O'Reilly Digital Media has posted two more Inside Aperture podcasts. Number 6 features Richard Kerris talking about plug-in development. Number 7 has Derrick Story and Scott Bourne explaining select, compare, and rating tools at Macworld 2007.

While I use Aperture, I often come across things that are not quite right, things that are plainly wrong, things that could be done better another way, and things that are missing. When this happens I go to the Aperture menu and select Provide Aperture Feedback. That takes me to Apple's Aperture Feedback page where I fill in all the details. When I say "when this happens" I mean literally right then while the thought is still fresh in my mind I go to the feedback page and start typing.

Actually I don't fill in all the details. I filled in every field the first time I visited, but thereafter just the important five:

The name, email address, and subject auto-fill using Safari, so that saves some typing. I select the feedback type in the pop-up and the fill in the subject and comments. For the subject I try to be terse but accurate:


I use the same structure for all of my feedback comments: summary, problem, solution/suggestion, value. Here is an example. I don't actually title the sections:


Another thing that I do is to try to use the correct terminology for the things I am referring to. The Window menu calls it the Control Bar, so that must be what it is called.

It can be useful to Apple if you let them know which version of the application you are using, especially if you are reporting a bug:

Apple does read these things and they do take note of them. I have seen several obscure bugs that I reported corrected in Aperture updates. Who knows, maybe they will incorporate some of my suggestions and ideas in later versions. Even if they don't, at least they will be able to pool my feedback with those of others and understand what the problems are.

If you click the Submit Feedback button at the bottom of the page and nothing happens, then don't give up. Scroll back up and look for the red text:

Who is going to be first to suggest that the feedback page could use some improvement? When you are done: you'll get a thank you:

Bakari Chavanu has written an article for MyMac.com about the differences between iPhoto (6) and Aperture (1.5):

Now that I'm working as a wedding and event photographer, I'm shooting hundreds of pictures on each job and am having to meet the challenge of uploading, managing, and outputting photos for my clients. The process hasn't been easy. I've been looking at management systems like Adobe's Bridge and Lightroom programs, and even iView Media Pro, but with the latest update of Apple's Aperture, I think I may have found solutions to my larger and more complex digital photo management and processing problems. And believe me, when you're processing hundreds of photos for a waiting client, digital management is a problem that is not easily solved with iPhoto or even Adobe Bridge.

He has recently moved to Aperture and so is still learning its features. The site also has reviews of several books on and related to digital photography: The Digital Photography Book, Digital Photography: the Missing Manual, and Create Your Own Photo Blog.

Derrick Story at O'Reilly Digital Media has posted a 20 minute, 10MB interview with Joe Schorr, Product Manager for Apple's Aperture application. As well as handling the demanding job of managing the product, Joe is active on Apple's Aperture discussion pages and other photo sites where Aperture is discussed.

O'Reilly Digital Media has now posted a second interview with Joe Schorr, and a third interview.

James Duncan Davidson comments on his blog about the new color control in Aperture 1.5 (just the top half shown):

and compares it to the one in Lightroom, now, ahem, Photoshop Lightroom:

I agree with what he says. However, he omits one major problem with the Lightroom tool: when a person goes to adjust colors they do it one color at a time; but the Lightroom tool is organized by attribute first and then color second. So to adjust one color you must jump about between the sections, hoping you don't click the wrong slider in error. Aperture gets this right and provides the color attribute controls for each color next to that color and does so using a cleaner layout.

James Duncan Davidson compares Aperture and Lightroom on his blog.

Thomas Pindelski's blog has a breakdown of what is presented in two training videos made available for free online to Aperture users.

Inside Aperture has some very detailed information (PDF) about using the adjustment tools in Aperture. That's not an area I will be covering: I don't do a great deal of adjusting, I don't use RAW (yet!), and I certainly don't understand all the sliders and options as well as many people.