Basic recommendations for library structure

Question

I'm about to import a large home photos directory into aperture. My photos are (on the whole) organised simply, by year and month. I anticipate creating a few albums and slide shows of things like, Birthdays or Holidays.
I'd appreciate any advice on library / folder structure from anyone who has already done a similar thing.
Paul

Answer 1

I'm about to import a large home photos directory
into aperture. My photos are (on the whole) organised
simply, by year and month. I anticipate creating a
few albums and slide shows of things like, Birthdays
or Holidays.
I'd appreciate any advice on library / folder
structure from anyone who has already done a similar
thing.
Paul
I had a similar pre-Aperture structure based on a year/month folder organization. This worked well in a Bridge/PSCS2 workflow. In Aperture, I refined this approach. The revised approach works for me, and may be of use in thinking through what you want to do. Here's what I've done:
I have three main Aperture FOLDERS as the "base level" of my structure:
- Jobs (for client assignments)
- Personal (for family/friends/other personal images)
- Stock (for stock images)
Under the JOBS FOLDER, I have a SUB-FOLDER for each client. Under each client folder I have a PROJECT for each job done for that client. This allows me to see all job images, all job images for a specific client, or all images for a specific client job by simply selecting the appropriate folder/project level.
Under the PERSONAL FOLDER, I have SUB-FOLDERS for each branch of the extended family, with PROJECTS under the sub-folders that identify who took the photos (not all the photos in my library were taken by me or my spouse as I also post-process images for other members of the extended family). I also have additional PROJECTS that are activity specific, such as "Family Vacations", etc.
Under the STOCK FOLDER, I have PROJECTS by year, abandoning the month structure of my previous scheme. Within the yearly projects, I sub-divide the images into ALBUMS that identify the specifics of a shoot. For example, last fall I had the opportunity to shoot the President's Cup golf tourney, and I have all the images from that shoot in a single album. Other albums contain images that may be captured throughout the year but are around a common theme or place. An example: "2004 NoVa Scenes".
As a final "root folder", I have a FOLDER called "Smart Albums". Here I keep all the smart albums that find, for example, the images shot by my spouse; all images with a three-star or better rating; or all images with the keyword "People". I find it convenient to keep all the smart albums in one place, sometimes organized into sub-folders under the main "Smart Album" folder.
For me, this arrangement provides an easy to navigate and very visual structure that allows me to look at/post-process images in as large or small a chunk as I wish. Combined with Aperture's keywording and query hud capabilities, it allows me to navigate quickly around a current base of ~12,000 raw images.
Hope this helps.
Mike
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