62 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look no further - this is the Aperture 2 book you want in your arsenal, January 5, 2009
This review is from: Apple Aperture 2: A workflow guide for digital photographers (Digital Workflow) (Paperback)
If you are looking for a solid reference book for the Apple Aperture 2 product, look no further. The Apple Aperture 2 book by Ken McMahon and Nik Rawlinson, published by Focal Press, is an excellent choice. This is the second book on Aperture 2 that I've seen hit the shelves so far, and this one is a keeper. The book's writing style is straightforward, well organized, and the authors do a fine job in giving the reader comprehensive coverage of Aperture 2 and related areas.
The first chapter is all about RAW images - over 20 pages of details that describe all you wanted to know about RAW, including advantages and disadvantages of a RAW workflow as well as technical detail about what RAW means. I think this was an excellent introduction into the world of Aperture, and it really assists the reader in understanding what's going on in Aperture. The book then introduces Aperture and its workspace in Chapter 2. The 3rd Chapter discusses the important topic of image management, including importing images, vault usage, referenced files vs. managed files, etc. Chapter 4 discusses the fine points of metadata usage in Aperture. Chapter 5 goes into the nitty gritty image adjustment features. Chapter 6 talks about Aperture workflow. Chapter 7 then discusses how to use Aperture with other applications, such as Photoshop and plug-in tools, as well as how to migrate from using Bridge or iPhoto. The final 8th Chapter discusses output, from exporting and printing, to the slideshow feature.
The book offers a very practical perspective in how best to use the Aperture 2 software, in addition to describing the features of the software. For example, the book talks about practical backup strategies for your photo library, migration strategies from other photo management tools, workflow considerations when using external photo editing tools, creating books using Aperture but then using a different tool to output your book, and reasons why one might create separate Aperture libraries.
I'm self-taught in Aperture 2 and have been using the tool for about 8 months. I now consider myself an intermediate user, and I still picked up many good tips from the book, some of which are listed below (I should mention that the book offers very good coverage of all the features of Aperture for a beginner user. Since I know how to use many of these features already, I'm not making mention of them here):
1. I didn't have a strong understanding about RAW even though I follow a RAW workflow, and Chapter 1 of this book gave an excellent overview. I have to admit, I didn't read this chapter until after I went through the rest of the book because 20+ pages of RAW material didn't sound too interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised! I had seen the RAW adjustment sliders in Aperture, but really never understood how they were preset for me and I never was quite sure if I should muck with them. Now, I have a basic understanding of them. And, this chapter finally explained the reasoning behind why people say it's better to overexpose, rather than underexpose.
2. The book showed me how to launch Aperture so that it would prompt me to always select an Aperture library. This is very helpful for me, since I have multiple Aperture libraries. To date, no one else I knew ran 2 or more libraries, and even an Apple rep indicated there was no need to do so. Finally, I see some acknowledgment of why it might be a good idea to do so in this book.
3. I forgot completely about the HUD (Heads Up Display) that provides a floating control box. I had been tabbing back and forth between the projects, metadata and adjustments tabs in my workspace, as needed. Using the HUD, I can view, for example, metadata and adjustments at the same time for an image, a real timesaver from what I had been doing.
4. Until I read this tip in the book, I didn't realize that there was a preset feature in the adjustments panel that allows the user to create various presets for each adjustment category. Ah, it's the little things that are nice to know!
5. I learned about the various sharpening techniques available in Aperture, which is something I had not played with. To date, I had done my post processing sharpening exclusively in Photoshop as that is what I was familiar with. Now, I feel like I have a better understanding of pre-sharpening and post-sharpening techniques available in Aperture and how to use them.
6. The book mentioned some anomalies regarding how Aperture and Photoshop work together, which are good to know about, should I encounter these scenarios.
Summary:
This will definitely be my primary Aperture 2 reference book. I find that I can glean information quickly from this book, and when I want more detail about a particular subject, I can delve further. This is definitely a quality I look for in a good reference book. Perhaps the only negative is that the text within the screenshots is smaller and lighter than usual - and it really makes me feel the need for reading glasses. Maybe I really do need them and it's not the book's fault! But, apart from that, this is a solid reference book that I recommend to Aperture users.
I had previously reviewed Aperture 2 by Peachpit Press, and I find this Focal Press Aperture 2 book to be a much better choice for Aperture users.
My thoughts:
Ease of use: Easy and straightforward. I only wish I had this book when I was first learning Aperture 2!
Audience: Beginning to Intermediate Aperture 2 users alike will appreciate this book.
Cost: Reasonable
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, Poor Printing, January 28, 2009
This review is from: Apple Aperture 2: A workflow guide for digital photographers (Digital Workflow) (Paperback)
I concur with the other reviewers that this is an excellent book and I have learned many ways to improve both the quality of my photos as well as creating a better organizational scheme. But a significant downside you should be aware of is the printing quality and layout leaves much to be desired. In particular, the size and legibility of the adjustment "bricks" is dismal. You almost need a magnifying glass to see what the settings are. Further, the comparison photographs, one with default and the other with recommended adjustments, often look the same - as example, the one on sharpening, they all look the same even the one that says this is very oversharpened. I think if the book had been printed on glossy paper the resolution would have been much improved. As is, it's not acceptable - which is a shame since the book is well written and very informative.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book you need, February 19, 2009
This review is from: Apple Aperture 2: A workflow guide for digital photographers (Digital Workflow) (Paperback)
This is the book that Aperture 2 users need. It goes far beyond the Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 book (which isn't exactly bad, but is very short on detail). McMahon and Rawlinson's book matches the best of the Lightroom books, taking a photography rather than computing perspective. For example, the Pro Series book has about 1 paragraph on sharpening, and this basically tells you where the sliders are. Here, the authors dedicate at least 8 pages to explaining the various options, and how they interact.
They provide a very nice tutorial on how to extract maximum dynamic range from a RAW file, balancing the boost, exposure and recovery sliders (and more), really putting Aperture through its paces and revealing considerable hidden depths.
On the DAM side they are equally thorough, although in this case the Pro Training Series book does a pretty good job too. However, across the board, "Aperture 2: A workflow guide for digital photographers" either equals or considerably surpasses "Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2". I haven't read any other Aperture 2 books, but certainly as a general, in-depth guide, it is difficult to see how it could be beaten.
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