Thursday
Oct012009
Aperture Video Tip: A review of my Library
NOTE: This was originally posted on shutterstation.com, but since decommissioning that site I've pulled some of the articles here so they don't get lost.
For those who prefer reading than watching the video, a full transcript is below.
Transcript from the Apple Aperture Library review video.
Today I want to share with you how I organise my Aperture Library. This is one of those things that I struggled with at first and I couldn't find enough information on the web to help me get started. I don't know why, but this seems to be one of those things photographers don't like or want to share. Anyway, after a lot of trial and error and changing things around a bunch of times, I finally settled on a system that works for me. I haven't changed it much in a while, so it seems to be ideal for me. It may not work for you, but by sharing it I hope it'll give you some ideas that you can incorporate into your own photography and organization. OK, lets get started.
I'll skip the Library and MobileMe folders as those are not really a choice you make. As you can see, I keep everything organized at the top level using Blue Folders. In Aperture, Blue Folders can store pretty much anything (projects, albums, books, even other folders), so they're a good way to keep things tidy. Now, Aperture orders things in alphabetical order, so I use numbers for my main folders and symbols for my working folders. I'll explain this in a second, but by using symbols and numbers my Library stays ordered. OK, first off are my working folders. I call them @Review and @Edit.
Every time I import a card, I create a temporary project inside my @Review folder and drop the photographs there. If it's a specific shot, for example a model I shot, then I name the project with the date of the shoot and the model's name. If it's a card with a bunch of different photographs that need to sort out, I'll just create a "randoms temp" folder so I remember to sort them into the appropriate projects later on. The projects stay in my @Review folder until I've gone through them and keyworded and rated all photographs. Then I move it to my @Edit folder.
The @Edit folder is where I keep all the photographs I'm currently working on. Inside each project, I usually create 2 smart albums, one for my Selects (which are images rated with 1 star), and one for my Picks (which are 3 or more stars). I wrote a post about my rating workflow a while back, so I won't go into that.
Anyway, once I've finished editing a project and I have my final images, then I move it into the appropriate folder below. OK, so my folders are very broad categories which fit with my work. The Portfolios folder is just a series of albums to pull out my favorite shots. There are no masters in here, that's why I use 00 in the title. I change this one all the time. For example, a few days ago I added an iPhone Sync folder with the photographs I want to sync.
The first folder with actual masters is Portraits. In here I keep all my people shots no matter what they are, like straight portraits, swimsuit shots, nudes, etc. I put each shoot into its own project and for the title I use the shoot date, model name, and nationality when it's relevant. Inside I have at least a Picks album, and sometimes others with for example different crop sizes or one for color versions and one for black & white versions.
The second one is Street Photography. It's empty now because I kept these in a different mac but I'm consolidating everything into one Library at the moment, but I haven't finished importing these. Anyway, they follow the same naming convention as the portraits: date of the shoot and place.
Then I have Family & Friends. This is where all my snapshots and holiday photos and that kind of things go. These I keep organized in folders per year and inside each folder is a project with the month and title. Some years have a Random Shots project where I throw individual shots that aren't part of an event or a holiday.
Next is Projects. Here I keep my personal projects (note, here I refer to personal photographic projects, not what Aperture calls "project", I tend to consider that a shoot). These are photos that I shoot for a specific project. I keep one folder per project and inside I have the shoots in Aperture projects, a series of albums, books, light tables, etc. that are part of that particular project.
Then I have my Jobs folder. In here I have a project per job with date and job in the title. Clients that I work with regularly have their own folder with multiple projects, one for each shoot or gig.
Lastly, I keep a folder I call management, where I have a bunch of smart albums to sort things by camera or file type or lens. I like going through my library this way. You can learn a lot by checking what types of photos you shoot with each lens.
The Stuff folder is where I keep random things that I refer to but wont necessarily keep. Things like reference photos, scans, etc.
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Reader Comments (8)
I can not view your video. It says it is private?
Oops... dumb mistake, sorry! I uploaded it late at night and didn't even notice. It should be fine now. Thanks for letting me know!
Thank you for your varied presentations of your Aperture Workflow - most useful. It certainly is time consuming for an amateur like myself to sort out the best way to manage a simple and efficient workflow with Aperture. You have a nice efficient organizational system particularly by using the blue folders. Now that I know more I will follow suit.
Yurek, glad you find them useful. There really is no perfect way to organize your library as it depends on many things. If you find my way may be what you're looking for great, but don't be afraid to change it around as you get more comfortable. Aperture makes it really easy to change things quite dramatically without messing things up.
Thanks for sharing your video and workflow! One of the very reasons that I love Aperture and has kept me from moving to Lightrooom is how well file management works in aperture and how easily it is to do. Plus I use it to sync images to my iphone so I can have portfolio images and reference images available to me all the time.
Your system is yet again similar to mine but has more structure to it then what I initially setup. The "edit" and "review" folders are a great idea and have been added to my setup as well. Also the use of smart folder is done well and has actual purpose. I have struggled with how I wanted to use them and believe that your method is among the best that I have seen (outside of straight keyword use).
So that leaves me with a final question... Do you use keywords and do you plan on sharing that as well? I recently deleted all my keywords and started from scratch as I simply had too many and it made it difficult to mange. I am now working with a minimal amount to keep it streamlined.
Nathan, thanks for you comments. I agree that Aperture is vastly superior at file management than Lightroom and it's probably the main reason why I haven't really considered switching to Lightroom. Plus, I use it a lot and know it pretty well by now, I have a comfortable and efficient (for me) workflow and it does what I need it to do very well. Yes, I'd like to get new features and have a list of things on my wish-list for Aperture updates, but honestly, I'd rather be making photographs than learning new software. It'll take a lot for me to switch.
The "Edit" and "Review" folders I got from reading the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done" rel="nofollow">Get Things Done (GTD) methodology and loosely applying it to my photographic workflow. It's been great!
About keywords... yes, I do use them and will certainly share it at some point. However, that is one thing I've struggled with quite a bit and I don't feel I've cracked it yet. For starters, I don't particularly like having to do it (although I get the benefit) and have changed my system many times. Like you, at one point I deleted the whole thing and started again. At the moment I have a set that seems to be working well for me and I've been consistent with it for a while now. The best tip I can give you on keywording in Aperture right now is to lock them once you've decided on a set, otherwise it'll grow into a crazy mess. I got that tip from John Thawley, a Motorsport photographer. He posted a really interested article on precisely that that I'm sure you'll find interesting. He's got some good stuff on Aperture in http://www.johnthawley.com/journal/2009/8/23/keywords-and-aperture-lock-n-load.html" rel="nofollow">his blog.
Hi
Great post, has given me some ideas for streamlining my workflow. I doubt it will be excat but I like some of your thinking.
Thanks for sharing
Dave
http://www.griffin-david.co.uk" rel="nofollow">Swansea Photographer
@ Dave: Happy to hear you found it useful!