Real World Aperture [Paperback]

Ben Long (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2006

Released to near universal acclaim, Apple's Aperture is an all-in-one post-production tool for professional photographers. Featuring a RAW-focused workflow, Aperture lets photographers import, edit, catalog, organize, retouch, publish, and archive images more effectively and efficiently than ever before. In this guide, best-selling author Ben Long takes Aperture users to the next level, providing them with a more in-depth understanding of Aperture's tools, as well as lots of tips and work-arounds to get the most out of the program. In addition, the coverage of fundamental raw theory and practice will help the reader master the program's high-end editing features. More than just a step-by-step tutorial, this book will help photographers develop a fundamental understanding of the philosophy and approach that underlies Aperture's design. Aperture is now available and retails at $299

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Released to near universal acclaim, Apple's Aperture is an all-in-one post-production tool for professional photographers. Featuring a RAW-focused workflow, Aperture lets photographers import, edit, catalog, organize, retouch, publish, and archive images more effectively and efficiently than ever before. In this guide, best-selling author Ben Long takes Aperture users to the next level, providing them with a more in-depth understanding of Aperture's tools, as well as lots of tips and work-arounds to get the most out of the program. In addition, the coverage of fundamental raw theory and practice will help the reader master the program's high-end editing features. More than just a step-by-step tutorial, this book will help photographers develop a fundamental understanding of the philosophy and approach that underlies Aperture's design. Aperture is now available and retails at $299

About the Author

Ben Long is a professional photographer and videographer who has written numerous magazine articles and books (including Getting Started with Camera Raw for Peachpit Press). He also writes a regular photography column for CreativePro.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (July 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321441931
• ISBN-13: 978-0321441935
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ben Long is a San Francisco-based photographer and writer. The author of over a dozen books on digital photography and digital video, he has been a longtime contributor or contributing editor to many magazines including MacWeek, MacUser, Macworld UK, and others. He currently writes for Photoshop Elements magazine, is a Senior Contributor at Macworld Magazine and, and a senior editor at CreativePro.com. His photography clients have included 20th Century Fox, Blue Note Records, Global Business Network, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Pickle Family Circus, and Grammy-nominated jazz musicians Don Byron and Dafnis Prieto. He has taught and lectured on photography around the world. A sometime dabbler in computer programming, he has written a Mac-based image editing utility that is used by the British Museum, the White House, and others. You can learn more about what he's up to at www.completedigitalphotography.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Depth Aperture Instruction, November 3, 2006

By 

Douglas B. Wigton "Photograher" (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Real World Aperture (Paperback)

This book is a follow on to Apple's official Pro Training book co-authored by Ben Long and Orlando Luna. The Pro training book was written fairly early on and while it is the basis for becoming User or Trainer certified, it doesn't cover some of the more obscure capabilities of Aperture in depth. This newer book by Ben Long goes into more detail about the most useful portions of Aperture. In particular, I learned a lot more about the image adjustments available and how to use them. I would highly recommend this book. Of the many books currently available for Aperture users, this is currently the best.

That said, Aperture has undergone about 3 updates since this book was published. It has had many new features added and no book, so far, covers all the newer things. This is constant problem with new applications in particular. It would seem to lobby for e-book updates to expensive software training books.

Still, a good reference book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and thorough look at a new way to work digitally, June 10, 2007

By 

Mark Barnes (Orange Co., California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real World Aperture (Paperback)

I had read part of this book a month ago, and then had an opportunity to hear Ben teach on an Aperture Geek Cruise at the end of May. His writing style is excellent for just about any level of student of this new program. His first chapters try to get you out of the mode of thinking so linearly when working on RAW photos in your Mac. This is not about the hardware or software so much as it is about opening you mind to a new level of creativity where we do things the way WE want to and not by any step by step methodology ingrained in us over the years by using ACR and Photoshop to work up our images. The illustrations and structure of the book will appeal to anyone working in Aperture. THere are nuggets of good stuff to find even if you think you know everything. That is also what I discovered in our classes on the cruise ship - he is so comfortable working with this product that we stopped him numerous times to show us all the little shortcuts and tricks that he uses every day and are included in this volume. I wish I hadn't got sea sick in the middle of his lecture, but that can't be blamed on Ben! A smart guy with the best of the top books on Aperture (I have them all). I'm looking forward to enjoying photography more now and worrying less about the post production hassles by using Aperture in my new shortened workflow.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excelent overview, just a little outdated, September 1, 2009

By 

Robert Fately "f8lee" (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Real World Aperture (Paperback)

I realize Mr Long co-authored the Apple Pro Training book on Aperture, but here in "Real World Aperture" he has managed to get across what to me are the more important underlying conceptual aspects of the program. His writing style here is not a dry recounting of some technical facts or procedures, but rather more of the "the idea of this thing is to...", which I find much more helpful.

I would have given the book 5 stars, but it is a little old and thus predates some functionality in Aperture 1.5 and above, like using referenced files. I hope that whenever Aperture 3 arrives on the scene Ben Long will write an updated version to this book.