Exporting in Aperture

[cnxyz]

I currently have a early 2011 MBP 13" on loan from my university. I also checked out Aperture from them because I was interested to try it.

After editing a photo, I've tried all sorts of avenues to properly save/export the picture. Export Version, master, everything... the saved image when opened in Preview does not show the changes.

I've searched on Google and read many different threads on this that Aperture saves the changes as metadata in the file but leaves the original image untouched. Why does it do this? I would save the changes as a new image anyway instead of writing over the original.

I've also read that it's their way of helping you save hard drive space. Is there a workaround for this so I can export the edited changes properly? Or another workaround, even if I have to load the exported "version/master" (which doesn't look like anything has changed) in another program and reexport from there?

Cheers

 

[steve-p]

Exporting versions definitely does apply the changes before saving. I use it all the time for exporting for use on a website, or emailing pictures. I assume exporting a master does not apply any changes, since it is the master, which is never normally updated on disk once imported initially.

Aperture does not update the master because that is the point of non-destructive editing. You can crop or change exposure or straighten or retouch or rotate or whatever to your hearts content without worrying about losing anything permanently. You can undo any part of any edit at any time, because it's always based on the fixed master. All thumbnails and image displays in Aperture normally include all changes made, so it's seamless.

 

[rtkane]

Right click the image you want to export (the one with the changes should show up to the right of the original if you have Split View on). Select "Export:Version" then select your preset and where you want it to go. You have to make sure that you have the edited version selected, not the original.

 

[cnxyz]

I figured out the problem. Aperture is making the changes look better than they really are. Inside Aperture's viewer, the picture looks exactly the way I want after editing, but when exporting, the changes are much (MUCH) less pronounced. I did a test in that I did extreme blurring and exported it and I was able to see the the differences.

Why would Aperture show you what something looks like when it doesn't look like that at all after you export?