If I move a picture from one project to another in aperture why doesn't the jpeg change folders if all my pictures are referenced?

In Aperture, I moved a photo from one project to another expecting that the jpeg in finder would move from the original folder to the new one, but it didn't.

Mark, Aperture does not store the originals organized by project, but by the date of the Import Session. So moving an image to a different project will not change, were the original file is stored.

This has a big advantage for backing up the originals. If they never move or change, you do not have to backup the originals other than directly after importing, if your library is referenced. And even incremental backups of a managed library are quicker.

Is there a way to make this happen?

You can always use the command "File > Relocate" to move the original files anywhere you want.

Is it bad that I want this to happen? Should I just use a managed library. I like having control of the actual files (thus wanting to go with a referenced library).

If it is bad, will depend on why you want to have control of your originals. If you just want to know where they are, it is o.k., or if you don't have enough space on the drive with the library and need to split the library across several drives. But it would be bad to move, edit, or access the referenced originals in any way. Let Aperture do the handling, or you will be risking broken references.

Aperture has several buil-in ways to show you the original: The "M" key will switch the Browser to the original, "File > Export > Original" will give you an exact copy of the original, or you can relocate the file to another folder. I simply open the aperture Library in iPhoto, when I want to view my managed originals. iPhoto has a command "File > Reveal in Finder > Original" that will show you also the managed originals in the "Masters" folder inside the Aperture/iPhoto Library package.

You may want to have a look at Terence Devlin's User Tip: How do I access my Photos in Aperture?

Regards

Léonie

In addition to Léonie's excellent advice I'd suggest one way of looking at what Aperture is and does is to focus on the idea of it as a Manager.

A comparison with the Contacts app is the best I've come up with.

The Contacts app is your Address Manager. This makes your addresses available to every single app on your machine. It's your point of contact with the addresses. Want to add one? Want to edit one? Delete one? Share one? All done via Contacts.

Now you can re-write that paragraph again. Aperture is your Photo Manager. This makes your photos available to every single app on your machine. It's your point of contact with the photos. Want to add one? Want to edit one? Delete one? Share one? All done via Aperture.

So, where the files are stored, while important of course, is a secondary issue because in the normal course of events you never access those files. You do it all via Aperture.

Similarly, with the Contacts app. Those addresses are all stored in a folder in Application Support, but that doesn't matter to you as you only access the data via the app or the various methods offered throughout the OS for integrating with it.

If the way in to Aperture is by importing, then the way out is by exporting. So, if you move a photo from project to project then when you export the project there's the photo - regardless of where it was stored on the HD originally.

So, decide on the file storage you want to use. Set up your back up system and forget about it. From there on you're working in the Aperture interface.

Hope that helps a little.

Secondly, Leonie, you state that if you want to view the original, you go to iPhoto. Why? Is that because you "play" with or edit the photos in Aperture, so it's easier to view the orginals in iPhoto?

I am switching to iPhoto only if I want to access the original file using a safe and easy interface. iPhoto can reveal managed originals in the Finder; Aperture does not offer this "Reveal" command. I rarely need to do this, only if I suspect that one of the originals has become corrupted.

I do all my editing, tagging, and browsing in Aperture. It simply has more options to retrieve the images, to manage the library, and to edit and tag the photos. And occasionally, when I want to compare two libraries I open one in iPhoto and one in Aperture, for examle, when I a returning from a trip and want to merge my travel library into my main Aperture library.

Mark,

Should I have a seperate Aperture Library (managed library) than the iPhoto Library? Or should I just use the iPhoto Library in Aperture? If I go to "file" then "switch to library", I can access the iPhoto one. But I'm kind of insane: I have all my photos in iPhoto and I kind of want a "fresh" start, so I created a new library in Aperture ("Aperture Library"), and then I'm importing each iPhoto event separately into the new Aperture Library, then I add location metadata and keywords (I'm doing it by event so that it's easier to manage...I can do a couple of events in one day).

I'm kind of enjoying this process of doing it per event and moving them into a separate Aperture Library and adding location metadata and keywords. So, I'm assuming unless you say "NO, you'll ruin everything that way", you would probably say (hopefully) that what I'm doing is fine.

Thanks for your time.

I hope TD will chime in again.

I cannot tell, how much work you already invested into your iPhoto library. Aperture has more advanced tools to organize the photo library, and it is a good idea to start with a new and well planned design for your Aperture database. You will have to live with it for many years.

and then I'm importing each iPhoto event separately into the new Aperture Library,

Do you have many edits and keywords in iPhoto? Many albums you would want to transfer?

In that case it would save a lot of work to import the iPhoto library into the new Aperture library, move it into a folder. Your iPhoto events will show as projects in the Aperture library, and you could restructure the library by arranging these projects in a new way.

Or, as TD pointed out - if your iPhoto library is already quite close to what you want in Aperture, you could use it directly as your Aperture library.

-- Léonie

marknovom wrote:

So, it sounds like my wanting to know exactly where the files are is kind of my way of being stubborn.

Hi Mark. Keep in mind that "file" and "exactly where the files are" are both fictions. Neither your file nor your folders are anything more than mental skeuomorphs that allow you to interact with a computer. Your file might be in memory. It might be on a drive. It might be in thousands of pieces. It is almost certainly in different sectors and different tracks. It might be on different platters. It is _absolutely_ not "in" a folder. All of that is a fiction, and a function, of the OS.

Just as the OS allows you to not worry where you file actually is (and instead worry about where it "logically" is), Aperture allows you to not worry about where your files logically are, but instead to worry about where your _images_ can be found.

As far as Aperture use goes: you must back up your files. Other than that, ignore them. Use Aperture to manage your Images.

"Manage" for almost all users, means: make them easily found. There are many ways to do this (not just putting them in folders with names that mean something to you). Inverst the time to come up with a system that works for you (e.g.: keywording), implement it rigorously, and you don't have to fret about "Where".

So I think I'll use a "managed" library so I'll let aperture do all that work, and continue to import the photos from iPhoto to aperture one event at a time.

Sounds a good plan. 🙂

Just to be sure, how are you importing "one event at a time"? Are you exporting them from iPhoto and importing into Aperture or dragging them from the iPhoto window to Aperture? Dragging them from iPhoto would only give you the previews and not the full resolution originals.

Dragging is only getting the Preview, and not the original file. This is not a good workflow.

Ernie

I create a folder on the desktop, select all pix in one event and drag them into the folder. Then I open aperture and import the photos from the folder on the desktop.

As Ernie said. Dragiing will only export the previews, and that have a lower resolution than your originals. You will not want to reduce the quality of your photos when creating the new library.

Select the photos in the event and use

"File > Export > Version" or "File > Export > Original" to export one event to a folder on your Desktop

or open the iPhoto '11 library in Aperture and use

"File > Export > Project as new library" to export selectively one ore more events/projects as a new library. Then import the new one-event-library into your new Aperture library using "File > Import > Library"

If I decide to do option 1 (export to a folder on the desktop), once I import it into my new Aperture Library (and import it as a "managed" library), I can then delete the folder that was on the desktop, correct?

yes.

So, how do I get those folders (with the jpeg files) into the Aperture Library? I thought I could just import them again into the Aperture Library (and was hoping that it was going to save the location metadata and the keywords I did when I inputted them yesterday).

Is there a way to just transfer them into the Aperture Library and keep all the work I did?

If you imported "referenced" with the originals in a folder outside Aperture, select all your referenced image versions in the Browser in Aperture and use the command "File > Consolidate Originals". That will relocate the files from outside the library into the aperture library, preserving all the edits you did to the versions.