Thomas Fitzgerald - Mastering Apple Aperture

Thomas Fitzgerald has been trained in animation and graphic designing, and from there he became a motion graphics artist working in television and film, but he always pursued his love for photography. His work with the visual medium of motion pictures encouraged his skills as a photographer and his cross-disciplined approach led him to his passion for photography today. Currently, Thomas is a freelance motion graphics artist and animator, as well as a fine art photographer and a prolific blogger. He has been using Aperture since the very first version came out, and writes and produces a popular blog about Aperture, http://theapertureblog.com.

I wish to thank my wonderful wife Mary, without whom I doubt this book would have ever been written. She has encouraged and helped me at every step and without her support you would not be reading this book today. I also want to thank my Dad without whom I doubt I would have ever developed a love for photography. My father was a keen photographer, and cameras, enlargers, lenses, and darkroom chemicals always surrounded me growing up. One of the earliest memories I have from childhood is of the line of beautifully photographed black and white portraits of our family that hung in the long hallway of our first house. I believe this inspired my love of photography from an early age. I want to thank the rest of my family who have helped encourage my artistic tendencies over the years and especially my mother for all the love and support she has given me.

Finally, I want to thank my good friends Michael, Eugene, Ian, and Gergo for their friendship and support.

Chris Jones is a programmer by day, and became inspired to take up amateur photography by the arrival of his two children, who provide an almost endless supply of adorable moments that are nearly impossible to capture! His camera is an iPhone and he is trying very hard to work with its advantages and limitations, instead of getting sucked into the expensive world of DSLR cameras. Chris lives in London with Rike, Jasper, and Niklas.

Daniel Schildt has a background in visual communication, having studied photography, graphic design, video, and other types of tools at several schools. At the same time, his continuous interest in storytelling lead him to learning both art and technology. Recently he has worked on projects ranging from building 360 degree virtual tours to retouching photos for advertising. Currently he is learning data journalism. This is his first book project as a reviewer. He can be reached via Twitter @autiomaa and has a website at http://autiomaa.org.

Ryan Valle is a multimedia specialist with credited works in the areas of video, digital imaging, web development, and video games. Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Multimedia Production in 2011 and over the years, has worked professionally in the areas of television and video production, photography, web design and development, and most recently, video games.

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Preface

When Aperture first came out, there was nothing like it on the software front. There were tools for converting your raw photos and organizing your images, but none combined the two. I first started using Aperture almost immediately after it came out. It was not just a huge change in the way I went about managing my images, but the way I approached photography in general. It was a liberating experience and it meant that I spent less time managing folders and files, and more time enjoying the art.

Over the years, Apple has added more and more features to the software, and it has become more and more complex, yet it retains a high degree of approachability. But that ease of use hides a degree of complexity underneath the surface that makes it a powerful tool in the right hands.

It was the release of Aperture that led to a whole new class of photo management software and it is Aperture that is responsible for the phrase "photo workflow". Before Aperture, this concept didn't exist. Now, the model that Apple developed is pretty much the standard way to approach post production of digital photography, and while Aperture has attracted a number of competitors to the space, the software still has many unique features, especially if you dig beneath the surface. Digging beneath that surface is what I hope to achieve with this book.