02 Nov Video Q & A – Archiving Your Photo Data
Ok, so here we go, the first video Q & A segment. I hope this kind of catches on and people use me to help “fill in the gaps” of all the standard information they can’t seem to find on the web. It’s just one of those things – you can have a really good grasp on a piece of software, while also having a really solid plan for the business end of things, however, there is the cross-section, where the creative/making side intersects the business side. There is this murky middle area where a lot of things are left-up to interpretation and personal preference. Essentially this gray area cannot be spelled out by software makers, and a business teacher definitely doesn’t have any input on these kinds of specifics. You know there are a practices that need to be done in your business to ensure efficiency, redundancy, and so on, but I (and as it seems many others) are left to figure out all the gray area stuff themselves. Sometimes self-discovery of these processes are the best course of action, other times you are left thinking “it’d save me a bunch of time and a handful of headaches if I got a little nugget of knowledge from someone who has been doing this gray area stuff for awhile in my same career field.”
This gray area are the things I would like to focus on in these sessions, because I feel it’s worth my time to address them. The simple, easy stuff that software vendors spell out on countless websites where you can get a lot of information doesn’t need to be beaten to death one more time by me in a video. Rarely, it also seems that tutorials spell out the BIG things and leave these little gaps that desperately need explanation. You also do not need me giving you a lecture on how important is it to ensure you have backups of every inch of your business, how to interact with your clients, etc. It’s that middle part, and how they come together. So let’s piece this stuff together.
Today we are addressing our raw data archiving. What do we do with all of these stinkin’ pictures when we are all done with them? How do we archive it all away, make it easy to reach again at a moments notice, and how does it maintain it’s integrity?
[jwplayer mediaid=”3215″ width=700 height=418]
Important things to note:
The process to export your projects – File > Export > Export project as new library.
After you have completed the export process, you can delete that project out of your main Aperture library, but please double-check before hitting the delete key. Also remember, if you export the project out and then delete it out of your Aperture library, you no longer have a backup. I export my projects off to an external hard drive, and that hard drive has a sister drive that is a replication. This way if one drive fails, I still have my data. A pain in the ass? Yes, but how important are your photos to you?
This is my method of using Aperture to store project files and how I access them. I’ve found this the easiest way to manage my photos. You might use this information to store your projects the same way, but you might also organize your projects (and their subject matter) differently. This all is personal preference. I keep each photo shoot I do in it’s own photo project. Do what you’d like, and depending on your photo workload.
When you import your photo files to Aperture, it imports the RAW, untouched images. HOWEVER, you are never editing the master/original. Edit away without concerns, you are editing an alias of the master.
When you export a project, it tucks everything away into a single, manageable file. It contains all of your raw images, the alias’ with edits, and any adjustments you have made to them.
When you need to access an archived project, you DO NOT have to import the project in to your main Aperture library. Just ensure you have the Aperture application closed, then click on the archived project file to open up Aperture with ONLY that single project in it. This saves a TON of time not having to import it into your main Aperture library. When done accessing an archived Aperture project, close Aperture, then open up your main Aperture library again, and continue on with life.