Apple Aperture 3: A Workflow Guide for Digital Photographers |  | Authors: Ken McMahon, Nik Rawlinson
Publisher: Focal Press
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 58681
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 7.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0240521781
Dewey Decimal Number: 778
EAN: 9780240521787
ASIN: 0240521781
Publication Date: July 12, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
With over 200 brand new features, Apple's leading photo management and image processing package just got a whole lot bigger! From Faces to Places and Brushes to Presets, Mac experts Ken McMahon and Nik Rawlinson will guide you through everything you could ever need to know about Aperture 3 including how to:
- Find, tag, and protect your images with advanced metadata techniques
- Use Presets, Nondestructive brushes and the powerful new Curves tool to dramatically enhance your photos
- Seamlessly integrate Aperture 3 with other programs for incredible results
Apple Aperture 3 - A Workflow Guide for Digital Photographers shows you how to put this powerful software right at the heart of your digital photography workflow. Inside you will find information on how to import, sort and navigate thousands of Raw files like a pro; how to fully utilize the new rush-based adjustments and quick fix adjustment presets to creatively edit your images; and how to export your images to slideshows, the Web, or even create your own coffee table style photobook.
* Clear, step-by-step explanations simplify the features and uses of this extensive application
* Real-life examples show you a complete digital photography workflow with Aperture at the core
* Fully updated for Aperture 3
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 Perfect Book for Me - A Novice to many of the topics in the book August 18, 2010
Bryan Newman (St Paul, MN)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was very fortunate to receive a copy of this book. I am a intermediate amateur photographer (ie, I use the histogram to check exposure, often consider aperture and shutterspeed, and understand there is something called digital image workflow,) but I am looking to take my photography to the next looking at upgrading to Aperture. So basically the author could have painted a target on my forehead.
But a big reason this book is perfect for me is that I am a beginner in many of the topics in the book. I think a more advanced photographer, especially someone who does a lot of post production already, may find large sections a little tedious. But it was spot on for me on.
Most of my shooting has been low res Jpeg's for web so I have never worried about shooting RAW before. After reading the first chapter on why you should shooting RAW images, I was sold, I immediately set both my Canon 10D and 40D to shoot RAW. I had known I was losing a little quality and functionality, but never realized how much I was losing by shooting jpegs. The author did a fantastic job of setting this foundation for working with Aperture.
After the first foundational chapter, the author does a great job of providing an overview of Aperture. I appreciated the time spent explaining how the editing tools worked. There were several things that seemed a little redundant, but the author made the subtleties clear. I appreciated the in depth look at how filters like sharpen worked. Also the sections on how to correct common issues was also very helpful. They did a nice job of walking through the processes to correct these and I loved how it demonstrated how the histograms could be used to verify what your eye is seeing.
Since I was unclear on what it entailed, I was looking forward to the chapter on workflow. I guess it proved to less intense than I was expecting, but I am impressed how Aperture works on each step of the process, and the retouching options sound great.
I guess the biggest praise I can give the book is that I just ordered my copy of Aperture 3.0. After reading this book, I feel fully confident that it will be worth the price and help me take my photography to the next level.
Good way to decide if you need Aperture August 20, 2010
Doctor.Generosity (Western Massachusetts)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Before discussing this book, which is a description of Apple's Aperture 3 software, let's talk about who would want to use Aperture in the first place. The Mac has always been a favorite platform for graphic artists, even during the dark days when Macs were not popular for most other users. There are three popular programs on the Mac for digital photographers; iPhoto, Aperture and of course, Photoshop. Photoshop is the king of applications for altering an individual photograph, and neither of the other two come anywhere close to the range of effects one can get or the artistic possibilities of Photoshop along with its many third party plugins. But it is also expensive, and there is a long learning curve to use it to full advantage - years really. Not everyone needs full Photoshop capability, or has the time to learn it properly. On the other end of the scale, iPhoto is the program which comes free with every Mac, for mom-and-pop photographers. It organizes photos, downloads them from the camera or card, and can apply basic corrections of color or brightness. (I didn't mention Photoshop Elements because I don't care for it.)
Aperture could be described as iPhoto on steroids. It does not try to compete with Photoshop for the full range of artistic effects on individual photos, but it is more powerful than iPhoto for organization. It is fundamentally designed to handle large numbers of files, especially Raw files, with high speed. For commercial photographers, such as wedding photographers, or scientific photographers, or advanced amateurs who may have shot dozens of frames of the same scene and need to sort them, Aperture allows rapid comparison and selection - which comes under the heading of `workflow.' Apple originally priced Aperture as a professional product - $500 - but over time has moderated the price to the $160 range. Still, Aperture is not for everyone; you need to be dealing with many photos at a time, and to be ready to process Raw files for the superior control that offers. Many amateur photogs will do just fine with iPhoto alone, or iPhoto plus Photoshop. Only if you've outgrown iPhoto as a workflow tool, may Aperture be for you.
This book is a good way to find out if you really want to jump into Aperture, which has its own learning curve, and numerous courses, certifications, and books aimed at teaching its use. The big investment you will make is not the 160 bucks - but your time which will be required to become proficient. The very fact that "professional certification" exists for a software product like Aperture may be a little daunting to the amateur. That's where this book by McMahon and Rawlinson may help. It's a nice easy explanation of Aperture 3 for the nonpro photographer. The authors are experienced graphics and Mac professionals. The book is well written and produced, and is especially strong in explaining the basics for beginners - for example, the why and wherefore of Raw images - with clarity and detail. Easy to read and follow. Also discusses some of the third party plug-ins for Aperture, such as Image Trends products. So I would recommend it especially for someone considering whether Aperture is for them. Apple does offer a free 160 page manual for Aperture 3 downloadable from their website, but this book is a better way to get an overview. Once you do decide to take the plunge, whether Aperture or Photoshop or Mathematica or Matlab or some other complex application, having a few third-party books around is well worth the small extra price.
 Great Content, Iffy Production Values August 1, 2010
New England Yankee (Northern New England)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Apple Aperture 3" would be an easy 5 stars were the print quality of the book better. I have a problem with photography books - particularly instruction books - whose photo reproduction doesn't at least meet the need of the accompanying text. In the case of this book, that means that picture series accompanying step-by-step directions either barely show what is intended or, in some cases not at all! As this book is aimed at the beginner to intermediate level (according to the cover), that's a pretty fundamental problem. Certainly the rank beginner at raw processing is going to be left at sea at times.
That's a shame, too, as the written content is quite clear and well-sequenced. In this last regard, I disagree with another reviewer who disliked the raw processing emphasis - while Aperture IS a DAM (Digital Asset Manager), among other things, this book is targeted at those who are most interested in its raw capabilities and, in that light, the sequencing of the book makes sense. Much of the guidance and best practices advice sprinkled throughout the book, even on topics that are not strictly associated with raw processing, is cast toward the interests and concerns of the camera raw user.
The book covers processing flow, adjustments, and other features in sufficient depth to leave the reader well-prepared to use Aperture 3 effectively at an intermediate level of expertise (or exposure, anyway). A logical next book after digesting this one would be: Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 3.
Were this book intended for TRUE photography beginners, I'd give it 3 stars due to the photo reproduction issues. As the typical reader is quite likely to be more knowledgeable - else wouldn't be considering raw processing in the first place - I'll bump it to 4 as the issue assumes correspondingly less significance.
Great Beginner book for learning in full color July 29, 2010
Scott (NJ)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is geared more towards beginners of the program. Although I'm more closer to intermediate, I still learned a bit with this book. The book starts you off with an intro to Camera Raw and then goes into pros and cons of using that format. After that you'll begin learning how Aperture woks along with the basics like the toolbars and other functions. It also teaches you how to adjust your images like color balance, exposure, enhancements etc. There are over 300 pages of full color photos of screen shots that help you understand the program better. I like to work with the book at the same time being on the program to really understand it. The Apeture program is really for photographers who want to get the best out of their photos. There are also sections of the book that show you how to publish photos online, web pages and producing a book of all your photos.
There really is quite a bit in this book but for me its to get my photos looking like something out of an important magazine or book as someday I'd like to publish a book of my own photography. So if your a pro or amateur and want to learn a program that will help you get the most out of your photos then this book is for you.
 Halfway decent material, just jumbled into something hardly usable August 2, 2010
N. Hawkins (Chicago)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you've gotten to the point where you're looking at Aperture as a digital asset management program (DAM), then you're probably looking for a book to help walk you through Aperture itself, the benefits, and developing a workflow for your photos. Sadly, this isn't that book. What the book does have is some decent content, but whomever edited this book did a poor job at assembling the content in order.
I use Adobe Lightroom and have a familiarity with how DAM software works. What I'd like in a book covering Aperture or Lightroom is to walk me through the process, from the moment I sit down post-shoot and help me with importing, organizing, editing and then finally publishing them.
The first chapter strangely gets into camera RAW. RAW shooting itself is a choice, not a religion. Some people are happy with their JPGs, and that's fine. Instead, open the book and get innundated with Camera RAW. Not cool.
From there, the book walks you through Aperture and how to manage your photos, and walks you through the steps. But after 100+ pages, it's finally nice to get into something that should have been at the beginning of the book. The meat of the book makes this book actually worth buying, but it's surrounded by horribly disorganized content.
There should have been more done on image adjustment and working with other applications. Not to bring up their competitor Lightroom, but a vast majority of things that used to be done in Photoshop can be done in Aperture and Lightroom. This book skims over the image adjustment portion and is a little vague on working with other applications.
Programs like Aperture really make your life easier, provided that you have a good manual or set of training videos to help walk you through your workflow (if you have one - if not, you'll develop one.) Unfortunately this book does Aperture a disservice. The book is good enough to borrow, but I can't justify this book's purchase.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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