Andrew Mitchell wrote:
Everything is slowly coming together, the more reading that I do. Your replies and points most helpful, as usual.
However, I am not sure what to do with my iPhoto library (actually, I have several, but only one large one). As I want to completely stop using iPhoto, I need to import this large library (18,000 jpegs, no RAW, 49GB) into Aperture, so I can delete it from iPhoto.
Importing iPhoto Libraries is easy, but it has been so long that I would defer to LĂ©onie and others for practical advice. But remember, you don't have to do this at once or all at one time. This is important; iPhoto works today and it will work tomorrow - you have time to experiment with Aperture and you don't have to go anything until you are comfortable.
If I understand what you have been writing, in future I will be:
1. shooting entirely in RAW
2. importing to Aperture library on SSD
3. Adjusting in Aperture
4. returning the RAW files back to a folder on my regular HD
5. deleting the jpegs, and using much smaller Preview (stored in the Aperture library on the SSD) to look at my photos on computer (I get a bit stuck here, how can such a small Preview show a quality photo on the screen?)
6. the iPhoto question: as they are all jpegs, I won't be able to delete them, and they will start to clog up my SSD; what to do?
Yer still tryin' to make this too hard! Aperture is EASY:
-- Shoot pictures, RAW, JPEG, TIFF, it doesn't matter. You can easily shoot RAW and JPEG, should you wish.
-- Import Aperture will place the files where you want and rename, should you want to bother.
-- Optional: Keyword, distribute to Albums, take other organizational steps as required.
-- Adjust to taste.
-- End, Stop, Quit. There is nothing else that you must do.
You don't have to spend a moment on classic tasks like: RAW conversion, filing of RAW masters, creating PSD or TIFF working copies, organization of JPEG, etc. None of that matters. Not even color space. Really.
There are two really great things about Aperture:
-- If you shoot RAW, you never have to bother with creating myriad copies to edit. (Unless you want to use Photoshop, in which case, Aperture automates almost all of the filing work.) You get the advantage of always working directly with your RAW image with none of the traditional overhead.
-- If you shoot JPEG, your Master JPEG file is protected from accidental recompression. This is huge as it is all to easy to recompress a JPEG if you use a destructive workflow.
Now, what do you do with your images? How about sharing: printing, burning to CD, e-mailing to Aunt Mary, etc.? Again, all of this is too easy. You just have to understand the concept of Exporting. Think of Aperture as your negative vault - you never, ever give away a negative, you make copies and, once those copies are used, you discard them; you can always make more. So:
-- Print: Use Aperture's print system or, export a copy to the Desktop and print with any print package you wish. (I sometimes use Canon's print software for special projects.) Delete the exported file after you have used it.
-- Web Post: Aperture links automagically to Facebook and a few other services. I use Pbase, so I export JPEG and upload them. Very easy, as I have an export Preset that resizes, lowers the quality, and changes the color space to sRGB.
-- Burn CD: As above. Neat trick - if you need a record of what you have exported, drag the images to an Album first. The contents of the Album will tell you what you exported.
-- E-Mail: Aperture links directly with Apple Mail. N.B. If you want to send a full res file, you will need to export a Master, a full res Version, or, if you are sending to someone who has Aperture, a Project.
Let me stop here and come back to your last point in another post.
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DiploStrat đ