Aperture - Projects/Folder Organization

[zObsidian]

Hi,

I have a bunch of photos taken from a vacation. Right now I have each day of photos in their own folder on the hard drive and I'm wondering how best to organize them in Aperture...


Folder containing separate projects for each day:

+Vacation Folder
|--Day1 Project
|--Day2 Project
|--Day3 Project
|--Day4 Project


Project containing separate folders for each day:

+Vacation Project
|--Day1 Folder
|--Day2 Folder
|--Day3 Folder
|--Day4 Folder


Pros/cons of each? Thanks.

 

[flynz4]

Hi,

I have a bunch of photos taken from a vacation. Right now I have each day of photos in their own folder on the hard drive and I'm wondering how best to organize them in Aperture...


Folder containing separate projects for each day:

+Vacation Folder
|--Day1 Project
|--Day2 Project
|--Day3 Project
|--Day4 Project


Project containing separate folders for each day:

+Vacation Project
|--Day1 Folder
|--Day2 Folder
|--Day3 Folder
|--Day4 Folder


Pros/cons of each? Thanks.

I personally have done this using your first example. However, I cannot imaging myself doing this on a day by day basis. For example... we took a 6 week vacation to Hawaii last year and organized as follows:

+2011-04-09 Hawaii (folder)
|-- 2011-04-09 Oahu (project)
|-- 2011-04-16 Big Island (project)
|-- 2011-05-07 Maui (project)

I just think that for what I do... daily resolution is way too fine of detail, and makes organization harder.

I always use the "yyyy-mm-dd event name" and I always start it on the first day of the event. The vast majority of my projects are at the top level (i.e.: not in event folders). It is only when I have a very complex trip that I will break it down by a few locations.

I do have top level folders by decade, and sub folders by year. That is just convenient to collapse projects that I do not want to see (and scroll through) in the side bar.

Finally... I have also used folders with sub-projects for other purposes. Here is an example from my two week Hawaii vacation earlier this year.

+2012-05-13 Hawaii (folder)
|-- 2012-05-13 Barb's Camera (project)
|-- 2012-05-13 Barry's Camera (project)
|-- 2012-05-13 Debbie's Camera (project)
|-- 2012-05-13 Jim's Camera (project)

That way if I click on the folder, then I get all of the pictures in a single timeline. However, if I click on the project, then I can limit it easily by camera.

This came in handy when I needed to time-base correct the various cameras (because we forgot to synchronize them in advance)... or provide gross level editing (ex: color correction) across each camera.

Finally... do not fret it. One of the most amazing things about A3 is that you organize, re-organize, change your style of organizing at any time... and it is trivial to do. Just have fun!

/Jim

 

[flynz4]

Correction:

What I wrote in my previous reply was correct (at the time). I just checked and I actually reversed it to one single project... and folders for the various "events".

I did this once I started making eBooks and slide shows. One of the features of A3 is if you create a slide show, book, light table, etc from within a project... then any smart albums are restricted to that one project. Hence, it is easier to create smart objects if all of those pictures are in the same project.

Either way, you can still create smart objects across multiple projects.. but it is easier if they are all in one to begin with.

This just reinforces my final advice in that last post to not worry about it. It is absolutely trivial to re-oranize in A3. It is a fantastic program, and in my very humble opinion... enough reason by itself to switch to a Mac.

/Jim