Ferris Wheel: 1/1250s f/8.0 ISO200 73mm -0.3ev, Canon 30D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS

Here is what I am currently doing to manage photos on my MacBook and iMac. It's a simple one-way process.

When I import my photos onto the Macbook I do so as managed files so they go into the library. Then I'll cull, rate, keyword, or whatever I want to get done. I don't adjust much, since the screen is small and not as good as my iMac and I can't control the room illumination as well. I leave preview generation turned on for all projects in my library and set it to make half size images. This lets me quickly put together slide shows and skim through images in a flash.

Then when I'm done working on the laptop, I export the project to the desktop and rename the project in the library by adding "Exported" to the end. That's to remind me that I've already done the export and should not do any more editing.

To transfer the project to the iMac I either copy it across the network, or restart the laptop in Firewire target mode and use the Finder to drag the folder across and onto my iMac Aperture library.

Back on the MacBook I delete all the rejects by finding them with a smart album and pressing command delete and then relocate all the remaining project images to a temporary folder. I immediately delete the temporary folder, since I don't want the RAW images to remain on the Macbook, and rename the project again by removing "Exported" and adding "Previews".

So on the laptop I have previews that I can easily show, drag out to other apps, or email, and on the iMac I have the RAW files, the previews, and the project intact. On the laptop the images use up only about 1 MByte each with the thumbnails and previews, so it is pretty space-efficient.

Tags: Aperture, Workflow, Laptop