Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 (Paperback)

by Ben Long (Author), Richard Harrington (Author), Orlando Luna (Author)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Fully updated for Aperture 2, this comprehensive book-DVD training combo starts with the basics of image management and takes you step by step all the way through Aperture's powerful photo-editing, image-retouching, proofing, publishing, and archiving features. Aperture 2's new features are completely covered, including a new RAW-image processing engine, a streamlined interface, powerful new adjustment tools, and added integration with Mac OS X and other Apple products for instant web publishing and one-click portfolio syncing. Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 delivers comprehensive training - the equivalent of a two-day course - in one project-based book. You'll learn time-saving techniques for sorting, ranking, and organizing images, effective methods for correcting and enhancing images, plus efficient ways to display images for client review, apply metadata, update your online portfolio automatically, and much more. Real-world exercises feature professional photography from a variety of genres, including photo-journalism, sports, wedding, commercial, and portraiture. All the files you need to complete the exercises are included on the DVD.

About the Author
The Apple Pro Training Series is both a self-paced learning tool and the official curriculum of the Apple Pro Training and Certification Program.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; Pap/Dvdr edition (May 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321539931
• ISBN-13: 978-0321539939
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,505 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, solid, but very basic intro to Aperture 2, June 8, 2008

By	GJ "GJ" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

The book is really a hands-on workbook - you get a disc with sample files (annoyingly compressed, and not simply available through the finder), and are guided through different activities in Aperture, from importing and sorting, rating, through various basic image adjustments, to getting your images out of Aperture as prints, books and web pages. The book covers all major features of the application, and includes a few basic examples of how to use it in conjunction with other Apple software apps (Keynote, Pages, iWeb, etc.), including basic Automator actions.

Step-by-step instructions are very good, and are clearly written. The book is functionally, and logically organized. There is a benefit to using the images provided on disc, since it is easy to confirm that the visual outcome of various actions is the same as in the book. The lessons are, however, very (and I mean VERY) basic, despite the book's back cover rating as "Level: Intermediate."

For people who have NO previous experience with ANY image editing or photo-workflow software, this will be a good first step-by-step intro. But for those who have used the previous version of Aperture, intermediate / advanced users of iPhoto, and even very inexperienced users of Photoshop CS3/ACR or Lightroom (which would likely include most advanced amateurs and pro-photographers), this book will be too basic, in all respects.

I do NOT mind at all the fact that this book has introductory information. This would be a good thing. What I DO mind (and hence my lowered, 3-star rating) is, that despite it being pitched as "intermediate" Apple-certification guide, for those who are above the absolute entry-level skill set, it offers very little practical, usable info.

Often, the "explanations" offered are simple tautologies (i.e., things like: to sort, click on sort button, and to darken, click on darken button, etc.). This is particularly visible in weak and too general "explanations" given for some of the image adjustments controls. If you were wondering, for example, when to adjust Exposure, and when to adjust the Brightness control slider instead, you will find no satisfactory info to clarify the issue here - you will learn that "in the exposure area of the adjustments inspector, drag the exposure slider to the right to increase the exposure of the image" (p 215; duh!) and "Exposure adjustment controls [...] allow you to set the exposure (duh! again), black point, and brightness values in your images"; later you'll learn that "Aperture offers the Brigntess parameter when you want to lighten or darken the image." (p 223; yet another duh!). So what is the difference between the Exposure slider and the Brightness slider, you might wonder? Apparently both do the same thing (actually, they don't - but you'll never know the difference based on this book's info. or find any practical advice on when to use which one). More, similar examples could be found, and they are numerous. The authors insist on explaining in detail what is simple, and often quite obvious, yet frequently leave what is unclear, more complex, or not-so-obvious, unexplained.

I will take issue with another reviewer who found this book's design "beautiful" - the quality of color print is OK here - functional, and perfectly serviceable as illustration of processes and software features, but nothing to write home about. At times, the images are too small, and print quality (rather dark)) not good enough to make more subtle image adjustments visually obvious. If you want a beautiful (although not necessarily useful) software book with attractive graphics, compare this with "Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Mastering Adobe's next-generation tool for digital photographers" - and it will not be a favorable comparison. Alas, there is no "Aperture 2 Adventure" equivalent. Too bad.

I found the book's design to be rather annoyingly "loose": there are pages when small images (all placed inline, with no text wrap on the left or right side on any pages) with 2.5-3 inch margins, leave an awful amount of blank, awkwardly empty space on numerous pages. E.g., p. 66, has just two, small images and a total of about 60 words on the page (yes, I actually counted them on p. 66 which is quite typical of the book's design). I can think of many, by far more efficient, not to mention attractive, book designs (think: Pogue's Missing Manuals series); this one-column, inline-images-only design looks like it was done on MS Word (although I am sure it was NOT), and seems padded. My guess is, with more effective design, it should have easily been been a 250-page book; at almost double that, it's just wasteful.

This book has the "Apple Certified" status / label. Depending on how you look at it, it may be a good thing, or a bad thing. On the plus side, it is confirmed to be accurate, and it is the required reading for level-one Apple certification; on the other hand, the authors have to carefully toe the Apple party line. You will not find here mentions of bugs, the software's shortcomings, and their possible workarounds (if available), or mentions of competing products that may address some of the shortcomings better. The software is always lavishly praised (it's "revolutionary"), and its deficiencies are gently "de-emphasized," i.e., presented so as to be less noticeable. For example, when discussing Apple's (quite functionally limiting) plug-in architecture, authors say "Aperture also supports an open plug-in architecture, for using specialized third-party software." (306) What they omit here, is that the plug-ins are NOT non-destructive editing processes, and only work by virtue of creating a "baked" copy of the image; the changes made with plug-ins, once confirmed (OK'd and rendered) cannot be undone (other than by deleting the image copy). Technically, the authors mention that fact, but only several pages later (312-13), and without making it clear that this restriction applies to ALL plug-ins, not just the one used as an example.

IN SUMMARY: For complete beginners, this book is a good, clear entry-point to Aperture 2 - probably the best and most comprehensive one on the market at this point (June 2008); for anyone even slightly above the beginning level, other than a very basic (although admittedly comprehensive) review, there is little more to discover here; for those intermediate and advanced users, I would highly recommend trying the 1.25 hour video "Aperture 2: New Features" instead; it's available on lynda.com, where you can get a free trial and watch the whole series, also including several hours of still-useful tutorials on Aperture's previous version (also available as ridiculously overpriced book/disc sets: Aperture 1.1 Essential Training and Aperture 1.5 Beyond the Basics)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cringe and Read, October 1, 2008

By	Macerella (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This book was one, if not the first book available for Apple's Aperture 2 software. Being a new Aperture 2 user, I was anxious to get more familiar with the tool, so I dove in to read this book.

As part of the Apple Pro Training Series, this book reads like a typical textbook. This is a self-paced, lesson based book, complete with a DVD of projects to work from (I never used the DVD, as I used my own photos so I cannot comment on the DVD itself).

It has 12 project based lessons, one for each chapter. At the end of each chapter, a list of questions are included. The chapters include: Exploring the Aperture Workflow, Evaluating Images, Organizing Your Project, Basic Edits, Working with Raw Images, Correcting Tone, Correcting Color, Repairing and Enhancing Your Images, Delivering Images for Client Review, Delivering Final Images, Showcasing and Promoting Your Work, and Aperture Automation. The authors also include two appendices: Advanced Media Management for Professionals, and Aperture and iPhoto Integration.

The content of the book adequately covers the basic functionality of Aperture 2, but I was disappointed for the following reasons:

* Some of the writing is not clear. I found myself having to read a step several times before understanding what the authors were trying to convey, and the book's layout didn't aid me.
* The writing style is too dry for my taste, and thus, I became bored quickly.
* The authors' tips leave little to be desired. Instead of "expert insider tips", most of the tips were fairly basic. Some, I could not even classify as a tip, e.g., "...click the Options & Prices button to view the latest pricing from Apple.com..."

I also was disappointed with the layout of this book. The layout makes it cumbersome for the reader to quickly absorb the information. Maybe this layout is typical of the "Apple Pro Training Series" books; if this is the case, the publisher should make it more palatable to users. Here are some examples of layout issues that really bothered me.

* Some of the critical steps do not offer a picture, which sometimes makes it so difficult to follow.
* Some of the pictures included just show the buttons or a portion of the screen being referenced in the step, and not where exactly the button is, forcing me to waste time, hunting around the screen to find these elusive buttons. I want to see the entire Aperture 2 screen first, with the button or function circled, and then a close-up of the circled item itself.
* I would much prefer a three column page layout for step-by-step instructions (a column for pictures, steps and tips).
* Only the chapter name is included in the header of the page, not the chapter number, which forces me to have to go back to the Table of Contents to find what I need. The chapter number and subchapter title should be included on each page.
* There are tips from the authors, but they do not stand out on the page (perhaps it doesn't matter anyways, since the tips are not very interesting to read).

Summary:

This book is targeted for taking the Aperture certification course, rather than being a good reference book. It provides a basic view of Aperture functions, but it does not really provide much in the way expert tips in using Aperture 2. I do open it, as needed, since it's the only Aperture 2 book on my shelf, but each time, I cringe because the writing style is a typical dry textbook style, and the layout leaves little to be desired, in my opinion. It is, however, better than simply relying on the little "Exploring Aperture Guide" that accompanied the Aperture 2 software.

For very beginning Aperture 2 users, this book may be somewhat useful. For savvier users, consider another book.

My thoughts:

Ease of use: Dry reading that is sometimes hard to follow. Content not well laid out.

Audience: Very beginning Aperture 2 users

Cost: Reasonable

35 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Aperture Book Available, May 18, 2008

By	Scott Bourne "Scott Bourne" (Gig Harbor, WA) - See all my reviews

As an Apple Certified Aperture trainer, and well-traveled Aperture instructor, I had high hopes and expectations for this book. And Rich, Ben and Orlando didn't disappoint me.

This is the book that trainers train from and it is much better organized than the original Aperture 1 book. The logical flow from section to section more clearly mirrors the real-world approach one should take when using Aperture to organize a photo library.

The exercises are clearly written and they make sense. There's no mindless repetition and the authors cover all the areas of the program that most photographers would need to know.

You can't ask for anything more than good information, cogently presented, in an easy-to-read and understand manner. The Aperture 2 Pro Training Book delivers on all of this and more. Highly recommended.