PeterBreis0807

Q: How do I organise my photos?

I am new to Aperture and am trying to get my head around how Aperture 3.2.4 organises its collections.

 

Most of my images are coming from my iPod Touch running iOS 7.04.

 

Photos in iOS7 is supposed to organise the photos in Camera Rolls and whilst it does have multiple rolls they are few, and I can not see how they are divided up. I would have thought they would be by each batch or location that I shoot, but no.

 

When I bring them into Aperture I would like them to be grouped by actual shoot sequence, but by default they just go into one large "Untitled Project" . Renaming that just changes the name and it is still one large undistinguished collection.

 

I have been manually selecting parts of the camera roll and adding them to Projects with Location date. That is tedious for the 1000s of photos I take.

 

…and I am not sure this is doing what I want.

 

I'd like to be able to export/delete the actual collection as needed.

 

This where the confusion sets in.

 

Out of the Libraries, Albums, Folders which actually represents real files not just virtual collections.

 

I am uncertain what contains what ie which is a subset within a larger collection.

 

Folders are the most confusing they seem to be within and outside Libraries and Albums. Is that right? And if they are either how do you tell what they are?

 

I get that there are virtual collections: Smart Albums, Books, Light Tables, Slideshows, Web Journals & Web pages but it seems Libraries, Albums, Projects & Folders blur the difference.

 

Once in a Project (or whatever physical collection) how do I move photos into other more sensible collections? Is a Project the wrong division for collections?

 

Also how do I manage Vaults. Are these simply backups? Do they automatically synchronise with the main collection, or are they a one off movement/copy of files?

 

Is there a faster way of selecting images than unchecking all, selecting items again then checking them? This is quirky in its behavior. If I have some checked, then add more it won't let me check or uncheck them. I have to resort to Uncheck all and start again.

 

Peter

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iMac 27" Early 2011

Posted on Jan 31, 2014 5:37 PM

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Q: How do I organise my photos?

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  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 31, 2014 10:08 PM in response to PeterBreis0807
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jan 31, 2014 10:08 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

    One thing first, Peter.

    You can set the Aperture Preferences "Import" to split large projects automatically, when importing into smaller projects - e.g. one project per day, per week, ...

    Screen Shot 2014-02-01 at 06.47.12GMT+1.PNG

     

    Photos in iOS7 is supposed to organise the photos in Camera Rolls and whilst it does have multiple rolls they are few, and I can not see how they are divided up. I would have thought they would be by each batch or location that I shoot, but no.

    iPhoto IOS has only one Camera roll but is showing you different "smart" views of the camera roll, grouped by moment, by date, by place.

     

    • Aperture's projects are very similar to the Camera roll. They are the containers of your photos. Each image and all its versions are stored exactly once in one project. You cannot remove images from projects and only keep them in albums. Only projects actually contain the images. Deleting an image from its project will delete it from your Aperture library. You can move images around between the projects.
    • The folders  are used to group related projects and albums, so you can find your library items more easily.
    • Albums and smart albums are different views of the images in the project. Use them to create collections of thematically related photos. Albums will just index the photos in the project and need no extra storage. Define smart albums to group photos by date, place, face, keyword or any any combination of metadata.

     

    To get you started, you may wanto have a look at the User Tips in this forum:

     

    And it nevr hurts to look at the really good Aperture User Manual: Aperture 3 User Manual

     

    Post back with more questions

     

    -- Léonie

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Jan 31, 2014 11:37 PM in response to léonie
    Level 8 (35,551 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 31, 2014 11:37 PM in response to léonie

    Vielen dank Léonie

     

    You are obviously the go to person here.

     

    So to organise the master images use Projects.

     

    Folders hold 'aliases' or pointers to either individual images or Projects or other folders?

     

    So for example I have multiple Projects of various Art Galleries which each contain a break down of Paintings, Scuptures & Detail Albums. I can have a folder which contains all Albums of say Sculptures even if they are in different Projects?

     

    Why can I put a folder inside a Project but I can't drag images to it or add them when I create it.

     

    In fact I don't seem to be able to put anything in folders, Images, Projects, Albums or other Folders, whether they are inside Projects or inside the Library.

     

    Aperture certainly moves in mysterious ways!

     

    Peter

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Feb 1, 2014 12:51 AM in response to PeterBreis0807
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Feb 1, 2014 12:51 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

    Vielen dank Léonie

    Gern geschehen, Peter!

    You are obviously the go to person here.

    Thanks, I do what I can You'll find quite a few real real experts here, when you hang around a bit.

     

    Folders hold 'aliases' or pointers to either individual images or Projects or other folders?

    Folders can be nested -  they can hold other folders, albums, projects, smart albums, boook, but don't hold individual images. Folders in Aperture don't relate to folders in the Finder on your disk. And there are no "aliases" to folders in Aperture. You cannot have the same project or album twice in  two different folders. I use the folders to be able to hide or disclose groups of projects and albums - notice the disclosure triangles besides the folders:

    Screen Shot 2014-02-01 at 09.40.55GMT+1.png

    Why can I put a folder inside a Project but I can't drag images to it or add them when I create it.

    Folders hold library items that can hold images. Drag an album with images into that subfolder.

    In fact I don't seem to be able to put anything in folders, Images, Projects, Albums or other Folders, whether they are inside Projects or inside the Library.

     

    You should be able to drag albums to a subfolder of a project, but not images or other projects: projects cannot be nested. How did you drag? Drag directly onto the folder icon.

     

    Screen Shot 2014-02-01 at 09.51.04GMT+1.png

    Aperture certainly moves in mysterious ways!