Automating Smart Albums Creation in Aperture

Most of the photographers I know who use Aperture use Smart Albums in order to quickly and efficiently sort and file their images. I do as well.  As I described in my previous post, my workflow is in fact heavily dependent on Smart Albums.  The issue I ran into is having the create the same smart albums and project structure over and over again each time I started a new project.  I considered several options without success. Mac OSX Automator doesn’t really have any useful Aperture actions you can use for this.  AppleScript allows you to create static albums but not smart ones as it’s missing the object class altogether.  So how is one to deal with this issue?  Well the answer was there all along in Aperture (well sort of).  here is how:

1. Assuming that you already have at least one project created that includes all the needed smart albums with all their conditions and parameters.  If not, create one manually.  It doesn’t really matter whether or not it contains any images.
2. Select the project.
3. From the Aperture menu select File>Copy Project Structure.
4. Rename the new project and add you new images.
5. Done!

Photography Workflow Using Apple Aperture

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned the importance to creating and using a workflow for managing images.  There isn’t a right or wrong workflow.  All of us think differently and tend to organize our work habits based on how we think.  So a workflow that works for me might not work for another photographer.  That said, I am convinced that we all need some type or workflow especially when shooting a large number of images.  I have spoken to many professional photographers and they all agree on a couple of habits that separate casual photographers from serious amateur or pro shooters: shooting RAW and using a workflow.  There is also the kind of gear and tools they use, but I’ll leave that for another post.
Having a workflow will help in many aspects:

• More efficient way to quickly discard bad images
  
• A consistent backup routine to make sure that you don’t lose any images by accident
  
• A more organized way of managing your images through the various stages of your routine: import, review, edit, publish, etc
  
• Overall, significantly less time spent on your photo related tasks

Dive Trip Report: Grenada

Time: June 2010
Hotel: True Blue Bay Resort
Dive Operator: Aquanauts (on site at True Blue)
Diving: Boat diving

I just got back a couple of weeks ago from a week of diving in Grenada along with some friends.  The divers in this group are an experienced bunch with half a dozen instructors and many of the individuals in group have logged more 500 dives.  We have been travelling as a group for about 13 years and have been to many of the diving hot spots around the world.  So in short, been there, done that.  The bar is set pretty high.
Let me start from the end and provide my conclusion first: the trip was fantastic.  The diving was excellent and exceeded our expectations in terms of the variety and quantity of marine life we encountered.  The folks at True Blue and Aquanauts went out of their way make us comfortable.

The Resort


This is clearly not a 5 star resort, but then we usually don’t like those on our dive trips anyway.   By the dive resort standards, I would give it a 4 out of 5.  Nice setting on True Blue Bay, clean comfortable rooms, attentive staff, and decent food.  The rooms ranged from standard rooms, to rooms with a small kitchen and a private balcony, and some cottages.  The views were mixed between the ocean, the swimming pool, or the gardens.  All rooms are in quite surroundings.  All rooms were air conditioned, maid service daily, and included cable TV with US cable service and some European channels.  Some rooms has iPod docs.  The hotel provide free WIFI service to all guests.  The network was spotty the first couple of days but then worked well with decent network speed for the rest of the week.  The food was decent (we had better food in town), the food service was good as well.  The resort is undergoing a facelift and there is some construction and renovation going on.  It was not an issue for us at all as we could pretty much stay away from the construction as we went about the property for the week.  The resort provide free transportation to and from the airport, daily breakfast, buffet style, was also included.  The hotel a about a 5-minute cab ride away from the town of Grand Anse and the airport, and about a 15-minute cab ride from the main town of St. Georges.  I would not recommend driving: like many other Caribbean nations they drive on left, traffic signs are treated merely as suggestions, and it could get pretty crowded in St'. Georges and you really need to know where you’re going since there aren’t a lot of clearly marked signs or directions.



The Dive Operator


The dive operation was “efficient”:  no fancy gift shop, although there a basic one, no fancy facilities either.  The focus is on the diving and the divers, so they have a good crew and 3 nice dive boats and they don’t cram the divers. 

Tips for Better Underwater Pictures (Part 3)

 
This is the third and final post on this topic.  My previous posts included Preparation and Shooting tips.  In this post, I discuss Post Shooting tips.

1. Have a Workflow that Works for You
   By now you've had a great day of diving and have a couple of media cards full of images. The next step is to move the images to a computer for post processing. Some questions to ponder: when should you edit your photos? What do you do with the final images and the master files? When do you backup? Should you tag the images with keywords for improved organization? If so, when should you apply the tags? These among many others are all questions that each photographer will contemplate. The answer to all of them lies in a well defined workflow, that you use consistently after every shooting session. Not doing so, especially if you are on a multi day shoot with hundreds or thousands of pictures, will not only make your life more difficult than it needs to be. It could also cause some very unpleasant

Tips for Better Underwater Pictures (Part 2)

 This is the second of three posts on this topic.  My previous post included Preparation tips.  In this post, I discuss some Shooting tips.

1. Get close to your subject
   You have to get close to your subject. And when you are close enough, then get closer! Many photographers seem to forget that they shooting through a very dense medium, water, which absorb lightly very quickly. Reducing the amount of water between you and your subject will allow you to take clearer and more colorful pictures. That is especially true in cases when there are particles in the water that could cause backscatter. This is probably my most important tip. I often see divers taking picture of a subject that is twelve to fifteen feet away. Regardless of how strong your strobes are, you cannot saturate the frame with color from that distance. As a rule for most situations, you should be no more than 3 feet away from your subject depending on water clarity.

Tips for Better Underwater Pictures (Part 1)

When it comes to underwater photography, one or two great shots, the "Keepers", can make a whole day of shooting worthwhile despite all the frustration it could entail. There is no shortage of great photo subjects in the ocean, some of them are willing participants and others are not, much to our dismay. Indeed, the underwater environment begs to be photographed. The variety and abundance of life, color, and texture is unmatched in nature.