Version Control in Aperture

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Version Control in Aperture
Pages: 1, 2, 3

What about deleting versions? All of your versions reference the same master. That is proven when you hit the M key, M for master. Now you'll see that all your images, except the image opened in an external editor, reference the same photo. The M key again returns you to your versions.

Master images.

As you start deleting versions, the last version left in your stack will be the one tied to the master image. In your Aperture Preferences, you have the option of showing a warning when deleting masters. If that preference is checked (I recommend it), when you delete the last version, you get a warning letting you know that you're about to Delete Master Image and All Versions as seen below.

Warning before deleting masters.

The last versioning option that I should mention is also in the Aperture Preferences. Some photographers like to have a version automatically created whenever they make an adjustment to an image so they always have a compare item. In the Aperture Preferences, there's a checkbox for doing just that. As you make image adjustments, a new version is automatically created.

Now that I have several different versions of my branches to choose from, I'll grab a cup of coffee, and maybe take a nap. (This is hard work people.) Then I'll return with a fresh perspective and be able to make decisions about which one I like best. As with any creative project, I find the more times I walk away and come back, the better the output is. I usually explore all my options at the beginning of a project, lay them all out and refrain from making any judgments at that point. Then I'll return and review my options, simulate someone coming fresh to a photo and then make a decision about appropriateness. I find a fresh perspective vital to the process.

Final Thoughts

Versions in Aperture are a great creative tool. They give you the flexibility to experiment with your photos in ways never before possible. They are easy to create and modify and take up very little space on your hard drive. When the engineers at Apple designed the versioning functionality in Aperture, they nailed it.

Jeffery Morse is an award-winning producer, editor, trainer and photographer. Apple Certified in Final Cut Studio and Aperture, Jeffery specializes in post-production workflows and training for video and digital photography.

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Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.

aperture messes up my versions - overly saturated and size-reduced
2007-09-16 22:27:59 rukami [Reply | View]

Hi, well I generaly do like the idea of versions and non-destructive editing. But aperture is doing sth very strange with versions when exporting them:
I import a new jpg picture, size 4.6 MB. I don t make any adjustment to it. The version appears as 4.63 MB in the aperture metadata view. Next step I export the version with export preset "JPEG- original size".
Now 2 things happen:
1. The exported version is smaller than the original, 3.8 MB vs original 4.6 MB. Could live with that but it obviously makes me wonder what aperture does with the image when exporting.
2. So I open both files outside of aperture with preview to compare the original I imported (master file) and the same picture exported through aperture (the version): the colors of the version are much more saturated than the original master. And this happens with every single picture I export.

So I checked if for some reason I messed around with the editable export presets of "JPEG- original size". Nothing unusual there. I noticed the default jpeg quality preset of aperture is on 10. I moved it to 12, the maximum. When I export the picture with this setting I get a huge 8.4 MB version, but with the same exaggerated color saturation.

I ve tried everything, I changed the DPI from 72 to 300, tried all the colorsync profiles in the drop down, but there is no way I get the same picture back as I had imported.

If I export the master I do get the same picture back (of course since aperture doesnt modify the master).

Now this seems a very serious issue to me - I ve looked on the web and on this forum and apparently nobody has this problem - or nobody realized it yet? If I cant find a way to fix this I will not use aperture anymore and lose all my organizing work (folders, projects, albums etc) in aperture. Since all you do in aperture is work with versions (all the metadata, keywords, adjustments) I just can t live with the fact that aperture does weird things with them.

Anyone a clue what could happen? I would be extremely happy about any comment.

I have a couple of screenshots of the comparisons between the original photo and the exported (overly saturated) version, but cant find a way of posting them here.

Thanks, Rudi

aperture messes up my versions - overly saturated and size-reduced
2007-09-19 22:05:18 Jefferymorse [Reply | View]

Hi Rudy.

From what you write it sounds like Aperture is performing as expected. If you make JPEGs from JPEGs it will change the file size. If you compress a JPEG at a higher quality setting the file size will get larger, sometimes exceeding the size of your original. And you will often see more saturated colors in exported JPEGS.

It actually sounds like you want to Export Masters. That will give you an identical copy of your original JPEG, same size and color, and you can do whatever you want with it.

Peace/Luck

Jeffery Morse

aperture messes up my versions - overly saturated and size-reduced
2008-09-16 15:13:45 dmleearch [Reply | View]

One more question...

Should changing the dpi when exporting have any effect on the file size?
My thought was if "original file size" is selected then the resolution of the image to stay the same, regardless of the dpi settings. The dpi and overall resolution dimensions are separate from each other...?

Thanks again.

Dave

aperture messes up my versions - overly saturated and size-reduced
2008-09-16 15:05:13 dmleearch [Reply | View]

I have a question regarding this same issue...

Assuming I want to export an edited version of a jpeg...

Would I then be exporting the "version" of the master?
Do you have any recommendations on what image quality to use for exporting an edited version? Or what color settings to use to avoid over saturation?

Lastly, does this same problem with saturation occur if you are exporting a jpeg version from a RAW file?

thanks.

-Dave