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Leopard Decreases the Need to Use Bridge for Aperture Users
When I initially heard that Leopard was incorporating Cover Flow, I was less than impressed since, like Ben, it's a feature I never use in iTunes. But it turns out that it's a great feature for Aperture users, especially combined with Quick Look.
One of the primary reasons that I turn to Bridge is when I want to find or view an image that I haven't imported into Aperture. For example, perhaps I'm searching for an image a client sent me, or one that predates Aperture. Or perhaps while using Aperture I opened a version of a file in Photoshop, and then I went on to create another version in Photoshop that I never bothered to import into Aperture. Until now, using Bridge was the best way to quickly look for the files.
Now with Leopard I can use the Cover Flow mode and quickly search though the appropriate section of my computer with a visual preview of all my image files. That makes it efficient to locate a file, particularly when you've forgotten its name. Sometimes you'll need to look more closely at the file to make sure it's the one you want, particularly if you are browsing through an entire folder of images. Rather than having to wait while opening a program, select the image in the Finder while in Cover Flow mode, and press the Space bar. Quick Look immediately generates a large preview of the image . In addition, at the bottom of the preview there is a double edged arrow. Click on the arrow to make the preview appear full screen. It's impressive!
Then if you want to use Aperture to adjust or output the image, just drag the image onto a project in Aperture.
Sometimes you might want to quickly view one or more of your images without having to open Aperture. If they are referenced files with masters that are online, all you have to do is navigate to the appropriate folder and use Cover Flow and Quick Look as described above. If they are referenced files but offline, then obviously Cover Flow won't work.
If you have managed files, (you import and keep your images in the Aperture library), then you'll need to navigate to the library in Finder and then right click (Control + click) on the project and select Show Package Contents. Navigate to the desired project and again right click (Control + click) on the project. Then click on the expansion arrow for the folders and select the raw file. You can view the original raw file in Cover Flow and Quick Look, but you can't view any of the versions this way since the versions are actually just information files. To see the versions, you'll need to open Aperture.
By using Cover Flow and Quick look you can quickly view many images without even having to run Aperture, That can be a time saver!
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As an extra tip, when you're inside your project, use the search field in the top right to look for images within the project, and then you don't have to dig through random folders and files to just browse your images.