Aperture help/questions - File Size, Versions, etc

Question

Hi,
I am new to the Mac, and after a small learning curve am now loving it. Can’t believe what I missed all those years under Windows. Anyway one of my biggest problems has been workflow and photo management, so I rushed out and bought Aperture without much investigation. I’m still getting to know it, and so far think it’s very good except for the following points, which may be down to my inexperience with the product rather than any shortcomings. I store all my shots as managed files in my Aperture library.
1. File sizes. Often I use Photoshop for minor/major modifications. There would be few shots that would not require some tweaking if I wanted to get the best image. I have PS3 set up as my external editor. My problem is the huge file size generated after using PS. For example my master file may be around 3mb (jpeg) but my PS file is 45mb! Now if I have a few versions of the PS file, as often is the case, I go from a few megabytes of storage for the image to a few hundred megabytes of storage!! Is there a way around this ??
What’s more if I create a Duplicate Version of the PSD version and do NOTHING it grows again. For example my initial JPEG is 2.78mb, I creat a new version via PS and add some adjustment layers and save the new version back. This new version has now grown to 45.56mb. I then wish to make another different version based on my previous version so I first select the version1 and then Duplicate Version. Now before I do ANYTHING if I save it back I get a new version with a file size of 68.49mb!!! If I do this again, my next version is hasn’t grown in size again, it’s still 68.49mb. What gives ??
2. Per 1) above can I save back from PS in JPEG and not PSD to bring the file size down. That is open the file in PS via the external editor in Aperture, make some adjustments and save it back as a new version in JPEG ??
3. Related to 2) above I often want to have multiple PS versions. For example the first one may just have some USM added. Subsequent ones however may have different crops, tonings, etc. So in Aperture what I do is create my first version and add the USM and whatever other standard treatments. Then save this. Then create a duplicate of this version and open the duplicate in PS via the external editor in Aperture. Make some changes then save back. Only now I have 4 files – the original, my version 1, the duplicate of this and my new version based on the duplicate. So I must now delete the duplicate (file three) version . Is there a better way ??
4. I find it hard sometimes to tell if I am on a master file or a version. Is there a way to definitely tell ? For example on occasion I have gone to delete a version, I get the dialog warning that all versions and masters will be deleted and then I seem to have lost both the version AND the master ?? This seems a bit dangerous.
5. The vault seems very slow to update when minor changes have been made. For example I created a new version of a master with a minor modification performed in Aperture (saturation set to zero) and then updated my vault. This should be a very quick process as the new version really just consists of some modification information and not the whole file. The update takes as long as if I were to add a few hundred megs of new photo’s to the library ! Is it overwriting the whole vault again, or is it just updating the changes (as I assume it should)
Sorry for the long winded explanations. Any advice/help/thoughts are much appreciated.
Thanks.
Simon
imac24   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Hello, Simon
quote: "I am new to the Mac, and after a small learning curve am now loving it."
It only gets better
Welcome to the forum and macs!
quote: "My problem is the huge file size generated after using PS. For example my master file may be around 3mb (jpeg) but my PS file is 45mb! Now if I have a few versions of the PS file"
Check your Export Image settings like quality, size, DPI. Prior to Open with External Editor make the photograph as best as possible, all adjustments, crop, etc and then take it to Photoshop, back to Aperture and print it or upload to web etc. If the photograph is being used on the web there is no need to make a huge file
quote: "above can I save back from PS in JPEG and not PSD to bring the file size down"
You might think about keeping the jpegs jpeg on the export from Aperture to PS instead of jpeg to psd to jpeg.
4. quote: "I find it hard sometimes to tell if I am on a master file or a version. Is there a way to definitely tell ?"
the "m" key toggles from Master to Version (adjusted).
5. quote: "The vault seems very slow to update when minor changes have been made."
this is contingent on the system like rpms, processor, usb or fw...
victor