Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 [ペーパーバック]

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)

The book is the official Apple Pro training course for Aperture, Apple's all-in-one post-production tool for photographers.

It's a book-DVD training combination which starts with the basics of image management and takes you step by step all the way through Aperture 2's powerful photo-editing, image-retouching, proofing, publishing, and archiving features.

The book is designed to teach you how to use Aperture in the context of a professional workflow, using 12 project-based, step-by-step lessons and accompanying media files. It's almost 100% hands on.

Running through all the lessons will take you about 17 hours.

It's divided into three main sections: importing and organising, image editing, and printing and publishing. The first topics are exploring the Aperture workflow, evaluating images: compare and select, and organising your project. The image editing section is sub-divided into basic edits, working with RAW images, correcting tone, correcting colour, and repairing and enhancing your images. Finally, section three covers delivering images for client review, delivering final images, showcasing and promoting you work, and Aperture automation.

I have worked through the first three lessons myself. The DVD material is easy to use. Lessons are structured very clearly in manageable steps with brief, clear explanations about the context of what you are doing. I liked the lesson review questions and answers at the end of each lesson. At the beginning of each lesson there's a list of lesson files, time and goals spelling out how long it will take to complete the lesson, followed by a list of what is to be achieved.

This is a comprehensive, practical and well organised training course written by those who know what they are talking about. If you take the trouble to complete all 12 lessons, you'll find yourself amply rewarded: perhaps even an Aperture whiz.

[...]

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.