Metadata Overlay in Aperture 1.5

If you select Command-J in Aperture, you get a set of prefernces for the type of information you want to appear in the overlays at the botton of your images. The information varies, but for now I mainly want to know what rating and keyword(s) I have given t0 photo(s). I want to know that information whether I'm viewing a photo(s) in the Viewer mode or the Grid View. Since all a project's files are named the same thing, I really don't need that information.

Also since I work in and out of the Viewer and Grid modes, I simply have the same set of information displayed for both modes of view. That way I can use the hot keys Shift+U or Shift+Y to change to what information I need, no matter which mode I'm primarily viewing photos in.

As I develop my workflow in Aperture, I may find a need for a different type of information in the overlays, but for now Keywords and Ratings will do. Remember the hot keys for changing metadata overlays may take a little getting used to, but they can come in handy when processing images.

Carmela & Ethan

The Joy of Weddings

Be sure to click on this photo to appreciate it at a larger size.

One of the things I enjoy so much about shooting weddings is seeing people happy, loved, and honored on their special day. I like being able to capture that moment, even it's in just that one photo out a thousand I take. It's capturing the expression of joy and romance. That kind of joy doesn't come to us everyday, and sometimes it's like once in a life, but to be able to capture it and freeze it so that it can be looked back upon is really what counts.

Tua and Shing

Except for the rain, this was a very nice wedding, full of love and support. I very much enjoyed covering it.

Engagement Albums

I'm really jazzed about doing engagement books for my clients. While the traditional framed engagement photo is also nice, I think engagement books are better, because they offer an opportunity to showcase more enagement photos. When I meet my clients for an engagement shoot, I take something like 150 photos. It would be almost a waste of time if a handful of these best photos were not printed and shared. So here's my first sample book. More are forthcoming.

The idea of these signature engagement books is to have say 10 photos with a blank facing page for each photo so that family and guests can write messages to the Bride and Groom.

Books/Albums in Aperture 1.5

I really like how you can work with images right within Aperture to lay out books, but it it willl be even better when companies like Asukabook and GraphiStudio can produce a plug-in that allows for book creation in Aperture. As it stands now, you can only produce a few specific size books, say 9x11, and the end quality is not that all that classy for high-end clients. The books themselves are more useful for proof books, portfolios, and possibly thank-you type gifts.

Quick (probably obvious) Aperture Tip

Aperture is like all of Apple's cocoa programs in that you can simply drag an image file (must be a thumbnail in this case) to your desktop and the result is that you have a preview size image file that you can use for emailing and webposting. If you want a larger size, then you have to export. If you try do this in Lightroom, you'll get the master size file that you imported. Note: This is my first little YouTube movie. I thought I'd post something short very to give it try. More to come.

April and Micheal: The Joining of Hands

I love hands and rings shots. They're almost an art within of themselves.

Wedding Photography and Aperture 3

Here's my current project and folders arrangement for my wedding projects workflow in Aperture. I start off importing each media card as a project. Each project is named based on the card number. So far I like this method because it helps me insure that I've imported all my media cards for a particular wedding. Plus, I can use this number breakdown to locate a set of particular photos based on the card number. Card #1, for example, typically consists of pre-ceremony and some ceremony images, while cards 6 and 7 will probably be full of reception images. Also, if there's ever a problem with image files, I might be able to identify the problem according to the card number. Finally, I still only use 1-2gb cards. I'm way too chicken or cautious to put the majority of my cards on one or two 4 or 8gb cards. It really doesn't take that long to change cards. And I keep them on my person for the entire time of the wedding. I never put them in my camera bag.

The rest of the folder break down largely consist of smart folders (one of my favorite features of Aperture) that are based on the various keywords I assign images after I import them. I like the smart folders because they automatically update as I make rating and keyword changes to images. I just wish there were a way to quickly create a standard set of smart folders for each client project. As it stands now, I simply duplicate smart folders and change the parameters based on what I want the content to be.

That's it. All these folders will be exported as jpeg files and organized the same folders for burning on a DVD(s) for my clients.

Sima and Amar

I just had a very nice opportunity to photograph Amar and Sima's wedding reception this Saturday. They held their wedding in India back in January and had a reception here back in the States with something 300+ family and guests. I plan to add more photos from the reception, but I just wanted to post quickly two portrait shots I took of Sima. I only had a very short time with them for portrait shots, but I really like her attractive spirit and formal dress.

Aperture and Wedding Photography 2

I've only created three or four projects in Aperture so far this year, but one of the features of Aperture that I'm finding useful is to keep the current projects that I'm working on, in the Favorites panel, which means that these projects will be seperated out from all the rest of the projects that are listed in my projects panel on the left side of Aperture. Working in less clutter as possible helps my workflow, so I'm always looking for ways to streamline and organize files and folders within my computer workflow.

To add projects and folders to the Favorites panel, simply click on the project and/or folders and then click on the pop-up menu button on the top right of the Projects folder and click Add to Favorites. Then click on the Projects Menu Button of course on the left side the panel and select Favorite Projects.

Basically I'm just keeping this Projects Panel open to Favorites with the goal of getting projects done and completed as soon as possible. Too many Favorite projects means that I'm not getting work done fast enough, which means I'm making less and less money on the jobs I'm completing.