to show the print controls available for that preset. For example, when you choose the Contact Sheets preset, the print options show print controls for setting up a contact sheet. Select the Contact Sheets preset to see the print controls for printing contact sheets. If additional print controls are available, a More Options button appears under the print options area.
Print individual photos To print photos, you begin by selecting the photo or photos you want to print in the Browser. You can print: •• Individual photos, one photo per page •• An individual photo multiple times on the same page To print individual photos, choose the Standard preset or one of the presets in the Custom Presets area of the Print dialog. You then choose the Aperture print options you want and finally use the OS X print dialog to start printing.
6 Confirm that the settings in the OS X Print dialog are correct. Important: Make sure the paper type matches the color profile selected in the Aperture Print dialog. If you chose Printer Managed, make sure to enable your printer’s color management. For more information about enabling color management on your printer, see the documentation that came with your printer. 7 Click Print. Each high-resolution photo is printed on a single sheet of paper.
Manually adjust the placement of a single photo on a page You can adjust the layout and margins of your prints using the Layout and Margins controls, which are available when you click More Options in the Print dialog. You can also manually adjust the margins and spacing in the Preview area of the Print dialog. When printing a single photo with a border or dimensions smaller than the paper size, you can adjust the placement of the photo on the page by dragging the margin lines in the Preview area.
Note: The margin lines are not visible unless you place the pointer over the Preview area of the Print dialog. 1 In the Browser, select the photo or photos you want to print. 2 Choose File > Print Images (or press Command-P). 3 In the Print dialog, do one of the following: •• Select a print preset that prints the same photo multiple times on the same sheet of paper. •• Select a print preset for a contact sheet.
4 In the print options area, specify the following settings: •• Choose a printer from the Printer pop-up menu. •• If necessary, choose a color profile from the Color Profile pop-up menu. Note: Printer Managed, the default setting, is the appropriate choice in most cases. If you are outputting to a specific device profile or if you have color calibrated your printer, you should choose an appropriate profile from this pop-up menu.
Create a PDF file of a book 1 In the Library inspector, select a book album. 2 Choose File > Print Book (or press Command-P). 3 In the Print dialog, choose Save as PDF from the PDF pop-up menu. The Save dialog appears. 4 Enter a name for the PDF file in the Save As field, choose a location to save the file from the pop-up menu, then click Save. Print Light Table arrangements You can print an arrangement of images in the Light Table.
Create and modify print presets At times, you may want to modify a print preset in the Custom Presets area of the Print dialog. There are two ways to do this: •• Duplicate an existing preset, then modify and save the duplicate. •• Modify an existing preset, then save it. (Note that when you modify an existing preset without duplicating it first, saving the modifications will overwrite the original preset.
Proof images and manage color The printer, paper type, and color profile settings all affect the way your photos are printed. Onscreen proofing allows you to check the color in your photos, before you print them. To use onscreen proofing, choose the proofing profile that most closely matches the characteristics of the final output device, and then turn on onscreen proofing. When onscreen proofing is turned on, the photo is converted using the selected profile before it is sent to the printer.
Export photos 9 Exporting photos overview Using Aperture, you can export photos (both versions and copies of originals), projects, albums, folders, audio clips, and video clips in a variety of ways. When you export photo versions, you can export them in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD file formats. You can rename files, resize and adjust images, and include metadata such as EXIF information, IPTC information, and keywords. You can also apply ColorSync profiles and watermarks to the versions you’re exporting.
Export by dragging You can export photo, audio, and video versions by dragging them from the Browser to the desktop or any location in the Finder. You can do the same with projects, albums, and folders in the Library inspector. (Flickr and Facebook albums cannot be exported by dragging.) When you export a photo by dragging, you’re exporting its optimized JPEG preview image (at the quality and size specified by the Previews settings in Aperture preferences).
•• Export Aperture projects, albums, and folders: You can select parts of your library, such as specific projects, folders, or albums and export them as a new Aperture library. You can then open that separate library in Aperture or transfer that library to another computer that has Aperture installed. •• Export using third-party plug-ins: You can also use third-party plug-ins to automate the export process.
5 Do one of the following: •• Choose None from the Subfolder Format pop-up menu to store the versions as separate files in the selected folder. •• Choose a folder name preset from the Subfolder Format pop-up menu to have Aperture create a hierarchy of subfolders with specific folder names to hold your files. For more information, see Export photos into named or numbered folders on page 374.
7 If you want to include audio attachments with your exported original files, select the Include Audio Attachments checkbox. 8 If you want to be notified when the export process is complete, select the “Show alert when finished” checkbox. 9 When you’re ready to export your files, click Export Originals. Copies of the originals for the selected photos are exported to the location you specified.
5 Choose a name format for your files from the Name Format pop-up menu. If you choose a Custom Name format, enter your custom name in the Custom Name field. For more information on renaming audio and video files at export, see Rename photos at export on page 371. 6 If you want to be notified when the export process is complete, select the “Show alert when finished” checkbox. 7 When you’re ready to export files, click Export Versions.
Export photos using a third-party plug-in Some applications, social networking sites, and photography services supply plug-ins that allow Aperture to export files automatically with the format and settings the application or service requires. For example, a stock photography service or print lab may require that photos be transferred at a specific size, in a specific file format, or with particular types of metadata.
Create a new export preset If none of the predefined export presets suits your needs, you can create your own export preset. An easy way to create a new export preset is to copy an existing preset and then modify the copy. 1 Choose Aperture > Presets > Image Export. The Image Export dialog appears. Select a preset on which to base your new preset. Click the Add button to add a new preset. 2 Select an export preset on which to base your new preset, then click the Add button (+).
Delete an export preset in the Image Export dialog You can delete an export preset when you no longer need it. 1 Select the preset, then click the Remove button (–). Click the Remove button to delete the selected preset. 2 In the dialog that appears, click Delete. The preset disappears from the Preset Name list. 3 Click OK. The preset is permanently deleted. Note: If you click the Delete button and then click Cancel, the preset reappears the next time you open the Image Export dialog.
Set image resolution when exporting You can set the image resolution you want for exported photos in the Image Export dialog in several ways: by specifying a dpi setting, by specifying a percentage of the original, or by specifying photo dimensions in inches, centimeters, or pixels. First you select an export preset, and then you specify a resolution for that preset. Specify the dpi setting for exported photos in an export preset 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose Aperture > Presets > Image Export.
Create an export preset constraining photos to a specific size at export 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose Aperture > Presets > Image Export. •• Choose File > Export > Versions (or press Shift-Command-E), then choose Edit from the Export Preset pop-up menu. The Image Export dialog appears. Choose a Size To option and enter the corresponding values here. 2 Select an export preset or create a new one. For more information on creating export presets, see Work with export presets on page 364.
Adjust images at export You can apply final adjustments to images at export by choosing ColorSync profiles, setting gamma adjustments, and applying black point compensation. Because these adjustments are applied at export, the photo versions and originals in the Aperture library are not changed. Only exported files receive image adjustments applied with an export preset.
Add a watermark at export A watermark is a visible graphic overlay that is applied to a photo. Photographers often use watermarks to indicate that the photos are protected by a copyright and to discourage others from inappropriately using their photos. You can import a graphics file and add it to your photos as a watermark. Use the following guidelines to create high-quality watermarks for your photos: •• Save your watermark as a PSD (Photoshop) file with a transparent background.
Create an image export preset that includes metadata with exported photos 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose Aperture > Presets > Image Export. •• Choose File > Export > Versions (or press Shift-Command-E), then choose Edit from the Export Presets pop-up menu. The Image Export dialog appears. 2 In the Image Export dialog, select the export preset you want to use to export your photos, or create a new one. For more information about creating export presets, see Work with export presets on page 364.
Create a new name format If none of the preset name formats meets your needs, you can create a new name format. For example, you could create a name format that uses a custom name, the index number, and the date. 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose Aperture > Presets > File Naming. •• Choose File > Export > Versions (or press Shift-Command-E), then choose Edit from the Name Format pop-up menu. The File Naming dialog appears.
You can also type characters directly in the Format field. If necessary, enter relevant naming information in the fields provided. The name format example automatically updates as you change the name elements. Name elements appear here. Remove a name element by selecting it and pressing Delete. 5 When you’re satisfied with the new name format, click OK. The new name format appears in the Name Format pop-up menu.
3 In the Format field, select and delete the spaces or characters between the name elements. If you wish, you can also add spaces or characters between name elements. 4 Click OK. Export photos into named or numbered folders When you export versions and originals, you can have Aperture place the files individually into a selected folder or create subfolders to hold the files. You do this by choosing a folder name format from the Subfolder Format pop-up menu in the Export dialog.
5 Enter a custom name in the Custom Name field, if you wish. Note: The Custom Name field is dimmed unless “Custom Name” is one of the elements in the Format field. 6 Click OK. Your new folder name format now appears in the Subfolder Format pop-up menu. Reset the starting number of a counter in a folder name preset When using a counter in your folder name format, you can specify the starting number and the number of digits, from 1 to 6, that appear in the counter.
Create slideshows 10 Slideshows overview With Aperture, you can easily create and present slideshows of your photos. You can use two main methods to create slideshows in Aperture: •• Create a slideshow quickly: You can quickly create a slideshow from a selection of photos using a slideshow preset. Slideshow presets are collections of predefined slideshow settings that determine the overall look of your slideshow and how your photos appear on the screen.
You can also create your own custom presets. For example, to prepare for a presentation, you could create two new slideshow presets: one for your presentation and the other for your question-and-answer period. The presentation slideshow can be manually controlled, allowing you to move through the photos at your own pace.
2 Choose File > Play Slideshow (or press Shift-S). The Play Slideshow dialog appears. 3 Choose a preset from the Slideshow Preset pop-up menu. Note: Additional slideshow presets appear in the Slideshow Preset pop-up menu for use in Aperture when iPhoto ’11 is installed. When you choose a preset from the Slideshow Preset pop-up menu, a preview of the preset plays below the pop-up menu. 4 Click Start.
Create and modify slideshow presets You create a new slideshow preset by duplicating an existing preset and then modifying the duplicate. You can also add DRM-free music from your iTunes music library to accompany your slideshow. Create a new slideshow preset 1 Choose Aperture > Presets > Slideshow. 2 In the Slideshow dialog, select a preset on which to model your new preset, and click the Add button (+) in the lower-left corner. Select a preset in the list. Click this button to add a new preset.
Modify an existing preset 1 Choose Aperture > Presets > Slideshow. The Slideshow dialog appears. 2 Select the preset you want to modify in the Preset Name list. 3 Modify the slideshow preset’s settings as appropriate. •• Theme pop-up menu: Choose a theme for your slideshow preset. •• “Show title slide” checkbox: Select this checkbox to display a title slide at the beginning of the slideshow. Aperture automatically generates the title using the name of the item selected in the Library inspector.
Modify a preset to add music 1 Select a set of photos to be displayed in your slideshow. 2 Choose File > Play Slideshow (or press Shift-S). 3 In the Play Slideshow dialog, choose Edit from the Slideshow Preset pop-up menu. 4 In the Slideshow dialog, do one of the following: •• Select a slideshow preset to modify. •• Create a new slideshow preset. For more information about creating and modifying presets, see the instructions above.
Stage 2: Create a slideshow album Create a slideshow album in the Library inspector from the selection of photos and video clips in the Browser, and choose a theme for the slideshow. Drag additional photos and video clips into the slideshow album as necessary. Note: The Classic and Ken Burns slideshow themes are the most customizable. Use the dialog that appears when you create a new slideshow album to preview the slideshow themes that come with Aperture.
Create a slideshow and choose a theme To create a full-featured slideshow using the Slideshow Editor, you must first create an album that holds the slideshow’s photos. The easiest way to do this is to select photos you want to appear in the slideshow and then create an album. You can also create an empty slideshow album and then add the photos you want. When you first create a slideshow album, Aperture asks you to choose a theme.
4 Click Choose Theme. The new slideshow album containing the selected photos appears in the Library inspector, and the Slideshow Editor appears above the Browser. If you want to rename the slideshow album, double-click the slideshow album’s name in the Library inspector and enter a new name. The new slideshow album appears in the Library inspector. Create a new, empty slideshow album 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > New > Slideshow.
Change the theme for an existing slideshow 1 In the Slideshow Editor, click the Theme button. Click the Theme button to change a slideshow’s theme. 2 In the dialog that appears, select a theme from the list and click Choose Theme. Change slideshow settings You can change the settings that determine how your slideshow looks and plays. For example, you can set the aspect ratio for the slideshow, change the background color, set the length of time slides appear, and add titles, transitions, and effects.
Modify individual slides 1 Select a slideshow album in the Library inspector. 2 Select photos in the Browser. 3 Click the Slideshow Settings button the Selected Slides button. in the lower-right corner of the Slideshow Editor, and click 4 In the Selected Slides pane, modify settings for the selected photos. Set the slideshow aspect ratio and crop Determining the aspect ratio of the slideshow is the first setting you need to address.
Note: The Crop controls are not available in all themes. 1 Select a slideshow album in the Library inspector. 2 Select a photo in the Browser. 3 Click the Slideshow Settings button in the lower-right corner of the Slideshow Editor, click the Selected Slides button, and select the Crop checkbox. Choose how you want the photo cropped from this pop-up menu. Make sure this checkbox is selected. 4 Choose Fill Frame from the Crop pop-up menu. 5 Click the Edit button to the right of the Crop pop-up menu.
5 If you want to choose a specific font and font size for the slideshow title, click the Fonts button (with an A) and select a font and font size from the Fonts window. 6 If you want to change the font color for the slideshow title, do one of the following: •• Click the “Show title” color well, and select a color from the Colors window. •• Click the disclosure button to the right of the color well, and select a color from the pop-up color palette.
6 To change the position of the slide text, drag it to a new position on the screen. Yellow alignment guides appear to help you center the text horizontally and vertically or align the text in the upper third or lower third of the photo. Yellow lines appear to help you position the text. Add text to an individual photo in the slideshow You can add text to individual photos in your slideshow using the Text controls.
5 To change the color of the text, do one of the following: •• Click the Text color well, and select a color from the Colors window. •• Click the disclosure button to the right of the color well, and select a color from the pop-up color palette. 6 To change the font and font size for the slide text, click the Text Fonts button and select a font and font size from the Fonts window. 7 To choose where the text appears on the screen, drag the text to a new position.
3 In the Slideshow Editor, click the Slide Duration button. An overlay displays the length of time the slide is set to play. Click the Slide Duration button. Controls appear over the photo in the Slideshow Editor that allow you to change the duration of each slide. 4 Press the Space bar to play the slideshow. As the playhead moves over the selected slide in the Browser, the duration counter in the overlay counts the number of seconds.
4 If you chose a transition that can be applied in more than one direction, click a transition direction button to set the direction of the transition. The preview area shows the angle at which animated transitions enter and exit the frame. Note: The transition direction buttons appear dimmed if you choose a transition that can be applied in only one direction. 5 Set the duration of the transition in seconds using the Speed value slider.
4 In the Selected Slides pane, select the “Photo effect” checkbox and choose an effect from the pop-up menu. Make sure this checkbox is selected. The effect is applied to the selected slides. To turn off the effect, deselect the “Photo effect” checkbox. Apply a Ken Burns effect to a slide Some themes, such as Classic and Ken Burns, allow you to use a Ken Burns effect when displaying slides. The Ken Burns effect zooms in to or out of a photo while panning across its longest dimension.
5 To specify where panning begins and ends, click the Edit button to the right of the Crop pop-up menu. The Start and End overlays appear in the Slideshow Editor. 6 Drag the Start (green) and End (red) overlays over the parts of the photo where you want the panning to begin and end. The yellow line between the center marks of the Start and End overlays indicates the panning path of the Ken Burns effect. The End overlay is red. The Start overlay is green.
Adjust the volume of video slides In Aperture, you can add video clips as individual slides in your slideshow. You work with video clips in the Slideshow Editor and Browser in the same way that you work with photos. However, there are additional controls in the Selected Slides pane of the Slideshow Editor for setting the volume of a video clip. For example, you can mute the audio clip in the main audio track while the video clip is playing.
•• Drag a song or an audio clip from the Audio browser to a specific slide in the Browser: Dragging an audio clip to a slide creates a secondary audio track, which appears as a green bar below the slides in the Browser. Clips in the secondary audio track always play on top of audio clips in the main audio track.
3 In the Audio browser, select the source for your audio, and then select a song or an audio clip. Select the source for your audio in this list. Select a song or an audio clip in this area. Audio Browser button 4 If you wish, preview the audio by clicking the Play button . 5 Drag the selected song or audio clip to the Browser’s background. The background of the Browser turns green, indicating that the selected song or audio clip is applied to the slideshow’s main audio track.
Add an audio clip to the secondary audio track in your slideshow 1 Select a slideshow album in the Library inspector. 2 If the Audio browser controls are not shown in the Slideshow Editor, click the Audio Browser button . 3 In the Audio browser, select the source for your audio, and then select a song or an audio clip. Select the source for your audio in this list. Select a song or an audio clip in this area. Audio Browser button 4 If you wish, preview the audio by clicking the Play button .
A green bar appears at the bottom of the Browser to indicate that the audio clip has been added to the secondary audio track. When the playhead reaches the secondary audio track, the audio clip in that track plays over any audio clip in the main audio track. Drag the song or audio clip to where you want the secondary audio to begin. The green bar indicates a clip in the secondary audio track. 6 To add additional audio clips to the secondary audio track, repeat steps 3 through 5.
The pointer changes to a hand, indicating that you can drag the audio clip. The hand icon appears when you drag the audio clip to a new position. Add a fade-in or fade-out to an audio clip in the secondary audio track 1 Select a slideshow album in the Library inspector. 2 In the Browser, select the clip in the secondary audio track to which you want to apply a fade-in. 3 Do one of the following: •• Choose Adjust Audio from the Slideshow Action pop-up menu •• In the Browser, double-click the audio clip.
You can also click the left or right arrow in the value slider, or drag in the value field. Use this checkbox and the controls below to change or mute the volume of clips in the main audio track. A setting of 0% mutes the main audio track. To reset any audio adjustments you’ve made, click the Revert All button. Fit the slideshow to the duration of the main audio track You can set the slideshow to fit the duration of the main audio track.
View your slideshows in Aperture You can view your slideshow in one of two ways in Aperture: in full-screen mode or in the Slideshow Editor. Play Slideshow button Preview Slideshow button Slideshow Action pop-up menu Preview your slideshow 1 Select a slideshow album in the Library inspector. 2 In the Slideshow Editor, do one of the following: •• To play your slideshow in the Slideshow Editor: Click the Preview Slideshow button, or press the Space bar.
5 If you want Aperture to send a copy of the slideshow movie to iTunes, select the “Automatically send slideshow to iTunes” checkbox. 6 If you want to be notified when the export process is complete, select the “Show alert when finished” checkbox. 7 Click Export.
11 Create books Creating books overview Using the book designs and page layouts included in Aperture, you can print outstanding portfolios of your work that show your photos in their best light. You can order printed books of your photos using the Apple print vendor service, which provides excellent printed results and direct delivery to you or your clients. You can also print your own custom books on a color printer or create files that you can hand off to a print vendor.
Plan your book The amount of planning and work involved in creating a book varies with the type of project you’re undertaking. If you’re creating wedding photo albums, you may be primarily concerned with creating a reusable book design into which you can quickly place photos that tell the wedding story. The end result may be one or several printed copies per project.
If you routinely produce printed albums, you can create a book album that you can copy and reuse with each new project. After setting up master pages and individual page layouts, you can copy the book album to another project and then substitute the new photos, increasing your publishing productivity greatly. You can then customize certain pages, such as your cover, to provide any unique touches you like.
Change the theme for your book It’s important to choose the theme you want at the beginning of a project. Although you can change themes after you start a project and Aperture will attempt to convert your book structure to the new theme’s master pages, you may need to redo some of your work to make up for differences between themes. It’s not recommended that you complete a book and then change themes to see it with different layouts. WARNING: It’s possible to lose text when you change themes.
View a particular page in a book mm Use the scroll gesture in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor to scroll to a specific page, then click the page to select it. Click to select the page you want in the Pages pane. Use the scroll gesture to scroll through the pages in your book. You can also quickly navigate through your pages by clicking the Previous Page and Next Page buttons.
mm To reduce or enlarge the display of your pages: Drag the Display Size slider left or right. mm To return your page view to a size that fits within the Book Layout Editor: Click the Scale to Fit button. mm To change the page view to show the actual size of the page: Click the Actual Size button. Place photos in a book After you’ve created a book album with photos and chosen a theme, it’s time to place photos on the book’s pages.
View unplaced photos After a photo is placed in the book, its Browser thumbnail is marked with a number to show how many times the photo appears on the pages of the book. The number indicates the number of times a photo has been placed in a book. In a long book with many photos, it can at times be difficult to know which photos have been placed in a book. To help you work efficiently, you can click the Show Unplaced Images button to see only the photos that remain unplaced.
Note: You can’t select and use the Lift, Stamp, Rotate, and adjustment tools in the tool strip when using the Book Layout Editor. To use these tools to make a change to a photo in your book, select the photo in the Browser, then click the Show Viewer button. The selected photo appears in the Viewer where you can make image adjustments. Click the Show Viewer button again to return to the Book Layout Editor.
Duplicate pages in a book If you’ve made changes to a page and you want to use that page again in your book, you can duplicate it. Or, you might duplicate a page and then make small modifications to it, keeping both the new page design and the original for later use. 1 In the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor, select the page or pages you want to duplicate. You can Shift-click pages in the Pages pane to select multiple pages. 2 Do one of the following: •• Choose Edit > Duplicate.
Automatically create new pages Aperture can automatically add pages to a book to accommodate the unplaced photos or a selecton of photos in the Browser. Aperture creates the number of pages needed to hold the remaining unplaced photos. Set Master Page pop-up menu Book Action pop-up menu Remove Pages button Add Pages pop-up menu Distribute unplaced photos in pages created automatically by Aperture 1 Arrange the book album’s photos in the Browser in the order that you want them to appear in the book.
Aperture adds the unplaced photos to new pages and places them at the end of your book. All the new pages are based on the selected master page. If you do not want the new pages to appear at the end of the book, drag them to the position in the book that you prefer in the Pages pane. For more information, see Work with pages on page 415. Distribute selected photos in new pages based on a master page 1 To show master pages, choose Show Master Pages from the Book Action pop-up menu the Book Layout Editor.
Add a metadata index to your book mm Choose Create Index from the Book Action pop-up menu in the Book Layout Editor. Aperture adds metadata index pages to the end of your book and updates the index with the metadata information from your photos. You can change the metadata that appears in the index by selecting metadata boxes and changing the metadata format using the Set Metadata Format pop-up menu. Remove pages from a book You can remove pages from a book.
To choose whether your book has a softcover or hardcover design, you click one of the book cover buttons. mm Click the Hardcover or Softcover button in the Book Layout Editor. If you don’t plan to purchase printed books from the Apple print vendor, you may want to employ a graphic designer to create the front and back cover for you, or you can design the cover yourself using a graphics application. Apply a master page design to a page You select a design for your page by applying a master page layout.
Remove a background image 1 Select the page in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor. 2 Do one of the following: •• Click the page background to select the image, then press the Delete key to remove the image. •• Choose No Background from the Set Background pop-up menu. Note: The Set Background pop-up menu is not available for all themes. Use page numbers in a book Aperture provides automatic page numbering in your books. Each theme offers page numbers in preset positions on the page.
3 Choose Add Photo Box from the Add Box pop-up menu (+) next to the Edit Layout button. When the photo box appears, you can drag it to a new position and resize it. Remove photo boxes from a page After creating a book page and applying a master page design, you may want to remove one or more photo boxes from the page. You can choose a different master page design that has fewer photo boxes, or you can manually remove photo boxes from the page.
•• To change a photo box to a 2:3 portrait aspect ratio: Choose Portrait 2:3. •• To change a photo box to a 3:4 portrait aspect ratio: Choose Portrait 3:4. •• To change a photo box to a square aspect ratio: Choose Square. •• To create a photo box that fits the cropping of the current photo in the box: Choose Photo Aspect Ratio. Arrange photo boxes on the page You can resize and reposition photo boxes on a book page.
Cut the contents of selected photo boxes, placing the contents in the Clipboard 1 In the Book Layout Editor, click the Edit Content button, if it’s not already selected. 2 Select the photo box or boxes whose contents you want to cut. 3 Choose Edit > Cut Content. Remove the contents of selected photo boxes without saving them in the Clipboard 1 In the Book Layout Editor, click the Edit Content button, if it’s not already selected. 2 Select the photo box or boxes whose contents you want to remove.
Add map boxes to a book page If you’ve added location information to your photos using Places, you can add a map to a book page showing the locations where the surrounding photos were shot. In addition, you can define a route between locations to illustrate the journey between destinations. Note: The Map box feature is available only in certain book themes. For more information about book themes, see Create a book album on page 406.
Add a location to the map By default, the map automatically displays the locations where the photos that surround it were captured, provided they have location information assigned to them. However, you can also add and remove locations that appear on the map using the Map Options HUD. 1 If necessary, double-click the map in the Book Layout Editor. 2 In the Map Options HUD, click the Add button (+) . A new, untitled location appears. An Untitled location appears. Click the Add button (+).
Remove a location from the map 1 If necessary, double-click the map in the Book Layout Editor. 2 In the Map Options HUD, do one of the following: •• To temporarily remove a location from the map: Deselect the checkbox next to the location’s name. •• To permanently remove a location from the map: Select the location’s name, then click the Remove button (–) . Deselect the location’s checkbox to temporarily remove it, or... ...click the Remove button (–) to permanently remove it.
Set the path of the direction lines in the map When you show direction lines on the map, they may not initially connect locations in a way that matches the route you intended. You set the path of the direction lines by rearranging the order of the locations in the Map Options HUD. 1 If necessary, double-click the map in the Book Layout Editor. 2 In the Map Options HUD, drag the locations into the order in which you want the direction lines to appear on the map, from top to bottom.
Work with text Place text on the page As you work with your book layout, you can add text and position it on the page. You can make text changes to individual pages in your book, or you can change master pages to create template pages with custom text styles and layouts. When you want to add text to a book page and need another text box, you can add one and position it anywhere on the page. Master page designs provide text boxes that you can select and enter text in.
Change the number of text columns in a text box You can change a text box on a book page so that it’s formatted to hold from one to four columns of text. 1 In the Book Layout Editor, click the Edit Layout button, if it’s not already selected. 2 Select the text box. 3 Choose Text Box Columns from the Book Action pop-up menu columns from the submenu. , then choose the number of 4 If necessary, resize the text box to better accommodate the changed column layout of the box.
Relink a metadata box 1 In the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor, select the page that has the metadata box you want to link. 2 Command-click the metadata box and the photo box you want to link to select them both. 3 Choose Link Metadata Box from the Book Action pop-up menu . Hide or show photo plate numbers in books You can turn the display of plate numbers in your books and web galleries on or off. Aperture is preset not to display plate numbers for photos.
Work with the Layout Options inspector You can select an item on a book page and view its geometry using the Layout Options inspector. Some printers require precise layout dimensions; you can use the Layout Options inspector to accurately place all items on the page by specifying new dimensions using the value sliders. In addition, you can change the angle of text and photo boxes, as well as apply a color border to a photo box.
Work with master pages Master pages overview Master pages supply the initial design of your book pages. You apply master page designs repeatedly throughout a book. If you plan to make reusable book albums, you can customize the page designs of a selected theme before creating your books. You can select a master page and modify it, changing the photo, text, and metadata boxes that appear on the page. You can also create new master pages to suit specific layout needs.
Duplicate and modify a master page design 1 Choose Show Master Pages from the Book Action pop-up menu in the Book Layout Editor. 2 Select the master page you want to duplicate in the Master Pages pane. 3 Choose Duplicate Page from the Add Pages pop-up menu (+). The new duplicate page appears in the Master Pages pane underneath the original page. 4 If you want to rename the page, double-click its title and type a new name. 5 Select the new master page and make your changes.
Update book pages with master page changes After you change a master page, the modified design can be applied to pages in your book. Aperture does not automatically update the design of pages whose master pages are modified. However, you can choose to update the pages in a book with revised master page designs. Update a page with a changed master page design 1 In the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor, select the page whose master page design you want to update.
Copy a book album After you’ve set up a book structure that you like, you can reuse it for other book publication projects. For example, you might create a wedding album book structure that you reuse frequently. You can select and duplicate a book album. You can then remove the photos from the album and replace them with others to fill the new book. Aperture can automatically flow the new photos into the duplicated book structure.
4 Select a theme, then click Choose Theme. 5 After you have finished laying out the book, click the Send Book button at the top-right corner of the Book Layout Editor. An order pane for the third-party print vendor appears with options and pricing details.
Share photos online 12 Sharing photos overview Aperture provides a variety of ways to share your photos with others: •• Use My Photo Stream, an iCloud feature, to keep your photos up to date on all your devices without having to sync. See My Photo Stream overview on page 434. •• Use iCloud Photo Sharing to share photos, video clips, and comments about them with your friends. See iCloud Photo Sharing overview on page 441. •• Email photos directly from Aperture. See Email photos on page 448.
•• The photos appear in My Photo Stream on each device: in the Photos app on your iOS devices, in iPhoto or Aperture on a Mac, or in the Pictures folder on a Windows computer. Take a photo Take a photo with your iOS device. Or import a photo from your digital camera to your Mac or PC. iCloud stores it New photos are automatically sent to iCloud after you take them or import them. And pushes it to your devices Your photos automatically appear on your devices.
Set up your iCloud account To use My Photo Stream, you must set up a free iCloud account. With an active iCloud account, you can set your Aperture library as the main repository for all your photo stream photos. You can also choose which photos you want to download from My Photo Stream into Aperture, as well as the specific photos in your Aperture library that you want to upload to My Photo Stream. Note: You must have an Internet connection to set up an iCloud account.
Turn on My Photo Stream for an Aperture library Turn My Photo Stream on or off 1 Choose Aperture > Preferences, and click iCloud. 2 Do one of the following: •• To turn on My Photo Stream: Select the My Photo Stream checkbox. •• To turn off My Photo Stream: Deselect the My Photo Stream checkbox, and click Turn Off in the dialog that appears. Select or deselect this checkbox to turn My Photo Stream on or off for this library.
For information about setting a library to automatically upload photos to My Photo Stream, see Automatically transfer photos between Aperture and My Photo Stream on page 438. Automatically transfer photos between Aperture and My Photo Stream When you turn on My Photo Stream for an Aperture library, Aperture is set to automatically upload photos to and download photos from My Photo Stream. However, you can turn these settings on and off.
Manually transfer photos between Aperture and My Photo Stream You can choose which photos in your Aperture library you want to upload to My Photo Stream. You can also manually download from My Photo Stream just the photos you want to store in your Aperture library. Note: To transfer photos between Aperture and My Photo Stream, you must have an Internet connection.
•• Photo uploaded from Aperture on one Mac and pushed to iPhoto on another Mac: A new event is created in the iPhoto library and named after the photo’s immediate parent item in the Aperture library. For example, if the photo originated at the top level of a project named “Travel,” a new Travel event is created in iPhoto. If the photo originated in an album named “Christmas 2011” that is inside another album or a project, the new iPhoto event is named after the Christmas 2011 album.
Use iCloud to share photos with others iCloud Photo Sharing overview Sharing a photo stream is an easy way to keep the important people in your life up to date with your latest photos and video clips. Invitees, who must have an iCloud account to join the shared photo stream, can view, “like,” and comment on your photos and video clips from any device set up with iCloud Photo Sharing. You can also set up shared photo streams so that others can contribute their own photos and video clips.
Create shared photo streams It’s easy to create a photo stream to share your photos and video clips. You can also view the items you’ve already shared. Create a shared photo stream 1 Select the items you want to share, and do one of the following: •• Choose File > Share > iCloud. •• Choose iCloud from the Share pop-up menu in the toolbar. 2 In the iCloud dialog, choose New Shared Stream from the Stream pop-up menu. 3 In the “To” field, type the email addresses for your invitees.
2 To view the contents of a photo stream, double-click its thumbnail. Stop sharing a photo stream If you want to stop sharing a photo stream, all you have to do is delete it. WARNING: When you delete a shared photo stream, it’s immediately removed from your subscribers’ devices. If you think your subscribers might want to keep some of the photos or video clips, you should alert them to save the items before you delete the shared photo stream.
Replace a photo or video in a shared photo stream If you share a photo or video in a shared photo stream and then change or apply image adjustments to it, the newly changed item doesn’t automatically appear in the shared photo stream. You can either add it to the existing photo stream along with the older version, or you can delete the older version and replace it with the updated item. 1 In the Shared section of the Library inspector, select iCloud.
3 In the dialog, do either or both of the following: •• To invite a new subscriber: Type the invitee’s email address in the Subscribers field. •• To remove a subscriber: Select the subscriber’s email address in the Subscribers field, and click Unsubscribe. 4 Click OK. If you invited a new person to view your shared photo stream, an email and a notification are sent, asking that person to subscribe to your shared photo stream.
Shared photo streams that you subscribe to appear in the lower portion of iCloud view. A blue dot next to the shared photo stream’s name indicates that new photos or video clips have been added to the photo stream or new comments have been added to one of its photos. In addition, a number appears above the Aperture icon in the Dock to indicate that new photos and comments have been shared with you. A blue dot indicates that new photos or comments have been added.
4 In the Info inspector, choose Comments from the Metadata View pop-up menu, and do either or both of the following: •• To like the photo: Click the Like button (with a smiley face). Click the Like button to “like” a photo. •• To add a comment to the photo: Type the comment in the text field, and click Post. When you like or comment on an item in a shared stream, that information is sent to all the Apple devices of the photo stream’s creator and subscribers.
Email photos Although it’s not the best method for delivering uncompressed or large image files, email provides a quick and easy way to deliver photos. Aperture contains three export presets (Email Small, Email Medium, and Email Original Size) that create compressed JPEG files that are easy to send via email. You can specify the email application and the export preset you want to use and then send photos directly to your email application from within Aperture.
Publish photos to Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug Sharing photos with Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug overview You can create Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums in Aperture to collect photos for publication on www.flickr.com, www.facebook.com, and www.smugmug.com. Photos placed in Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums in Aperture are automatically exported to and published in your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug accounts.
Set up a Flickr, Facebook, or SmugMug account in Aperture To share photos from your Aperture library with Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug, you create Flickr, Facebook and SmugMug albums. The first step in creating web albums is entering your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug account details. You only have to do this once. After you enter your account details, Aperture securely stores the information in the OS X user account’s secure keychain.
7 Do the following: a If you have more than one Flickr account, choose the account you want to publish to from the Flickr Account pop-up menu. b Choose New Set from the Set pop-up menu. c Give your Flickr set a name in the Set Name field. d In the “Photos Viewable by” pop-up menu, choose an access level to set who can view your Flickr set. e In the Photo Size pop-up menu, choose whether you want the photos resized and optimized for publication. 8 Click Publish.
Sign in to Facebook and create a new Facebook album 1 In Aperture, select a photo or a group of photos. 2 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > Share > Facebook. •• Choose Facebook from the Share pop-up menu in the toolbar. 3 In the dialog that appears, do the following: a Enter your email address. b Enter your password. c Select the “I agree to Facebook’s terms” checkbox. d Click Login.
Upload photos or videos to your Facebook account After signing in to Facebook the first time with Aperture, you can post photos and video clips to new albums and existing albums, and upload single photos or a video clip to your Facebook Timeline. 1 In Aperture, select photos or videos. Note: You can upload only one photo or video file at a time to your Facebook timeline. 2 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > Share > Facebook. •• Choose Facebook from the Share pop-up menu in the toolbar.
5 Click Log In. 6 Click Next. A new page opens in SmugMug asking if you want Aperture Uploader to link to your SmugMug account. 7 Click the “OK, I’ll Authorize It” button, and switch back to Aperture. A new dialog appears in Aperture with controls for creating a new SmugMug gallery as well as setting access restrictions for your SmugMug page. 8 Do the following: a If you have more than one SmugMug account, choose the account you want to publish to from the SmugMug Account pop-up menu.
Upload photos and videos to your SmugMug account After signing in to SmugMug the first time with Aperture, you can post photos and videos to new and existing galleries. 1 In Aperture, select the items you want to upload to SmugMug. 2 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > Share > SmugMug. •• Choose SmugMug from the Share pop-up menu in the toolbar.
Create and delete Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums After you set up your account information and create your first web album, creating new Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums is a simple process. You can also delete web albums in Aperture at any time. WARNING: Deleting Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums in Aperture permanently deletes the corresponding sets, albums, and galleries online, along with their contents.
3 In the dialog that appears, do the following: a If you have more than one Facebook account, choose the Facebook account you want to publish to from the Facebook Account pop-up menu. b Choose New Album from the Album pop-up menu. c In the Album Name field, give your Facebook album a name. d In the Photos Viewable By pop-up menu, choose an access level to set who can view your Facebook album. 4 Click Publish. Aperture publishes your album to Facebook, and the new Facebook album appears in Aperture.
View Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums You can view the contents of your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums in Aperture at any time. If you’re not sure whether a web album is up to date or you just want to check your webpage, you can visit your published web album from within Aperture. View a Flickr, Facebook, or SmugMug album in Aperture 1 In the Shared section of the Library inspector, select the web account containing the albums you want to view.
Visit your published Flickr set 1 In the Library inspector, select the Flickr account containing the album you want to visit. 2 Do one of the following: •• Double-click the Flickr album you want to visit, and choose Visit Set from the Flickr pop-up menu in the tool strip. •• Control-click the Flickr album you want to visit, and choose Visit Set from the shortcut menu. Your web browser opens your Flickr page and displays your published Flickr set.
Update your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums As your Flickr, Facebook, and SmugMug albums grow, you can publish them at any time. Aperture checks to see which photo versions have already been published in the album and then uploads any changed or new versions. You can also have Aperture check to see whether any of your friends have published new albums to your accounts online. Publish new photos to an existing Flickr set 1 Select the photos you want to publish to your Flickr set.
3 In the SmugMug publication dialog, choose the gallery that you want to publish to from the Gallery pop-up menu. 4 Click Publish. The selected photos are uploaded to the selected SmugMug gallery. Have Aperture check for new Flickr sets, Facebook albums, or SmugMug galleries online mm In the Library inspector, click the Sync button to the right of the Flickr, Facebook, or SmugMug account’s name.
4 Do one of the following: •• To log in to a Flickr account: Click Set Up. Your browser opens. Follow the onscreen instructions to sign in to Flickr using your Yahoo! ID and password, and authorize the Aperture Uploader to post photos to your Flickr account on the following page. •• To log in to a Facebook account: Enter your email address and password, select the “I agree to Facebook’s terms” checkbox, and click Login. •• To log in to a SmugMug account: Click Set Up. Your browser opens.
Create webpages Creating webpages overview In Aperture, you can create webpages of your photos that you can post to your own website. Then clients can conveniently review your work via the Internet. You can use built-in Aperture webpage themes and designs to create two types of webpages: •• Web galleries show your photos in eye-catching settings and are designed to display photos without your having to lay out pages by hand.
Create a new webpage album When you create a web gallery from a selection of photos, Aperture creates as many webpages as necessary to hold all of the selected photos. You can also create an empty webpage album and then drag photos into the album. 1 Do one of the following: •• To create a new webpage album from selected photos: In the Browser, select the photos you want to place on your web gallery pages, or select an item in the Library inspector.
Create a Smart Web Page Album of your photos 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose File > New > Smart Web Page. •• Control-click in the Library inspector, and choose New > Smart Web Site from the shortcut menu. 2 Enter a name for the new Smart Web Page Album in the Library inspector. 3 If necessary, click the Smart Settings HUD button name to show the Smart Settings HUD. to the right of the Smart Web Page Album 4 In the Smart Settings HUD, specify the search criteria for the Smart Web Page Album.
View and navigate through webpages As you modify your web galleries and web journals, there are some easy ways to view and navigate through your pages. Select the page you want to work on in the Pages pane. Previous Page and Next Page buttons Select a thumbnail in the Detail Images pane to see an enlarged version of the photo. View a particular webpage Do one of the following: 1 Select a webpage or web journal album in the Library inspector.
Choose and modify themes Aperture provides a variety of themes that you can choose for your web gallery or web journal. The theme you choose for your pages determines the basic template design of the page. Make sure to explore the themes to see which best suits your work. You choose a theme type and a theme when you create a new web gallery or web journal album, but you can change the theme at any time.
Work with web gallery pages When you create a web gallery, the photos in it are placed automatically. You can then adjust the placement of photos on web gallery pages and add and delete photos in the Webpage Editor. Depending on the theme you choose for your web gallery, pages may appear with titles, subtitles, or headings. You can change the sample text to text appropriate for your web gallery pages. You can also turn on or turn off the display of plate numbers for photos in your web galleries.
•• To move photos on a web journal page: In the Webpage Editor, drag a photo to its new position in a photo box, or drag the grid mark at the top of the photo box to move the photo or group of photos to a new location on the page. A green bar appears to indicate where the photo will be placed. •• To remove a photo from a web journal page: In the Webpage Editor, click the photo to select it, and then click the Remove button (–).
Choose the header style for a web journal page Depending on the theme you choose, you can change the look of web journal pages by choosing a style that displays either a heading followed by text or a heading followed by a photo. Note: The theme applied to the web journal must allow photos in the header. 1 In the Webpage Editor, select a page’s thumbnail. 2 Choose either Header with Text or Header with Image from the Page Template pop-up menu .
6 If you want to be notified when the export process is complete, select the “Show alert when finished” checkbox. 7 When you’re ready to export your webpage files, click Export. Note: To check on the progress of an export operation, choose Window > Show Activity. The Activity window displays the progress of each export operation. You can also use this window to pause and cancel an export operation.
Create a new web export preset An easy way to create a new export preset is to copy an existing preset and then modify the copy. 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose Aperture > Presets > Web Export. •• In the Webpage Editor, click the Export Web Pages button and choose Edit from the Thumbnail Image Preset or Detail Image Preset pop-up menu. 2 In the Web Export dialog, select a web export preset on which to base your new preset, and click the Add button (+). Select a preset. Then click the Add button.
Delete a web export preset mm In the Web Export dialog, select the preset and click the Remove button (–). Select a preset. Then click the Remove button. Add watermarks to webpage photos You can add a graphics file to your photos as a watermark to discourage others from using your photos without your permission. Watermarks are especially useful when applied to photos posted on the web. Use the following guidelines to create high-quality watermarks for your photos: •• Save your watermark as a Photoshop (.
Customize the Aperture workspace 13 Change the main window layout When a project, album, or folder is selected in the Library inspector, Aperture offers three basic layouts for the main window: •• Browser: Use this layout to display image thumbnails in an enlarged Browser so you can review photos, perform initial rating passes, and create and work with stacks of photos. Layout buttons: Click a button to select a main window layout.
•• Split View: Use this layout to display both the Browser and Viewer together and use them in combination to review and work with photos. Split View layout: The Viewer and Browser appear together. •• Viewer: Use this layout to display photos in an enlarged Viewer and work with them in detail. Viewer layout: The Viewer fills the workspace and displays your photo selection. Tool strip: Use these tools to adjust and work with your photos.
Rotate the position of the Browser in Split View In the Split View layout, the Browser appears horizontally under the Viewer by default. However, you can change the layout to display the Browser vertically, beside the Viewer. mm Choose View > Browser > Rotate Position (or press Shift-W). Swap the position of the Browser and the Viewer in Split View mm Choose View > Browser > Swap Position (or press Option-W). Change the background of the Viewer 1 Choose Aperture > Preferences, or press Command-Comma (,).
•• Export: Click the Export button to display options for selecting an external editor for changing your photos, audio, and video outside of Aperture, as well as specifying the email application and settings you want used when emailing photos. You can also create a copyright statement that will be included in webpages that you create, as well as specify that photos exported from Aperture contain location information and Faces metadata (names you have assigned to people in your photos using Faces).
General preferences Use the controls in the General preference pane to set the location of the library, set the length of time to keep track of recently imported photos, enable face detection, automatically stack new versions of the same photo, and configure other photo management options. The General preference pane contains the following controls: •• Library Location field: Displays the default location of the library.
Appearance preferences Use the controls in the Appearance preference pane to customize the Aperture interface. The Appearance preference pane contains the following controls: •• “Viewer brightness” slider: Adjust the Viewer background brightness using this slider. •• “Full-screen viewer brightness” slider: Adjust the full-screen view Viewer mode background brightness using this slider. •• “Browser brightness” slider: Adjust the Browser background brightness using this slider.
Import preferences Use the controls in the Import preference pane to specify what Aperture should do when a camera is connected, whether to import photos into a new project or into the item selected in the Library inspector, and the length of time used to determine when to automatically split projects. The Import preference pane contains the following controls: •• “When a camera is connected, open” pop-up menu: Specify which application should open when a camera is connected to your computer.
Export preferences Use the controls in the Export preference pane to set the external editor, choose the email application used to email photos from within Aperture, and assign a copyright statement to webpages you create. The Export preference pane contains the following controls: •• External Photo Editor field: You can use an external image editing application to make adjustments to your images. To identify an external editor, click Choose and select an application.
Labels preferences Use the text fields in the Labels preference pane to customize labels for each color. Previews preferences Use the controls in the Previews preference pane to set how Aperture creates and displays preview images. The Previews preference pane contains the following controls: •• “New projects automatically generate previews” checkbox: To set Aperture to create previews for the photos in all new projects and new libraries, select this checkbox.
iCloud preferences Use the controls in the iCloud preference pane to turn My Photo Stream on or off for an Aperture library, as well as set options for automatically uploading and downloading photos between your photo stream and your Aperture library. You can also turn on iCloud Photo Sharing to share your photos with others. For more information about sharing photos, see Sharing photos overview on page 434.
The Accounts preference pane contains the following controls: •• Accounts column: Select the account you want to modify in this column. •• Add button (+): Click this button to add one or more Flickr, Facebook, or SmugMug accounts. •• Remove button (–) : Click this button to delete the selected account from Aperture. Important: All albums associated with the deleted Flickr, Facebook, or SmugMug account are removed from Aperture.
•• “Auto-complete contact info in IPTC Contact fields” checkbox: Select this checkbox to have Aperture automatically enter contact information in the IPTC Contact fields after you have entered the information the first time. •• “Create new versions when making adjustments” checkbox: Select this checkbox to have Aperture automatically create a new version when you adjust a selected photo. The adjustment is applied to the original version and the new one is left untouched.
2 Configure the toolbar by doing any of the following: •• To add items to the toolbar: Drag their icons from the dialog to the location where you want them to appear in the toolbar. •• To remove items from the toolbar: Drag items out of the toolbar, or Control-click the item you want to remove and choose Remove Item from the shortcut menu. •• To change the order of the items in the toolbar: Drag each item to its new position.
Use gestures with Aperture If your computer has a Multi-Touch trackpad or a Magic Mouse, you can use gestures when working with Aperture. For example, when working with photos in the Browser, you can use the rotate gesture to rotate images and the swipe gesture to select a different photo. In addition to the standard Multi-Touch trackpad gestures used with Mac portable computers, you can use Multi-Touch gestures with the following Aperture features.
Feature Multi-Touch trackpad gestures Faces •• Use the pinch gesture to change the size of the snapshots. Places •• Use two-finger scrolling to zoom in to or out of the map. Light Table •• Use the pinch gesture to zoom in to or out of the Light Table or to change the size of the photo beneath the pointer. Book Layout Editor •• Use the pinch gesture to zoom in to or out of the selected page or resize the object beneath the pointer on the page.
•• Replace the default set of Aperture keyboard shortcuts with command sets from other applications. Command set options Modifier key buttons Keyboard Highlight button Search field Command groups Command list Detail area The upper half of the Command Editor displays a virtual keyboard. The lower half contains a command list that sorts menu commands by group and offers a brief description of each command, along with its associated keyboard shortcut, if one exists.
Search for commands and keyboard shortcuts You can search for and display commands and keyboard shortcuts in a number of ways. View keyboard shortcuts by group The Command Groups column of the Command Editor displays several groupings of commands, organized by Aperture menus as well as by type of command. 1 Choose Aperture > Commands > Customize. The Command Editor appears. 2 Click a group in the Command Groups column to display only the commands and keyboard shortcuts in that group.
View all keyboard shortcuts associated with a specific key 1 Choose Aperture > Commands > Customize. The Command Editor appears. 2 Select a key in the virtual keyboard. The Key Detail area displays a list of all keyboard shortcuts associated with that key. Selected key All available shortcuts that include the selected key are displayed here. Search for a keyboard shortcut Use the search field in the upper-right corner of the Command Editor to quickly locate a command or its keyboard shortcut.
Filter a keyboard shortcut search by modifer keys You can use the modifier key buttons (Control, Option, Shift, and Command) at the top of the Command Editor to quickly see which keys work in combination with the various modifier keys. 1 Click one of the four modifier key buttons at the top of the Command Editor (or click one of the modifier keys on the virtual keyboard). Keys assigned to work in combination with the selected modifier key appear marked with a dark gray dot.
3 Do any of the following: •• If the key combination is already assigned to a command, and you want to reassign the key combination, click Reassign in the alert that appears. •• If you are using the default command set, click Make Copy in the alert that appears, then enter a name for the new command set and click OK The new keyboard shortcut is added to the new command set and appears in the Key column of the Command list.
Import a command set 1 Do one of the following: •• Choose Aperture > Commands > Import. •• In the Command Editor, choose Import from the pop-up menu. 2 In the dialog that appears, navigate to the location where you have stored a command set file, select it, then click Open. The imported command set is added to the Commands submenu of the Aperture menu and to the pop-up menu in the Command Editor.
How Aperture displays photos in the Viewer When a version needs to be displayed in the Viewer, Aperture does the following: •• Aperture draws the thumbnail image (a JPEG image that is 1280 pixels in the longest dimension). •• Aperture draws the JPEG preview, if present. •• Aperture decodes the original and applies any adjustments to it. Once the last step is completed, the adjustment controls become available.
Manually manage previews You can delete previews or update previews to regenerate them when you want. Delete all the JPEG previews for a project mm In the Library inspector, select the project whose JPEG previews you want to delete, then choose Photos > Delete Previews for Project. Update all the JPEG previews in a project mm In the Library inspector, select the project whose JPEG previews you want to update, then choose Photos > Update Previews for Project.
Render preview images Aperture renders preview images in four situations: •• When a library is upgraded—provided that the “Create previews for existing images” checkbox is selected in the Welcome to Aperture dialog •• When a photo is imported, or a version is created, rotated, or adjusted—provided that the Maintain Previews item is selected in the Library Action pop-up menu •• When you select the library, a project, or a photo selection and choose Photos > Update Previews •• Immediately before a slid
Stop preview generation 1 Choose Window > Show Activity. 2 In the Activity window, select the “Generating preview” task, then click the Cancel Task button. 3 Close the Activity window. Note: Because slideshows that use the Best quality setting cannot begin until all preview images are up to date, preview generation is done in the foreground with a Cancel button to stop the operation. In all other cases, previews are created in the background.
You can also create a search that displays only highly rated photos and then build previews for those photos only. This is a useful alternative for workflows in which the default thumbnail resolution is sufficient for low-rated photos. For more information about searching for photos, see Searching overview on page 150.
Generate previews for Smart Albums 1 Create a Smart Album and specify criteria for it using the Smart Album’s Smart Settings HUD. 2 Click in the Browser, then press Command-A to select all the photos. 3 Choose Photos > Update Previews. Note: Previews for Smart Albums are not automatically maintained—automatic preview maintenance is a project-level setting only. In this workflow, you need to update the previews yourself periodically, by following the steps in Manually manage previews on page 496.
Glossary additive color Images with color elements derived from the light source itself. RGB is a common form of additive color. See also RGB. adjustment Any change to the appearance of an image. See also brushed adjustment. Adobe RGB (1998) A color profile commonly used for printing. See also color space. album A type of container in the Aperture library that holds only versions. You can create albums at either the project level or within a project.
audio file The source media file on disk to which an audio clip in Aperture refers; the audio clip’s original. See also audio clip, original. autofocus The system within the camera that automatically focuses the lens on a specific portion of the subject or scene. See also autofocus point overlays. autofocus point overlays Overlays displayed over photos in the Viewer that show which autofocus mode was used by the camera and which focal point was used to focus the photo when it was captured.
bracketing The process of taking three shots of the same photo based on the aperture and shutter values recommended by the light meter: a shot one stop under the recommended exposure, a shot at the recommended exposure, and a shot one stop over the recommended exposure. You can also narrow the bracketing range to fractions of a stop. Bracketing is used in difficult lighting situations to ensure that the scene is captured with the correct exposure. See also automatic bracketing.
candid shot Refers to a photograph of a person that appears to have been taken informally and unposed, without the subject’s knowledge. See also composition. capture a. The process of taking the image received by the digital image sensor and camera processor and storing that information on the memory card in the camera. b. The process of recording a photo in Aperture at the moment it is shot via a tethered camera. See also camera, digital image sensor, image, memory card, tethered shooting.
color depth The possible range of colors that can be used in an image. There are generally three choices with digital images: grayscale, 8-bit, and 16-bit. Higher color depths provide a wider range of colors but require more storage space. See also bit depth, color channels, grayscale. colorimeter An instrument capable of measuring the color value of a sample, using color filters. A colorimeter is used to determine if two colors are the same.
complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) A type of digital image sensor that is capable of recording the entire image provided by the light-sensitive elements in parallel (essentially all at once), resulting in a higher rate of data transfer to the storage device. Tiny colored microlenses are fitted on each light-sensitive element in a CMOS sensor to increase its ability to interpret light. See also charge-coupled device (CCD), digital image sensor.
decompression The process of creating a viewable image from a compressed digital image file. See also compression. definition The clarity of details in an image. See also resolution. Definition parameter An Enhance adjustment parameter in Aperture used to adjust the clarity of details in an image. See also Enhance adjustment. Definition Quick Brush A type of Quick Brush adjustment that adds clarity and reduces haze without adding too much contrast to the area of the image the adjustment is brushed on.
digital A description of data that is stored or transmitted as a sequence of ones and zeros. Most commonly, refers to binary data represented using electronic or electromagnetic signals. JPEG, PNG, RAW, and TIFF files are all digital. See also digitization. digital image sensor The computer chip located at the image plane inside the camera that consists of millions of individual light-sensitive elements capable of capturing light.
Duplicate Version command A command in the Photos menu that duplicates the selected photo version with all applied metadata and adjustments. See also adjustment, image, metadata, version. dust and scratch removal The process of digitally removing the blemishes caused by dust and scratches on film scans. See also Retouch adjustment. dye sublimation A type of printer that creates images by heating colored ribbon to a gaseous state, bonding the ink to the paper.
exposure The amount of light in a photo. Exposure is controlled by limiting the intensity of light (controlled by the aperture) and the length of time light comes into contact with the digital image sensor (controlled by the shutter). Exposure affects the overall brightness of the photo as well as its perceived contrast. See also adjustment, aperture, contrast, digital image sensor, Exposure adjustment, shutter.
Finder The part of the Mac operating system software that keeps track of files, applications, and folders and displays the desktop. finishing The process of applying the final adjustments to a digital image just before presentation. Finishing may involve applying an additional gamma adjustment upon export, or using an external editor to either burn or dodge a portion of the image before sending it to the printer. See also export, external editor.
full-screen view A workspace view in Aperture with minimal user interface, used to view fullscreen photos in high resolution with the least amount of light and color interference. See also Browser layout, filmstrip, HUD, Split View layout, Viewer layout. full-screen view toolbar A collection of buttons and tools, grouped by function, located at the top of the screen in full-screen view. See also toolbar. gamma A curve that describes how the middle tones of an image appear.
HUD Short for heads-up display. In Aperture, HUDs are floating windows that allow you to work on your image. You can open and then move a HUD wherever you wish, based on your display setup. See also full-screen view. hue An attribute of color perception; also known as color phase. For example, red and blue are different hues. See also Color adjustment. ICC profile Created as a result of device characterization, the ICC profile contains the data about the device’s exact gamut.
JPEG Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group, JPEG is a popular image file format that lets you create highly compressed graphics files. The amount of compression used varies. Less compression results in a higher-quality image. JPEG files usually have a .jpg extension. See also format, RAW + JPEG image pair. kelvin (K) A unit of measurement used to describe color values of light sources, based on a temperature scale that begins at absolute zero. See also color temperature, White Balance adjustment.
list view A Browser view that displays photos in a list by name, icon, and accompanying metadata, such as rating, image dimensions, file size, and date, rather than as a row or grid of thumbnails. See also Browser, filmstrip view, grid view, metadata, rating. Loupe A tool in Aperture used to magnify the area of the photo you place it over. luminance A value describing the brightness of all color channels combined in a pixel.
monochrome An image presented in shades of a single color, such as the shades of gray in a black-and-white photograph. See also Black & White adjustment, Color Monochrome adjustment, grayscale, image, photograph. My Photo Stream An iCloud feature that uploads and stores the last 30 days of your photos and automatically pushes them to all your iOS devices and computers.
original The source media file that was copied from either your computer’s file system or your camera’s memory card. In Aperture, the original is never modified. Whenever a change is made to a photo, a video clip, or an audio clip, that change is applied to the version. Formerly known as the master. See also memory card, project, version. overexposure The result of exposing a scene too long. Overexposed scenes appear too bright and lack adequate details in the shadows. See also exposure, underexposed.
Places Path Navigator pop-up menus A set of pop-up menus located at the top-left corner of the screen in Places view that are used to navigate to locations on the map. See also Places view. Places view A view in Aperture that allows you to apply location information to photos and track the location of each shot. Photos captured with GPS-enabled cameras provide their location information automatically.
profile A compilation of data on a specific device’s color information, including its gamut, color space, and modes of operation. A profile represents a device’s color-reproduction capabilities and is essential to effective color management. See also device characterization, gamut. program exposure An exposure mode on many automatic cameras in which the camera automatically sets the aperture and shutter values for a correct exposure. See also exposure.
rangefinder An apparatus found on many cameras that is used to help focus the image. See also camera, viewfinder. raster image processor (RIP) A specialized printer driver that replaces the driver that comes with your printer. The RIP takes input from applications and converts, or rasterizes, the information to data that the printer understands so that it can put dots on a page. Software RIPs typically offer features not found in standard printer drivers.
Repair brush A type of Retouch brush in Aperture used to correct and obscure imperfections in an image by copying pixels from a similar-looking area of an image and pasting them over the area with the pixels you want to replace. In addition to overwriting the pixels, the Repair brush resamples the pasted pixels to match the color, texture, and luminance of the pixels you replaced. See also Clone brush, Retouch adjustment, retouching.
Sharpen adjustment An adjustment in Aperture used to sharpen images. See also adjustment, Edge Sharpen adjustment, image. Sharpen Quick Brush A type of Quick Brush adjustment that sharpens the area of the image the adjustment is brushed on. See also adjustment, Brush HUD, Quick Brushes. shortcut menu A menu you access by holding down the Control key and clicking an area of the interface, or by pressing the right mouse button.
Sorting pop-up menu Used to arrange photos in the Browser based on a variety of sort properties or custom sort criteria. See also Browser. source image file See original. source profile The profile of an image file before it undergoes color conversion. Span setting A secondary Viewer setting that splits the presentation of the current photo selection between the main and secondary Viewer displays. See also main Viewer, photo selection, secondary Viewer.
tethered shooting Refers to the process of connecting a digital camera to your Mac via a FireWire or USB cable, shooting photographs, and having Aperture capture and store the image files at the moment they are shot. See also camera, FireWire. theme Professionally designed layouts in Aperture used for books, webpages, and slideshows. See also slideshow. TIFF Short for Tagged Image File Format.
Vibrancy parameter An Enhance adjustment parameter in Aperture used to add saturation in an image in a nonlinear manner. Saturated colors are left alone while saturation is added to all other colors. However, skin tones are not modified. See also adjustment, desaturate, Enhance adjustment, saturation. Vibrancy Quick Brush A type of Quick Brush adjustment that adds saturation to or removes it from just the desaturated colors in the area of the image the adjustment is brushed on.
white point The color temperature of a display, measured in kelvins. The higher the white point, the bluer the white is; the lower the white point, the redder the white. The native white point for a Mac computer is D50 (5000 kelvins); for a Windows PC, it is D65 (6500 kelvins). See also color temperature, kelvin (K). wide-angle lens A lens with a short focal length that takes in a wide view. The focal length of a wide-angle lens is smaller than the film plane or digital image sensor.
