Any Apple Aperture users? Please chime in!

[1255]

I love Aperture.

I'm loaded up with CS6, LR4, and Aperture 3.

I suppose I should, but I've yet to devote much attention to LR4.

I use DxO Optics Pro as a RAW converter. I make most adjustments when needed in CS6. I make some minor adjustments when needed in Aperture 3, which I think has come a long way since the first version. The most recent release I think is quite good. Plug-ins I use most often are Nik Complete Collection and onOne Perfect Photo Suite 6. I love Nik's products. Silver Efex Pro 2 is just outstanding for black and white conversion. I don't often shoot HDR but when I do I use Photomatix Pro, although I'm about to start playing around with Nik's new HDR release.

A great resource for Aperture information is www.apertureexpert.com.   

[peederj]

Show Package Contents on an Aperture library and all your photos are in there organized into neat folders.

I don't bother using Aperture vaults, I just back up the libraries directly.

I use Aperture for just about everything, I don't see much point to it other than that. If I needed to have a complex workflow i would use a modular set of tools rather than an integrated one. I have Aperture and an Intous 4 and a few plugins. The hard part is, and should be, finding something great to shoot in the first place.

[cayenne]

[...]
The only thing I would caution is that if you are not comfortable using the Apple file system beware.  They have some great archiving features built in but doesnt use the typical windows file system so dont expect to find a image file outside of Aperture unless you have specifically exported the file to another location.  It took me a while to trust this but after a huge upgrade meltdown where I had to start from scratch, I was able to restore everything I had easily and didnt lose a single image.  I can archive whole libraries to multiple external disks on top of Time Machine.  Lots of redundancy!  I am sure Lightroom has similar features, I just havent used it.

For the exact reason I am using Lightroom on my MacBook Pro.

Same reason for me. I've been a life long Apple user, but I like to know were the files are on my computer.

I use Aperture...and it is dead simple to keep track of your files.

I use card readers and bring in my RAW images into the OS file system to organize.

When I fire up Aperture, I import the images in, and tell it to leave the images where they are...it works just fine, and I always know where my images are on the file system.

I do have a questions tho.....how do you do noise reduction in Aperture? I've not found that in the palette....

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

[1255]

@cayenne -- not sure if this answers your question, but -- go to the adjustments pane. by default it only shows certain possible adjustments. look for the drop down menu on the adjustments pane that says "add adjustments," it's to the left, not too far below the top of the pane. click on it. it will display all available adjustments, including noise reduction. if you click on any of them, they will then be added as default adjustments that appear will whenever you open the adjustments pane. 

[1255]

btw that refers to aperture 3. process is more or less the same in aperture 2 if i recall, google it and you'll find instructions.

[DavidGMiles]

I use Aperture and the whole Nik Suite - which is an awesome combination

[Caps18]

I've used it.  I wish I had a lot more time to post-process photos.

[crasher8]

I use Aperture 3 and LR4. I'd stop using LR but my school lab uses it exclusively. I have found that Aperture has much more depth for b/w post work and is far easier for making small adjustments. I like LR don't get me wrong but it's a bit simplistic, a great place for someone to start. It's a shame LR doesn't have the Master/Version flexibility Aperture does, huge feature I just can't believe they left out.

I use DeNoise with Aperture as well.

[VirtualRain]

I use Aperture and the whole Nik Suite - which is an awesome combination

Ditto.  Awesome!