In-Depth Getting Started with Aperture 3 eBook

In-Depth Getting Started with Aperture 3 eBook

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Over many years of working with Aperture, and helping other people with Aperture, I’ve noticed one very common trend—no matter how much they love Aperture now, most people had a hard time getting started. This guide is designed to get you on your way. It doesn’t really matter too much where you’re coming from to use this guide; be it from any other photo management application or none at all. This guide aims to get you moving efficiently, and possibly more importantly, to set the stage for a lot more learning. There are loads of free videos on apple.com that show you the basic of basics—I’m more interested in getting you started with a very solid understanding of what your choices are, and preparing you for a long-term relationship with Aperture. So while some of the basic instructions like “Importing Your First Photos” takes up a seemingly bizarre 11 pages, after reading it you’ll truly understand what’s happening to your photos and what options you have at your disposal—whether you choose to use them or not is up to you, but you’ll be making an educated decision.

NOTE: This eBook was written prior to the Aperture 3.3 interface change, so screenshots will be of the old interface, however all information is still valid.

The book is 126 pages of pages of detailed education and step-by-steps, including screenshots and break-out bonus tips, to help you get the best start possible in Aperture. Here are the topics covered:

Chapter 1 – A Primer

This chapter gives an overview to working with Aperture and understanding the importance of clean file management, compares JPEG to RAW, then proceeds to define all of the essential organizational elements in Aperture, such as Projects, Albums, Smart Albums and more.

Chapter 2 – Importing Your First Photos

Before you import, it’s best to understand your options so you can make an educated decision on how to organize your library—something that will save you immeasurable time as your library grows. There’s another eBook dedicated solely to this topic for advanced users, however this chapter covers the essentials for those getting started, including an explanation on what actually happens when you import your photos.

Chapter 3 – Navigating Aperture

This chapter takes you on a tour of Aperture’s menus, panes and buttons, getting you acquainted with the application so you can navigate it quickly and achieve what you want instead of struggling to find the tools you need. It takes you through the Projects View and the updated Full Screen view, and also includes a tip on learning keyboard shortcuts that could help you with every application you use!

Chapter 4 – Identifying Your Favorite Photos

Flagging, Star Ratings and Keywords are an important component of a clean Aperture library, and learning to use them efficiently will help you keep control of your growing photo collection. This chapter gives you tips on using them, how to apply them quickly, and then what to do with all that information once you’ve added it—and why it’s important.

Chapter 5 – Making Those Photos Look Their Best

One of the longest chapters in the eBook, here we take a look at the most important tools for enhancing your photos. Starting with an explanation of Versions, it evolves into detailed explanation of not only how to use many of the enhancement tools provided, but when to use them. Learn the details in this chapter and you’ll be flying through photo enhancement in no-time.

Chapter 6 – Making Those Photos Look… Even Better

This entirely new chapter covers the new Brushes in Aperture 3, including a close look at Dodge & Burn and Skin Smoothing. It explains what’s actually happening when you are brushing in these effects, and how to take control of the masks they create.

Chapter 7 – Faces

Another new chapter, Faces takes you through Aperture’s exciting new Face recognition feature and shows how to get the most out of it.

Chapter 8 – Places

Places utilizes GPS data from your camera or iPhone to reverse-geocode the raw data into actual place names. If you don’t have a GPS-enabled camera, you can place them by hand—all of which is covered in this chapter.

Chapter 9 – Sharing Photos Online, in Print & on Screen

Photos were meant to be shared, and this chapter shows you many of the ways Aperture helps you to do that. From email to MobileMe Galleries to Facebook and Flickr, printing at home or ordering prints online, and using the amazing new Aperture slideshows, this chapter ensures your favorite photos will never again stay hidden away on your computer.

Chapter 10 – Deleting Projects, Albums & Photos (Oh My!)

The new Trash in Aperture 3 is more than just a simple rubbish-bin. This chapter shows you all the different types of “delete” you have in Aperture, as well as how to best recover accidentally discarded items.