Got CS4, any need to get Aperture ?

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Frankie

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It's taken a while of self teaching to use CS4, and was wondering if there's any advantage in getting Aperture - do others here use both packages and why?

I could look for the free trial download, but thought it best to get some actual user feedback.
 
Aperture is a photo management system for importing, organising, and editing my images. Its particularly useful in a RAW image workflow as the editing done is non destructive. The original file remains untouched, at least until opened in PS for heavy pixel pushing. An advantage of this is that the file sizes don't balloon. I'm sure you've noticed that 10MP images can quickly become hundreds of mb when you start working in layers with PS. :eek:

Since the latest version of Aperture 3 I find myself needing PS less and less, in fact I'm seriously questioning my need to upgrade from CS3 to CS5.
 
bwana said:
Since the latest version of Aperture 3 I find myself needing PS less and less, in fact I'm seriously questioning my need to upgrade from CS3 to CS5.
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+1

Although, I'd have to add a disclaimer that I'm pretty much an amateur at Photoshop. Either ways, Aperture does 99% of what I need, and keeps my library beautifully organised. The 1% it doesn't cover has to do with geotagging and keywording
 
Thanks, I'll give the free trial version a try.

My use of PS is very basic, and I know that the real power and capability of PS is wasted on me.
 
koffiejunkie said:
+1

Although, I'd have to add a disclaimer that I'm pretty much an amateur at Photoshop. Either ways, Aperture does 99% of what I need, and keeps my library beautifully organised. The 1% it doesn't cover has to do with geotagging and keywording
Click to expand...
I know the geotagging is vastly improved but still pretty basic but you also have a problem with keywording? :confused:
 
bwana said:
I know the geotagging is vastly improved but still pretty basic but you also have a problem with keywording? :confused:
Click to expand...

I like my keywords to be embedded in the file. So I still prefer to do these before importing. The tool I use (PhotoLinker) adds the location fields too although it's not perfect.

Aperture 3's keyword handling is better though. One thing that used to annoy me before is that if I add keywords to a master file (outside of Aperture), and re-read the metadata in Aperture, it didn't update the keywords. Now it does. I need to play with it some more.
 
koffiejunkie said:
I like my keywords to be embedded in the file. So I still prefer to do these before importing. The tool I use (PhotoLinker) adds the location fields too although it's not perfect.

Aperture 3's keyword handling is better though. One thing that used to annoy me before is that if I add keywords to a master file (outside of Aperture), and re-read the metadata in Aperture, it didn't update the keywords. Now it does. I need to play with it some more.
Click to expand...
I'm trying to figure out when/why I would find myself keywording with a separate application.
 
bwana said:
I'm trying to figure out when/why I would find myself keywording with a separate application.
Click to expand...

For me it was simple. I wanted the ability to geotag and keyword independently of Aperture so that when I'm travelling I can get it done while things are fresh in memory without having to lug around a 15" MBP. Now, if Apple will pull their fingers out of their behinds, and make a Sony TZ size/spec MBP, I won't have this concern, but for now my 12" Compaq is still my travel laptop.

The other reason is also that Aperture2 did not save the keywords to the master, so if I lost Aperture (who knows what might happen in the future), I lose my keywording. Like I said, I haven't spent too much time looking at how Aperture 3 handles things - I'll report back when I get a chance.
 
koffiejunkie said:
The other reason is also that Aperture2 did not save the keywords to the master, so if I lost Aperture (who knows what might happen in the future), I lose my keywording. Like I said, I haven't spent too much time looking at how Aperture 3 handles things - I'll report back when I get a chance.
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Nothing gets saved on the master file in Aperture until you export (either as a version or as a master).

I guess portability is one of the strengths of the 13" MBP. :)
 
bwana said:
Nothing gets saved on the master file in Aperture until you export (either as a version or as a master).
Click to expand...

IIRC it didn't add the keywords to the master if you export. I did to the JPEG, but that doesn't help me. Anyway, exporting my entire library would take days.
 
koffiejunkie said:
IIRC it didn't add the keywords to the master if you export. I did to the JPEG, but that doesn't help me. Anyway, exporting my entire library would take days.
Click to expand...
I checked last night so it does now.

attachment.php
 
Well if you in the Adobe Suite - get Lightroom rather - i use both CS4 and Lightroom 2.something - the integration is handy.
 
stix said:
Well if you in the Adobe Suite - get Lightroom rather - i use both CS4 and Lightroom 2.something - the integration is handy.
Click to expand...
The integration between Aperture and PS is just fine for me. How does lightroom handle it differently?

Plus Aperture 3 is just plain better and costs significantly less. :p :)
 
No idea - just offering an alternative away from a bunch of fanboys who swear everything with an Apple is in their eye so to speak :D

Never used aperture - probably never will .
 
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