Is Aperture 3.3 for me? I used to use picnik (don't laugh) :)

I recently upgraded to a 2012 MacBook Air 11 inch with 4GB of memory, 4,000 graphics etc. I take pictures with my Sony Cyber-shot 14.1 MP, 4x optical zoom, retractable lenses that says Carl Zeis Vario Tessar 2,7-5,7/4,7-18,8, my iPhone 4s, and my built in MacBook HD camera.I print my pictures with a HP photosmart 7510 e-All-in-One-C311a printer. I'm a 3rd year college student who takes pictures of vacations, parties, family, friends, and myself. I'm not a professional but have always been good at taking pictures and basic editing. I used to use picnik for editing until it shut down. However while using it I noticed my pictures weren’t looking as professional as I wanted them to look. I enjoyed smoothing the face, air brushing, getting rid of wrinkles, bags, lighting the pictures, making myself look thinner, whitening the teeth, and adding makeup. I have watched tutorials on YouTube and they make the editing look easy. I'm willing to take some time this summer and learn how to use Aperture, but I'm not for sure if it is simply out of my league. Also I don't want my $80 to go to waste. I don't see a free trial of Aperture so I'm nervous and would like some advice. Thanks....

O.K., now I see what you mean. You can achieve the airbrushed look in Aperture by using the Adjustments and brushing on local effects. With a little practice and experience you will be able to do this. It would however be easier to achieve using Aperture plug-ins. But some of them are quite expensive: See for example these:
Ten super-cool plug-ins for Aperture
http://www.macworld.com/article/1161457/10_super_cool_plugins_for_aperture.html
To see the prices for plug-ins go to http://www.apple.com/aperture/resources/plugins.html.
Regards
Léonie

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Using Aperture to proof for the web

Hi friends,
I work with photos almost exclusively to publish on the web. I was hoping to use Aperture to speed up my workflow without taking every image through Photoshop. However, it appears to me that Aperture doesn't do much to successfully proof for browser display. I'm wondering if anyone can correct me.
Normally, in order to get an idea of how washed-out images will look on the web after being saved out as sRGB, I soft-proof for "Monitor RGB" using Photoshop, and edit accordingly. My hope was that I could use Aperture's 2-up view to compare the original image, without media proofing, to an adjusted image with soft proofing on and set to something like Monitor (so as to try and get the web-bound image close to how it looked out of the camera, plus desired adjustments). However, enabling proofing in Aperture, using all sorts of different profiles, doesn't seem to perceptibly change the image at all.
Naturally, photo representation is far from reliable on different browsers and different monitors, however I have found for my purposes that working under soft proofed conditions provides the most predictable result. Would anymore be willing to share their Aperture workflow for getting images onto the web without too much degradation?

My monitor is calibrated. My workflow consists of:
Export to JPEG/SRGB and upload to web. Seriously, I've never noticed any noticeable color shift. And if you're "presenting" on the web, it's a crap shoot anyway unless you are guaranteeing everyone viewing the photos will be viewing on a calibrated monitor.
Aperture's proofing does shift colors if you use a target that is a print target (e.g. when I use a profile for my Epson 3800 Premium Luster paper, there is a noticeable blue to purple shift). With some extreme output targets, you can get definite posterization as well. It does something, but I don't know if for "sRGB" it's going to make that large of a perceptible difference.

Aperture reprocesses previews for all videos every time I open it

Hello,
I use Aperture to organise all my videos shot on Canon 7d and an old HD Cam (705 vids, 381GB). Whereas my stills are stored in the aperture library, the videos are imported into eparate folders named after each project inside one master video folder.
I do this because it is an easy way to work with all of them in FCP (X), importing them without moving them, keywords from the folders coming across (and also because FCP used to incorrectly display the meta data- date and time imported shown as the file's creation details, when accessed via the aperture library menu from FCP, this bug has probably since been corrected)..
After restoring from a time machine back up recently, Aperture now reprocesses previews for all 705 movies every single time I open it, reboot or not. It doesn't hang on any particular file or crash but (as it's a mid 2010 MBP) simply slows Aperture down below useable for a few mins until they are done.
Post import processing set to camera previews, new projects always create previews ticked.
What am I doing wrong please? Should I attempt to fix the database?
Best
Ben

As a work-around - hold down the shift-key, when launching Aperture. That will defer the generation of Previews, so you can start working immediately.
What is your Aperture version and MacOS X version?
After restoring from a time machine back up recently, Aperture now reprocesses previews for all 705 movies every single time I open it, reboot or not.
Was Aperture the only thing you restored from a Time Machine backup? Or did you restore more of your system? If you reinstalled or upgraded the system, there may be now video codecs missing. In that case check, if reinstalling additional video codec (Perian, Flip-4-Mac, or similar) may help.
If the reinstalled aperrture library has been created on a different mac, there may be permission problems after restoring from Time Machine. Check the permissions and ownership on your video folders.
Are you touching the videos in any way, when using them in Final cut? Using stabilize or something? If the " last modiied " date is changed by Final Cut, this might prompt Aperture to recreate the preview.
-- Léonie

I bought a new imac transfered my data via timemachine and now when i want to open aperture it asks for my serial and when i put it in it says that is your upgrade serial please put in your original serial which i have no idea what that would be box gone

i used time machine to reinstall all products on a new imac machine. everything seems to be installed but when i open aperture it asks for my serial # and when i put it in it says that is your upgrade serial.. we want the original serial #. that box is long gone, how do i find that serial #

If you cannot find your original serial number, you will have to contact Apple with a proof of purchase, see these links:
Pro Application Replacement Serial Numbers: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1861
Troubleshooting Professional Application Serial Numbers: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2005
Regards
Léonie

Is Aperture the tool for me?

Afternoon all,
Following on from a separate forum thread I've got here in iPhoto https://discussions.apple.com/message/20902055?ac_cid=op123456#20902055?ac_cid=o p123456, I wondered whether the Aperture thread could also help me out.
I'm looking to have a single product to use as a central catalogue and referencing tool for the 000s of photos I've already got but also the 000s yet to be taken. I'm intending to have these photos stored on a NAS with appropriate backup measures, but accessing them through this as yet unknown product through wi-fi. I'm likely to do minimal photo manipulation other than the basics and enjoy the features of iPhoto so the main benefit is the ability to reference the images from a networked location. TD has kindly advised that iPhoto isnt the right product due to various limits due to networking.
My question is simple: Is Aperture the tool for me?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Tim

If you read TD's answer carefully, it says
It cannot have the Library on a networked location, such as a NAS. iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos.
The main problem is the formatting of the drive - for Aperture holds the same: The library needs to be on a disk formatted MacOS X Extended. Otherwise you are risking inconsistencies in your Aperture library and open a can of worms, see:
Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library
If you absolutey want to store your Photolibrary on a NAS, you can create a writable diskimage formatted MacOS X extended on your NAS and store the library on this disk image. You will have to take care to automount the diskimage before you access Aperture. This will be tedious and slow.
The question, if you can put your Aperture library on a network volume is open to a debate, but I would not do it.
For a good performance the access to the Aperture library needs to be very fast - I'd put the library on the fastest drive you have, with a very fast port, Thunderbolt, for example. My library sits on a second internal drive.
Your network needs to be very stable, if you want reliable database transactions for your Aperture library.
2. While you can run iPhoto in Referenced mode, with the Masters on a NAS and the library on a local disk, this is inherently unreliable. Here has more:
This is better in Aperture. Other than iPhoto Aperture has built-in tools to deal with referenced original files. So you can move the bulk of your image files to an external volume and keep only the Aperture library on your internal volume.
Regards
Léonie

I want to find the best way to send my pictures from Aperture to CVS for processing. How do I do that? Also, there doesn't seem to be a good app to go from Iphone to CVS either. Please help

How do I easly send my pictures from Aperture to CVS for actual printing? I always have trouble finding my photos in the Aperture library when I need to load them into the CVS web interface. I can't even tell which photos they are without seeing them.
Also, what's the best way to do it from my Iphone. Doesn't seem to be a good app for that.

Export the adjusted version from Aperture to the Desktop. Download the exported version to CVS.
You shouldn;t be looking in the Aperture library (if by looking you mean using the Finder on the library). Use Apertures tools to do this. Besides the only thing you could get out of the library would be the original file that you imported into Aperture not the version with your adjustments.

Aperture keeps asking for serial number when I try to open it.

When I try to open Aperture it asks for a serial nummber. I plug iin the serial number and it asks for the original version software number. I plug in that serail number but it will not accept it even though I have checked and it it the correct number.

Jodie84,
I have just checked your account and found that you indeed have bought a Creative Cloud for Teams subscription but you have assigned the single seat to another user hence you ( If you are using your own Adobe ID ) are getting the trial error message.
Two options : Either reassign the seat to your self or add an additional seat and invite your self in the same Team.
Cheers,
Kartikay Sharma

Aperture, good cataloger for Photoshop,but is there more?

Hi,
I am trying to maximize the benefits of Aperture, but there is still confusion. Aperture obviously is great at storing, cataloging, comparing, retrieving and opening images. The books and web tools are convenient and work quite well also. My problem is that I still have to go to photoshop for extrapolating my images to a larger size, resolution, then while there, I use Noise Ninja and Photokit Sharpener since it is convenient and the results are good. If I could at least extrapolate my image in Aperture for sharpening, I don't think I would need to go to Photoshop and that would be the ideal way to maximize Aperture.
My question is, why use Aperture for these things at all? I don't mean to sound negative. What Aperture does do, it does it quite well. I would just like to have it be the one stop shopping place for my images from camera to printer.
I can open, catalogue, compare, store, retrieve by metadata, and more in Photoshop already. I want to be told that Aperture is better for some reason than Photoshop, but I am not seeing it. What am I missing? Should I just interpolate in Photoshop, bring it back to Aperture and then print out of Aperture and then store it? It seems like an extra step for little benefit, especially when I can do this on my laptop and my desktop computers which I can not do with Aperture. (Don't really need the laptop for editing, but it would be nice to have)
I assume most who have Aperture are still using Photoshop for some things, but when does Aperture become indespensible as compared to being just a very nice looking raw image editor/cataloger?

Aperture's core strength is its integrated workflow, specifically in getting you from "lots of images" to "the images you really care about" quickly and efficiently. It doesn't have all the functionality of Photoshop (no true layers, no masking, many fewer 3rd party plug-ins), but it's great in getting you from 1000 shops to 25 "selects" in 30-60 minutes, when you've done some simple color correction and shadows/highlights to them.
If you need that, great. If you're a fine art photographer who is used to working with 4x5 or 8x10, maybe not so great, as you will need photoshop for every photo you work on.
Did you watch the videos on the Aperture site? If nothing those folks rave about meshes with how you work, perhaps it is a bad fit. Aperture isn't trying to be everything for everybody... which, based on the learning curve I went through with Photoshop, is a good thing. A very good thing

Aperture keeps asking for my name and serial number

Aperture keeps asking for my name and serial number, but only on one of my Macs. This is a new Mac that I restored from my old Mac. It made sense to have to put in the documentation the first time, but the program keeps asking for it. Any thoughts?

Be sure to enter the serial number, when you are logged in from an account with Administrator priveleges - otherwise the serial number cannot be stored.
Aperture is installed for all users on your mac, so the serial number is written to the system library, not the user library; this requires read/write access for administrators. Do you enter your serial number using an administrator account?
SInce you migrated your system from another mac, you still may have an older ProAppSystemID file or Aperture cannot write to the System Library.
To stop Aperture asking for the serial number, first check, if you still have an old file "ProAppsSystemID" in your System Library.
Quit Aperture.
Go to your MacintoshHD and open the folder "Library", then "Application Support", then "ProApps".
Remove the File "ProAppsSystemID" to the Desktop, if it exist and restart Aperture.
Reenter your serial number, hopefully for the last time.
Sometimes Aperture writes this file to a temporary directory, when it cannot write to the Library. If the above does not work, look at the temporary directory /tmp
Use the Finder's "Go" menu
Go > Got to folder and enter /tmp into the textfield. If you see ProAppsSystemID there, move it to its proper location in /Library/Application Support/ProApps.
Aperture must be running, and you will have to wait a few minutes to be seeing the file appearing the /tmp directory.
Regards
Léonie

Mac pro 13 (2014) or Mac Air (2014) for basic Photoshop use

I am a college senior about to enter the advertising industry and want to get a Mac as it is the industry standard in the ad world and to brush up on my Photoshop skills. I am looking for a mac computer priced between $1,000-$1,500 with education discount. Please let me know what you think would be an acceptable comp for basic photo shop and Imovie editing. The primary use of this computer will be word docs and watching Netflix etc. very low use programs. Please let me know what builds would be best for this very moderate PS use. Thank you in advance for your help!

RAM and some serious PCIe-SSD storage will help Aperture/LR. But I am use to spreading things out, learned long ago the benefits on concurrent and never reading+writing though didn't have todays 1.2Gb SSD to play with.
Was not to move the thread, but to ask there also for first hand on how they like the 2013 iMac now. I just don't feel comfortable spending that much when I know Mac Pro is designed for heavy use, better thermals, IS upgradeable, and will last longer.
Marco seems to have changed site or the article is off line.
Try this article if you want to understand new Turbo Boost specs:
http://www.marco.org/2013/11/26/new-mac-pro-cpus
http://www.marco.org
http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/23/apple-mac-pro-review-2013/
http://www.macworld.com/article/2082568/lab-tested-new-mac-pro-is-the-speedster- weve-been-waiting-for-finally.html
(2013) Mac Pro review (verge)
2013 Mac Pro review: small, fast and in a league of its own (engadget)
Tested: New Mac Pro is the speedster we've been waiting for (finally)

Aperture now asks for serial number after last update but app store doesn't provide one. What to do?

After my latest update Aperture now asks for a serial number.
This is a little strange as when you buy it from the app store you don't get one.
Well not one you can see.
So now can't use it.
What am I supposed to do?
Ricky-2012

https://discussions.apple.com/message/20272662#20272662

Aperture keeps prompting for my serial number...

I was cleaning some stuff off my hard drive the other day, and ever since then, every time I open Aperture, a "Licensing" window comes up asking for my name, organization, and serial number.
I enter the serial number, and everything works (and my library and all of my pics are still there). But if I close Aperture, the Licensing window pops up the next time I open Aperture.
Can anyone tell me what's going on? I was pretty sure everything I was deleting from my hard drives was fine to delete, but the timing can't be a coincidence.
How can I fix this?
Thanks

What is your Aperture version? Is your signature (iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.4)) still current?
Cleaning up should not cause this problem. Or did you clean up your System Library?
How are you entering the serial number? Aperture is installed for all users on your mac, so the serial number is written to the System Library, not your User Library, and this requires read/write access for administrators. Do you enter your serial number using an administrator account?
Also, you may have a corrupted "ProAppSystemID" file or Aperture cannot write to the System Library.
To stop Aperture asking for the serial number, first check, if you still have an old file "ProAppSystemID" in your System Library.
Quit Aperture.
Go to your MacintoshHD and open the folder "Library", then "Application Support", then "ProApps".
Remove the File "ProAppsSystemID" to the Desktop, if it exist and restart Aperture.
Reenter your serial number, hopefully for the last time.
Sometimes Aperture writes this file to a temporary directory, when it cannot write to the Library. If the above does not work, look at the temporary directory /tmp
Use the Finder's "Go" menu
Go > Got to folder and enter /tmp into the textfield. If you see the file there, move it to its proper location.
Regards
Léonie

Aperture too much for an amateur?

Is Aperture too much program for an amateur? I have used Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS2(still learning)on a Windows machine. I hear really good things about Aperture such as ease of use and not to bad of a learning curve.
In trying to break away from Windows, I would like to have a better program for my photo editing than iPhoto and thought maybe Aperture would be perfect or is PS Elements worth a look for apple? Any thoughts before I shell out any money?
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

What is it you want beyond iPhoto and Elements?
For image editing Aperture is almost certainly easier than the Photoshop products as Aperture is designed just for photography and PS does everything and then some; but Aperture doesn't do local editing.
Aperture is not trivial. You of course can use it right away, but to use it effectively will take some work. I'm moving over from iView MediaPro. I was using IVMP rather than iPhoto because iPhoto was too far behind IVMP when I got interested. I working through the Luna/Long training book, and Long's book. I jumped to Aperture as I had wanted to use more RAW and Aperture made it practical.
If you search a bit in this forum you'll find plenty of (true) comments pointing out that PS and Aperture are complimentary not competitors. For most people Aperture will take care of most of their editing, but PS will be needed for selective editing.
It might be worth waiting for Elements 5 to see what it brings. Since the next round of Creative Suite is due early next year (beta out now), Elements shouldn't be too far behind. Lightroom will be coming along in that time frame too presumably.
Aperture is mostly about organizing images and handling RAW images.
Of course a dedicated amateur can use it, but I suspect if one doesn't use it regularly it might not be as useful. That's because there's so much to it, and much to forget.
iMac Intel Duo Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Please help. Aperture is asking for my serial numbers again.

My Aperture and FCS applications are asking me for my serial number again. I've had them for a year now, why are they asking for my serial numbers again? I don't have the original packaging that has the numbers on them. What do I do?
Thanks,
Brian

The_Jules wrote:
I have a similar problem.
I have a new MacBookPro and want to use Aperture on my new computer. But even copying the mentioned plist file doesn't change anything for Aperture.
What should I do? Type in the license on the new Mac?
Yes, just key it in manually. The license agreement allows you to install Aperture on one laptop and one desktop computer as long as both are owned and used by you. Keying it into a 2nd computer (as long as you're adhering to the license agreement) is not a problem.

Why does aperture keep asking for my activation key each time I open the programme?

I have aperture on iMac and macbook air - everytime I open aperture on air, it asks my name and key number. how do I get it to remember this? why does it do it?
Help please - I am tired of it.

Be sure to enter the serial number, when you are logged in from an account with Administrator priveleges - otherwise the serial number cannot be stored.
Aperture is installed for all users on your mac, so the serial number is written to the system library, not the user library, and this requires read/write access for administrators. Do you enter your serial number using an administrator account?
When did this start? Have you migrated your system from another mac? Then you still may have an older ProAppSystemID file or Aperture cannot write to the System Library.
To stop Aperture asking for the serial number, first check, if you still have an old file "ProAppSystemID" in your System Library.
Quit Aperture.
Go to your MacintoshHD and open the folder "Library", then "Application Support", then "ProApps".
Remove the File "ProAppsSystemID" to the Desktop, if it exist and restart Aperture.
Reenter your serial number, hopefully for the last time.
Sometimes Aperture writes this file to a temporary directory, when it cannot write to the Library. If the above does not work, look at the temporary directory /tmp
Use the Finder's "Go" menu
Go > Got to folder and enter /tmp into the textfield. If you see the file there, move it to its proper location.
Aperture must be running, and you will have to wait a few minutes to be seeing the file appearin the /tmp directory.
In this case you may want to repair the permissions on your system drive; you can do this using the "First Aid" tools in "Disk Utility" (located in Applications > Utilities)
Regards
Léonie

Is Aperture 3.3 for me? I used to use picnik (don't laugh) :)

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