I'm just now getting into both dSLR photography and using Aperture. I used iPhoto before, but definitely not for anything that would be considered "heavy lifting."

I still don't do much beyond just store my photos in Aperture, but one thing that I still find confusing is an optimal file management and backup system that doesn't involve 2 or 3 external hard drives. Since I'm just starting out, I don't have a ton of extra money for external drives. (Yes, I know they're mega-cheap these days, but it's still a significant investment for me.)

I'm also confused if for best practices I should be saving my RAW files OUTSIDE of Aperture in some other filing system, or is it safe to rely on Aperture and vaults for that? (I also use TimeMachine and am evaluating online backup sites like BackBlaze and Mozy.)

Lastly, it seems that keywording is pretty labor-intensive in Aperture. Is there a simpler, more intuitive way that I just haven't found yet?

I'm pretty computer-savvy, and I've been using Macs for years, but I think the biggest thing for me about Aperture is Smart Folders.

I have a pretty "structured" set of folders and sub folders which I use to organize my photos. I would then create top-level Smart Folders and set search criteria, but they would never work the way I expected them to. I then realized that I had to create the Smart Folders INSIDE the folder of Projects I wanted to filter.

Initially I had assumed that a top-level Smart Folder would search all of the projects in all of my folders and sub folders. This could be detailed in the manual somewhere, but for me it was a big "aha!" moment.

For me with apertrue it was the master/version/stack thing . I think I understand somewhat of it. Now. But not then. And not all . Even now.

When I first moved from folders to iPhoto, the concept of tagging - but I was struggling with this elsewhere too.

when I moved to Aperture, easily the concepts of projects and folders made it a hard learning curve.

Now I get on with it :D

Aperture itself wasn't hard, but Aperture kind of "forced" me to be better about keywording and organizing my files. Before Aperture, I seldom keyworded my photos and my organization structure was less than stellar. I'm sometimes surprised I can sort through my thousands of pre-Aperture photos and find anything at all.

After using Aperture full-time for almost a year, I still find the Project-Album-Folder hierarchy confusing. Even now that I finally know what's what, I'm not sure I'm making use of these tools.

On a slightly different note, I still really hate Aperture use of plain letter keys for commands -- for example D to open the keywords bar, X for redeye. Sure, Photoshop works that way, but you never type text into Photoshop. I'm constantly tripped up in Aperture when I'm adding keywords, deselect the text box, and then type a word that triggers all sorts of actions I don't want! It's more than annoying, it's dangerous. And I type keywords every day, so this happens all the time!

Referenced files. I accidentally imported images for a few months as referenced files instead of directly into Aperture and am still having difficulty moving or finding the originals on occasion. Also, if your library grows larger than you want to keep on your primary hard drive and intentionally set up a referenced library, how do you back that up? I assume it would not be included in the vault?

File management is very confusing in Aperture. I haven't found anyone who can explain a simple workflow that allows files to be managed outside of Aperture like on a NAS.

Mostly the levels thing. Why can't Aperture use curves luke Photoshop and Lightroom? Another thing to learn.

The main things I got badly wrong at first were:

1) Project naming conventions: started out random - bad move. Later organized folders by Year/Month and project names with a "yymmdd description" naming convention (sorted by the folders/name in Aperture, sortable in ascending date order in the OS file system).

2) Image imports: it's still too easy to get tripped up and import the images in the wrong way (e.g. leave "current location" selected rather than Move Files to /mydisk/photos), especially when you have a mix of workflows, for example, sometimes importing from camera, sometimes from disk.

Wow guys, a lot of great comments and points here!

Pete W, I wrote an article here on Inside Aperture about backup a year or so ago--I think you'll find some answers in there. One of those solutions does use multiple hard drives, but there are other options, too.

Scott, good point about smart folders. That is subtle for sure!

Peter, part of your confusion might be because stack behavior has been evolving as Aperture evolves. This alone is probably worth a whole blog post to clarify!

A few of you have commented on keywording. At least with the batch change command, I've found that it's more tedious than hard, and like Michael points out, you end up feeling obligated to keyword/organize more with a tool like Aperture

Joe, did you know you can customize your shortcuts? I wrote an entry about this a while ago. Look under the Aperture menu.

Wow, I didn't realize the actual file management was still confusing enough for people. There's enough there, too, to warrant a future blog post. Sean, could you tell me why referenced files (where the masters are stored outside of Aperture) wouldn't be suitable for a NAS? Granted referenced files do mean you can't use Vaults to backup your images.

The Vault is confusing to me because it was created before Time Machine. If I am using Leopard with Time Machine and have all my RAW files stored outside of the library, do I need to use the vault at all?
It would be nice to find out how best to set up Aperture with long term image management in mind. eg, to ensure that your images will be usable for the longest time what you should do regarding these:
-Shoot in RAW or RAW + JPEG or DNG?
-Store in library or as referenced files?
-Best file folder structure format, is it date based or subject based?
-Best order for applying edits (eg crop before tilt)
-Best naming conventions for keywords or captions or both?
-Best mechanism for adding keywords?
-should I geotag photos?

Two things I just can't figure out are:

1. I've tried importing photos I took before using Aperture and it all works fine... until I try to re-edit a previously edited photo (in Photoshop for example). Aperture creates a new version to open in Photoshop even when the original is a psd file. Shouldn't it recognise it as a psd file and just open the original in Photoshop without creating a copy that's exactly the same?

2. After doing the above, when I try to delete the second copy Aperture always deletes both the copy and the original and both end up in the trash.

I'm still using the trial and would've bought it already if it wasn't for the 2 points above. It just seems too messy unless I use it to import only new photos.

A few things confused me (and still do since I started using digital and aperture 1 year ago.

1. Moving and deleting master/versions
2. Whether to take photos using jpeg/ or jpeg+raw. I just do the latter.

Still working on these.
2. How to reorganize two projects (each from a different camera) into one sub folder. I imported the two projects from the cameras each into their own project. I would like the ability to see both projects together (in time order) to select the best pictures.
3. Understanding the best way to adjust photos to fix exposure/color. I many times I just hit auto white balance/ auto levels but haven't really understood what would be the best. (Any suggestions on classes to teach how to make the photos pop would be great!)

@Gabriel:
"After doing the above, when I try to delete the second copy Aperture always deletes both the copy and the original and both end up in the trash."

When you create a new copy Aperture creates a stack with the new copy as album pick and both versions highlighted. Make sure you deselect the original before hitting delete - this happened to me a couple of times so I now always right-click to make sure the delete command reads "version" and not "versions" (plural). I'm pretty sure that's what's happening to you here.

Your first point is indeed valid. This usually won't happen if the psd or tiff file was created within Aperture but then you can hit the weird disappearing adjustments scenario where any changes ADDED within Aperture to a file previously edited externally will dissapear if you re-send the file to the external editor... that's quite a mouthful isn't it?!

Needles to say, although I love this app there are still some odd things floating around. Anyone go as insane as I do when creating a book and expecting basic Mac commands to work? things like option-dragging objects to duplicate them or selecting multiple objects to move or resize? or just simply copying text boxes? And why don't custom master pages get saved to the custom book size in the theme chooser as part of the custom template? duplicating books to avoid starting from scratch is a major pain.

To all those folks who are as confused by masters, versions, stacks, albums and folders (blue vs. yellow), there's an excellent tutorial out there that really made me understand how useful albeit complex the whole matter is: See RW Boyer's article for enlightenment. :-)

Thanks for posting all this. It is going to be very useful. I'm just starting out with Aperture, and it scares me to see that experienced users are still being daunted by the things that I've been assuming were due to my low altitude on the learning curve. Yipes.

One thing your comments settle me on for certain is that I won't change my existing folder organization structure for original image files. I use yyyy.mm.dd.camname.

One big booby trap you should warn people about that I fell into is the trial version elapse. I was already pretty sure I was going to buy, and that the organization system would be easy, so I merrily imported all my existing pictures. Then the trial expired before I got a paid copy. Chaos!!!

Ben: With that Time Machine setup, no, you don't need to use Vaults. Some of those things in your list won't matter for the long term (like crop before tilt), but to give a quick answer to the others, shoot in RAW mode, and if Aperture ever has an "upgrade image format" feature 5 years from now to some generic standard (maybe DNG), use it. Store your images as referenced files in folders organized however you think. I typically think of places and dates, for example.

Patrick, thanks for answering Gabriel. Master handling definitely takes a little explaining! Thanks for posting that link, Alexander.

Jeff, how about using a light table or library-based album to compare images from the 2 different projects? Also, Ellen has written some great articles about adjustments on Inside Aperture--articles, not blog posts, and our book, Aperture Exposed although written for Aperture 1, provides a lot of great info about using the adjustment tools.

And to here it comes again, don't be scared--some things are just hard. Do you remember when you were in school, some things came easily to you and not other people and vice-versa? Some of these topics are just like that. You're also lucky because there's a lot of great content written about Aperture now that will provide answers to your questions. Also, feel free to email the different site authors here with questions you have. We always like inspiration for blog posts and articles, and if you have a question, chances are other people do, too!

@Patrick:

About deleting versions, thanks for that... I tried it and it works as you said! It was really driving me insane.

About the not being able to re-edit an imported psd file without creating a duplicate. To me this is a major issue, to be a true DAM application for photographers Aperture must handle Photoshop (and other external photo editors) files seamlessly.

For those struggling with this, using Patrick's tip above I managed to at least find a workaround:
1. Import previously edited psd file into Aperture
2. Edit with... Photoshop
3. From PS, close without saving
4. From Aperture, ensure you have the "master" or imported file selected ONLY and Delete Version.
That will leave you with only the version Aperture created to edit in PS. Next time you Edit with... PS on that one it'll open the file without creating another duplicate.

I hope that made sense!

yes file management folders! projects! and fast metadata trix??

I've been using Aperture for about a year and a half now. I work with MFDBs so I'm not using Aperture for raw, but rather as an organisational and archiving tool for my finished/delivered work.

Things that bug me :

1/ Worst : it's great to have a folder's Search 'stick', but there should be an EASY TO SEE visual clue. The number of times I've been tripped up, because I've been unaware that I'm not working with all the files in a folder. Just highlight the search field in orange if it's active , or something similar.

2/ Not enough visual clues on task progression in general.

3/ No curves. Ridiculous.

4/ I can't assign an icc profile, or convert to another profile. Huh?

5/ Fragile. I have recently moved from Referenced to Managed. Everything is in the Aperture file. However ... Aperture still lists a number of files as referenced in the startup dialog. And when I rebuild the database, it 'looses' an entire Project and lists the files as Missing. Even though they weren't before and they are present inside Aperture's package. This is a BIG one really. The integrity of the database must come beyond everything.

6/ Annoying limitations for text in books, and Master pages don't 'stick' when you choose a typeface that is not part of the Template. So ... you have to go through every single page by hand. One by one.

7/ Metadata doesn't conform exactly with PS and custom fields aren't included on Export. I don't know who's fault this is, but it's really annoying. Submissions to Getty have to be 'revisited in PS' before sending.

There are certainly more things ... but these come to mind. However ... I don't want this to sound all bad. Aperture is a very good vs 2.0 app. And I intend to continue with it. vs 4.0 will be the one I really want though. :)

Grant

@here it comes again

I had the same issue with trial expiry. I discovered that even though I could no longer view my images in Aperture, they were still available via iPhoto.

One thing I found weird was the book creation. I assumed that I could access the pictures in a project from a book created in that project and just lay them out as desired. I found out that I had to explicitly drag the images I wanted to the book.

Grant, I'm not sure if you've seen this, but you can use this link http://www.apple.com/feedback/aperture.html to submit feedback, especially about problems/bugs you're encountering. Also, with curves, have you gotten used to the quarter-tone adjustments? I know they're a tad weird at first, but they're quite nice once you get used to them. There are a number of guides (including Ellen's adjustments article posted on Inside Aperture) that're quite informative.

Josh -- And how about another blog entry where you ask us what we'd like to see changed about Aperture in the next major rev.? I'm accumulating a list!

Joe, that's a reasonable request. I just saw that a comment I posted yesterday didn't show up. Grant, this was in response to you. A great place to submit feature requests and bugs is at Apple's official feedback page: http://www.apple.com/feedback/aperture.html

Grant, I'm also curious if you've played with the quarter-tone levels adjustments (thankfully there are now a few guides including Ellen's adjustments article on this site that explain them). They definitely take some getting used to, but I've found them to be a reasonable replacement for curves. And what metadata (aside from custom fields) do you have issues with? At least for keywording, captioning, naming, and copyright, I've yet to have a stock agent tell me I'm using the wrong fields, and I don't change the metadata in PS/Bridge.

My issue is how best to move and back up masters now that my MBP's hard drive is filling up. I liked using the vault and having everything with me while on the go, but now it's time to relocate some masters and find a way to be convinced they are always backed up and properly linked to Aperture.

Secondly, I have not made peace with Aperture's white balance tool. I have a much easier time when I've used Camera Raw, having the option of selecting white, black, and/or gray. Having shot b&w film for years and years, I'm still daunted by the 'right' look in color...in other words, finding my own color aesthetic.