Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Working with Aperture's File Structure
If you've used a program like Bridge before, then you're accustomed to the folder hierarchy on
your hard drive being exactly what you see in Bridge, and when you move images around within
Bridge or make new folders, it also creates new folders and moves files around on your hard drive
for you. Programs such as Aperture (and Lightroom) take a different approach. Your images live in
a particular location on your hard drive (more on this in a minute) and appear within a different
structure within Aperture. When you move images around within Aperture, between albums for
example, they don't move around on your hard drive (although there are special commands to let
you move the files around your disk), and when you create a new folder within Aperture, that
folder doesn't actually exist on your hard drive. Let's take a minute to explore how Aperture stores
files and the different terms for the various collections of images.
We frequently use the word
image
to talk about any file in Aperture, including movie
and audio files, as Aperture treats them all in essentially the same way, especially as
far as the file structure is concerned.
Note
Understanding the Aperture library and where
your files live
One of the fundamental concepts in Aperture is a library. A library refers to a collection of images.
On your hard drive, a library, like the one in Figure 1.2, stores and tracks information about an
image, ranging from the various-sized thumbnails that Aperture uses to display the image to the
image's metadata, information about the faces in your images, and information about what
adjustments you've made to an image. If you choose, Aperture will also store your image files
themselves within a library (more on this in a minute), but your image files can also live outside the
library instead. An Aperture library appears as a bundle within the Finder (a bundle is a special
type of folder that appears as if it were a single file) and discourages you from digging inside your
library. If you dig inside your library, you might accidentally do something, such as move a key file,
which causes a problem in Aperture.
Unlike in iPhoto where you tend to just have one photo library, you will most likely have multiple
libraries with Aperture. For example, you could have a library on an external drive containing every
image that you've ever taken and a second library on your laptop's internal hard drive that has a
library with images from the previous shoot or two.
By default, Aperture creates a library in your Pictures folder. Chapter 10 explains how to work with
multiple libraries.
