Mastering Apple Aperture

I switched to the Mac from the MS Windows world about a year ago, but continued using Adobe's Lightroom. Recent changes at Adobe (renting software rather than buying it outright) have me thinking of moving to Apple's Aperture for my raw camera conversions and light photo editing. (I will still use photoshop for the heavy lifting until I find a replacement for that... Maybe OnOne's suite of software soon??). The information in Thomas Fitzgerlald's book have me convinced that Apeture is almost equal to Lightroom for editing and much superior for actually managing my photo library. Plug-ins can fill in what Aperture is missing - with software that I would actually own. I am ... Almost. ... Ready to make the switch. Really all that needs to happen is for Apple to verify it will continue supporting still photography - by releasing an Aperture 4 version.The book has me convinced, and for that I highly recommend it. Now Apple needs to step up to the plate with a new version of Aperture.

There is a lot more power in Aperture than most users realize. Most other manuals just coach the basic operations. You can find books for other photo-editing software, such as Photoshop, that will take you deeper than the basics, but Fitzgerald's book is the only one I've found that does this service for Aperture users.The author also gives his opinions about the usefulness of the software's various features -- some great, some not so much. If there's a better way, he does not hesitate to tell you. As Aperture users know, this program was made to be easily used with plug-ins.A great book content-wise. Physically, you could ask for more for the cost. No color images. You have the option of copying images to accompany this text from the publisher's website. But I think as you start reading, the value will make itself apparent.

I liked this book and recommend it to others. I got it in the Kindle version. Thus, it is not quite as handy for a quick reference as a paper book but I travel a lot and the electronic version is always with me. The author states that this is not a beginner's book and I agree. But beginners should not shy away from it; they may need more detail later from another book but this one will give them a great overview of Aperture's range and capabilities. I have been using Aperture for three or more years and I have learned a lot from this book.

Good book, easy to read, a kind of manual I'd like to keep on my desk for quick reference, like Scott Kelby's books. Unlike Scott Kelby's, however, is the lack of pictures (e.g. edited photos before / in process / after). Seasoned pro's probably don't need them, but for us rookies it would make learning so much easier. I mean, photographers are supposed to be visual people, right? :)

This is a very readable look at using Apple's Aperture, but it is far from exhaustive and a little quirky at times. It does suffer some from the author's apparent inability to tell the difference between his opinions and facts.

I was really hoping to learn how to do post processing of my photos with Aperture, but this book was a struggle. The author keeps comparing how you do things in Aperture versus Photoshop, so the book might be best described as Mastering Aperture for Photoshop users. Much of the book is describing other products to do things that the author doesn't think Aperture can do well There are some useful tips and techniques if you can get through the difficulty in reading it. I found the video training classes at ApertureExpert.com to be much better in helping me learn how to use Aperture.

Very useful guide to getting the most out of Aperture editing software and learning all the little shortcuts - recommend it

Hits the spot

As the book says, it isn't a basic manual - there are enough of those - but distilled experience from professional users of the software. We have over 100,000 photos in our library and this book has provided invaluable guidance on the best way the set up our library and index the photos so we can find and use the photos easily.

I used aperture for 4 years before buying this book. Thomas has done a wonderful job of explaining not only why you want to do or not do things but leaves the choices up to you. If you want to master curves its the best explanation i have come across and now use them all the time. There are so many little detail he points out there were always there, but i never noticed them.All i can say is thanks

Excellent coverage and at just the right level - assumes you already know a fair bit about photography and can use Aperture, but takes you further and explains everything very clearly. Colour illustrations are online, but the B&W ones in the book itself are adequate.

Excellent book easy to understand VERY WELL PRICED.