Aperture Photo Management and Organisation
Whilst most photographers have a recommended way of managing and arranging their photos, I thought I would share my preferred approach I use in Aperture. I have also included details of how I manage submitting photos to stock photography agencies.
I start by first creating a specific project and respective folders/smart albums for the project. I have included a screen grab below for reference.
By default, all photos are rated with 0 Star when they are first imported into Aperture. I will then selectively rate the photos with either a Reject or 1 Star rating. I then filter (using the filter drop-down) the main project view for 1 Star or Better to determine what photos should be promoted to 2 Star. I then repeat this process to promote the 2 Star photos to 3 Star. It is the 3 Star photos that I usually perform some sort of image editing and adjustment. Also with Aperture 2.1, I do not have to make a round trip to Photoshop for basic Dodge & Burn editing.
The best 3 Star photos are then rated as 4 Star and are the photos that I will be submitting to stock photography agencies. The Selects smart album is configured to only show 4 Star photos. If I deem a photo worthy, I will promote it to 5 Star; however this rating is reserved for only the best Portfolio quality photos. I typically do not submit portfolio photos to stock agencies, so the 5 Star photos can be copied out to another folder.
To manage the process of submitting photos to a stock photography agency, I create a folder and album structure to reflect the various stages of the workflow I follow, ‘For Submission‘, ‘Submitted‘, ‘Approved‘, and ‘Rejected‘. I number the folders to ensure I have full control of their ordering, as they are sorted alphanumerically by default. After copying the 4 Star photos to the respective agency ‘For Submission’ folder (I may not submit the same photos to all agencies, so I may selectively copy them) I move the photos (holding down ‘Option’ whilst moving the photo) between the albums. The screen grab below shows an example structure for iStockPhoto with a example ‘Tethered Test’ project. I will post more of the tethered shooting capabilities of Aperture 2 at a later date.
Stock Photography - Folder
iStockPhoto - Folder is created for each stock photography agency
For Submission - Album
Submitted - Album
Approved - Album
Rejected - Album
Projects - Folder
[Project Name] - Project is created for each shoot
Rejects - Smart Album
Selects - Smart Album
I am yet to find a quick way to copy the complete structure between projects, but I expect there is a simple a quick way!
I expect there are many different ways of arranging and managing your photos, but I have found this way to be the most productive. I have also found it helps when managing multiple stock agencies.
Tags: Apple Aperture
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