Apple Aperture Frustrations

HeatherTheVet

Top Veteran
Location
Scotland
Name
Heather
I've been laid low the last few weeks with some uncharacteristic ill health. It's very frustrating, I ended up in hospital for a few days (total waste of time) and have since been pretty much stuck on the couch. I can't do much talking, I run out of breath very quickly, often in the middle of a sentence. For a while I couldn't do anything, had no concentration and was a bit of a wet fish. Now my head is much better and I can get on with admin stuff (like my taxes) and dealing with the email backlog and so on. So when I got an email from Snapfish with an offer of some free prints I thought - I've been meaning to do it for ages, now I have the time lets get some prints and see how they look.

I went to Aperture and made a new folder of things I want to print and dragged and dropped them from the Photos list. Problem 1. I assumed it would work like itunes and if I drag something from the library it would make a "playlist" whilst keeping the file/version in its original place. It seems that is wrong - there is one copy and if you move it then it is no longer in the original folder. Bummer.

Then when it came to uploading to Snapfish I can't access the aperture library directly, it seems I have to export the versions to a folder on the desktop and upload from there. Problem 2. So I tried, but it only exported 35 out of 97 images. I don't know why. Problem 3.

Am I doing something wrong or is it really this clumsy and awkward? I think I'm going to have to book an appt at Mac when I'm a bit better and learn how to best build a library for ease of use. Mine's a disaster.

On the upside I rediscovered a pile of pictures that I quite like which have never seen the light of day.
 
Heather - just thought I'd say "sorry to hear about your set back - get well soon"

cannot help with Aperture as I'm a Lightroom user
 
Hope you feel 100% soon!
I also use Aperture and so far I've found that it's a bit cumbersome to upload files to anywhere except within Aperture. I think you're doing it right(at least that's how I do it and I've had no problems). I'm sure someone else has an easier way of doing this, but for me, it's the only way I know of. Why yours didn't export all of your files is a mystery to me. This is a problem I've not yet encountered(and hope not to).

I'll be watching this thread to see if someone has a better solution!

Get well soon!
 
Get well soon. And have tried Googling stuff like "exporting files from Aperture". I find that there are tutorials for almost every software out there online. No need to give Apple more money.....they have plenty already.
 
First, get well quickly!

Second, Aperture has automated upload methods for various services, like Flickr and Facebook and probably other things. But I've found it a real pain in the bottom to do this - if you re-organize anything anywhere, links get broken and files can even get deleted. So I just avoid that.

Third, while you can't move photos to a new project to organize for printing or uploading, you CAN create a new "Album" and drag any image into it without messing up the current/original location. It basically just places a pointer to the original and if you modify either, it modifies both. So, what I'd do given what you're trying to achieve, is create an album, drag everything you want to upload to it, organize as you like, and THEN export everything to a folder on your desktop. Then upload from that. Why you couldn't export all of those files is a mystery to me - I've never had that problem.

Like any program, Aperture has its share of weird little idiosyncrasies, but you learn them over time. My experience with Lightroom was brief and confusing - I don't doubt that its a great program but I've already learned what I need to know about Aperture and didn't feel like relearning everything...

-Ray
 
Heather

I feel can empathize with you as I have been ill for a very long time and am now surfacing. So hang in and get well.

Now to your problems:

1) You can create an Album and just drag images to it. You can create a Smart Album and set up parameters such as Search for Horses, 5*, between January 15, 2005, and March 21, 2006.

2) Apple has their own printing service so I doubt if they would allow Snapfish to access the Library directly. Therefore you have to export to an external directory.

3) Sometimes Aperture will misbehave if it is open a long time or for other quirk that are hard to explain. But I can assure you it will export a lot more than 97 images as I have created folder with 300+ images.
 
I've been laid low the last few weeks with some uncharacteristic ill health. It's very frustrating, I ended up in hospital for a few days (total waste of time) and have since been pretty much stuck on the couch. I can't do much talking, I run out of breath very quickly, often in the middle of a sentence. For a while I couldn't do anything, had no concentration and was a bit of a wet fish. Now my head is much better and I can get on with admin stuff (like my taxes) and dealing with the email backlog and so on. So when I got an email from Snapfish with an offer of some free prints I thought - I've been meaning to do it for ages, now I have the time lets get some prints and see how they look.

I went to Aperture and made a new folder of things I want to print and dragged and dropped them from the Photos list. Problem 1. I assumed it would work like itunes and if I drag something from the library it would make a "playlist" whilst keeping the file/version in its original place. It seems that is wrong - there is one copy and if you move it then it is no longer in the original folder. Bummer.

Then when it came to uploading to Snapfish I can't access the aperture library directly, it seems I have to export the versions to a folder on the desktop and upload from there. Problem 2. So I tried, but it only exported 35 out of 97 images. I don't know why. Problem 3.

Am I doing something wrong or is it really this clumsy and awkward? I think I'm going to have to book an appt at Mac when I'm a bit better and learn how to best build a library for ease of use. Mine's a disaster.

On the upside I rediscovered a pile of pictures that I quite like which have never seen the light of day.

First I hope you get well soon.

Second before you drive yourself crazy: I would spend a little time over here to get all the help you need: ApertureExpert Tips - ApertureExpert.com

There's a couple things you have to understand in file management in Aperture to not go crazy and then its very simple. When you initially imported your files they go in to a "Project" folder by default. If all of the photos you want to print are in that "Project" the simplest way I know to do what you want is to "Flag" the files you want to print by pressing the "/" key on each of those images. Now create a "Smart Album" for that Project. Have the smart folder search for the flagged photos. All of those images you flagged in that Project should be in the smart album. Select all of the images by using the "Command & A" combination. Now choose export images. You'll get the export dialog box where you can pick one of the many presets already made. Or choose one of them that's close and you can modify it then rename it. From inside that dialog box you can create a new normal Folder to export those images to, like on your desktop. Once they are there you would use the Snapfish's uploader to get your images to them.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for all the help guys, and the good wishes.
I think the problem is that I don't get the difference between a folder, a project and an album. That ApertureExpert site looks great so I'll chew my way through that and see if I can start to get a bit more out of the software. I probably use 5% of what it can do.

Once I sort a few things out I've got more photos to post. A mix of old and new.

Thanks again x
 
I think the problem is that I don't get the difference between a folder, a project and an album.

Heather I think Aperture is pretty easy program to understand very basics but a tad difficult to understand the complex bits. I found that paying for one month of Lynda.com and working away through all the Aperture videos really gave my understanding a great kick start.
 
I hope you continue to feel better, quickly. As for your issue, I've imported stuff to lightroom and seem to have lost my originals, and some of what I've imported so I wouldn't dare try to guess at how to help you with your problem. Good luck with it.
 
Thanks for all the help guys, and the good wishes.
I think the problem is that I don't get the difference between a folder, a project and an album. That ApertureExpert site looks great so I'll chew my way through that and see if I can start to get a bit more out of the software. I probably use 5% of what it can do.

Once I sort a few things out I've got more photos to post. A mix of old and new.

Thanks again x

Hey Heather I hope you're feeling better. Aperture Expert just did a new live video on everything you wanted to know about exporting your files:

ApertureExpert Live Training Session 018 Export Available Now - ApertureExpert Tips - ApertureExpert.com
 
Thanks Dorf, That Aperture Expert is a handy site, I've started working through some of the tips and trying to sort out my library. I would say that they do assume a certain level of knowledge though, there's a few of the library organising tips that might as well be in Greek. I'm still thinking about doing a basic lesson at the Mac Shop, I did get the One to One package so it wont cost me any more, and I really need to understand the structure and organisation a bit better.

Good news though, I got my pics from Snapfish and on the whole I'm rather pleased with myself! I had forgotten how lovely it is to hold a physical print. And some of those photos are pretty good, even if I do say so myself. It did highlight a few problems, the white balance is off on some of them and there's a few that don't look the same as on screen but a bit of tinkering around and I'm sure it will all be just fine. The photoshoot of my friend Anna looks particularly good in print.

Hopefully this will spur me on to more projects with a mind to how they will look when printed or framed.
 
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