Can any one tell me how I did this ?- as I cannot replicate it and Apple support say they do not know.

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Can any one tell me how I did this ?- as I cannot replicate it and Apple support say they do not know.

Well I had a portrait and imported it into Aperatiure then used the vignette effect. I then wanted to crop it and somehow found editing tools at the top of the screen thet either allowed me to crop as a circle or to crop as an elipse. I chose the circle and was pretty pleased with what I had.

later I tried to do it with another photo and could not find the two tools.

So undeterred I contacted apple who even shared my screen to see the file and they said they had no idea how I did it.

Can anyone help as these are great cropping options and I would just love to be able to replicate what I did.

Thanks so much and sorry for being so dence.

This is the image I ended up with:-

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1), Aperture 3.4.1 I Photo 09 v 8.1.2

Posted on Oct 30, 2012 2:35 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 30, 2012 6:44 AM in response to Norman P

In iPhoto you can get this effect using the matte and vignette tools but I know of no way that you could have done this in Aperture.

Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano _ actually you don't even need the matte tool. iPhoto's vignette toll will do this.

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Answer 2

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 7:09 AM in response to Norman P

Thanks for that Frank but it was niether of those and they do not actually create a sharp edge like the one I have shown they create a blurred edge. The tool I used was at the top of the page whereas those two are at the bottom

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Answer 3

Oct 30, 2012 7:49 AM in response to Norman P

There is no single tool in Aperture that would create the image you posted. Even if there was some way to create an oval matte in Aperture, Aperture does not do transparent layers and the image you posted has a transparent background.

So you'll need to try and remember what it is you were doing when you created this. Check your system for other graphic programs, you were using one of them.

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Answer 4

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 7:55 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

Thanks for that but I only have aperature and I photo on my IMAC

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Answer 5

Oct 30, 2012 8:06 AM in response to Norman P

Do you understand what I wrote about Aperture not doing transparent layers? It is impossible for the image you posted to have been exported from Aperture as it is.

The closest you could come to this is the matte and/or vignette tools in iPhoto (or in the Aperture iPhoto effects tool) But even then you would not get the transparent background. So you did something to the image after you exported it, Aperture did not produce it.

regards

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Answer 6

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 8:15 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

To be honest Frank I did not understand what you said about transparent layers. I am a newbie to Mac and editing photos. In future I shal make a note of all I do. I really do appreciate you trying to help me. I guess this will remain just a mystery to me. Shame because I like having that type of crop.

Kind regards

Norman

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Answer 7

Oct 30, 2012 8:32 AM in response to Norman P

Hi Norman. The photo you posted is a PNG file. What was the file format of the file you imported? Did you export a Version from Aperture in order to make a file to upload to the forum?

Added:

If you right-click an Image, what command is listed at the top of the context-sensitive menu?

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Answer 8

Oct 30, 2012 8:37 AM in response to Norman P

It can be tough when you're new at this, there are a lot of different formats and they all have different capabilities.

Let's try this another way. Were did the image that is in Aperture that produced the image you posted here come from? Your camera, a scanned image, from somewhere on-line?

What did the image look like before you imported it into Aperture? You can look at the original before you imported it with Preview.

Finally how did you export the image from Aperture that you posted here?

Maybe getting answers to those questions will clear this up.

regards

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Answer 9

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 8:49 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

The image originally came from a canon ixus 900Ti and was imported as a Jpeg to iPhoto. I then edited it I thought in aperature, but it would seem from what you all said that I used iPhoto, and exported the edited edition and then found it was too big to post on a web page so I then changed it to a ping. The original image is now hidden in time machine as my iMAc is having it's 1tb seagate hard drive replaced, and I am on my macbookpro. For this discussion I got the image from the website I posted it on. - www.barnwoodcommunitypartnership.org.uk

I had hoped to show all the officers with the same hard circle crop.

When I get my I mac back and reinstate from my time machine I will have access to the original Jpeg.

Norman

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Answer 10

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 9:18 AM in response to Norman P

On studying the photo I have to correct myself the image was taken in Photo Booth then imported into iPhoto - that is my study in the background. Still the image was originally a Jpeg so guess that is the main thing. When I get my I MAC back and have reinstated will see what the info is on it.

Thansk for all you help guys

Norman

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Answer 11

Oct 30, 2012 9:29 AM in response to Norman P

Well it is possible to do this using the standard apps installed on a Mac. if after you used the matte or vignette tool in iPhoto and you exported the image if you then opened it in Preview you could turn the area that was made by the mate or vignette tool transparent.

So do you remember using Preview after you exported the image from iPhoto but before you uploaded it to the web site?

Image before making background transparent in Preview

Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

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Answer 12

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 9:34 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

Hi Frank

That's a good close copy but mine has sharp clear edges and yours are a bit fuzzy. I defnitely used a tool that was shown above the photo. There was both a circle tool and an elliptical one. You are very kind investigating this anomaly.

Kind regards

Norman

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Answer 13

léonie

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Oct 30, 2012 9:51 AM in response to Norman P

Perhaps you used Keynote, Pages, or iWeb?

All these applications allow to mask an image with arbitrary shapes. For example, this mask I created with Pages: Imported from Aperture using the Media Browser, masked with an oval, exported a pdf. converted to png:

the png did not upload - I had to convert it to jpeg.

And do you have any Aperture plug-ins installed? Perhaps one of your plug-ins can add frames.

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Answer 14

Norman P Author

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Oct 30, 2012 9:53 AM in response to léonie

I have no plug ins but thanks for thte info I will play with those applications as the image you have is the closest to what I had.

Many thanks Guys

Norman

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Answer 15

Aye Es Oh

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Oct 30, 2012 9:59 AM in response to Norman P

Definitely not possible in Aperture, but you can use the edit tools in Preview to make an oval selection (View->Show Edit Toolbar, then select the dotted oval on the right side of the toolbar), and use the crop command to make the area outside the oval transparent (Tools->Crop), which gives the result below:

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