Contact Sheets
Aperture: Add Watermarks To Contact Sheets
2007-06-16
Aperture can add watermarks to images as they are exported, but what do you do if you want to watermark contact sheets? It would seem that the only way would be to export each image with a watermark and then reimport them and print them as contacts. There is a better way, but it needs a reasonable amount of set-up. It involves using Automator to add a watermark to the contact print PDFs created by Aperture.
I create a contact print with Aperture by saving as a PDF and then import into an empty transparent Photoshop document as a raster image background:
On top of that I add white Bagelturf watermarks by making one and then option-dragging to add more. It turns out that the technique of positioning the watermarks so that they match the images is just too much trouble, so instead I recommend that the watermarks just be scattered randomly or kept very small and used in a fine grid so that each image has at least one readable one. There is probably a Photoshop feature for doing this that I don't know about or doesn't exist in my copy of Photoshop LE.
I delete the background layer and create a full-page watermark document that is all transparent except for the watermarking scattered all over the image. I save it as a PNG to preserve the transparency and to keep the file size small.
Next I launch Automator and create a new workflow. First I drag PDF:Watermark PDF on, followed by Preview: Print Image. I set up the watermark action by adding the watermark file that I created previously with the Add.. button and adjusting the settings so that the watermark image is positioned correctly. This takes experimentation since the example image is not very helpful. I set up the Print Images action so that the orientation and printer selection is what I want. I have seen comments that this technique only works with the default printer, so you may find yourself wrestling with that.
And ignore the red text that says that the PDF files from the Watermark PDF action will not flow into the Image Files input to the Print Images action.
If you want to change the useless example document used in the action, replace the file called Bears.pdf in System > Library > Automator > Watermark PDF.action. Open the action with a control click and select Show Package Contents. It's in the Resources > English.lproj folder on a system that is using English language settings. If you want to get really hacky, you can examine the python script that does the watermarking that lives in the Resources folder.
Next I save the workflow as as a plug-in for a print workflow and call it Watermark3x4:
As long as the watermark image is correctly positioned I am done. To use this workflow from Aperture, I select my images and go to File > Print. I change the contact print settings to get it the way I want it (on one or many pages), but I don't press Print. I press Preview instead.
When Preview comes up and shows the first contact print page it has no watermarks.
To add the watermarking, I click the Print icon and then select the PDF button. I click on Watermark3x4 on the drop-down menu that appears and the pages print immediately. I click Cancel to get out of Preview.
The workflow I created lives in the Library > PDF Services folder in my home folder. To get rid of it I just drag it to the trash.
I create a contact print with Aperture by saving as a PDF and then import into an empty transparent Photoshop document as a raster image background:
On top of that I add white Bagelturf watermarks by making one and then option-dragging to add more. It turns out that the technique of positioning the watermarks so that they match the images is just too much trouble, so instead I recommend that the watermarks just be scattered randomly or kept very small and used in a fine grid so that each image has at least one readable one. There is probably a Photoshop feature for doing this that I don't know about or doesn't exist in my copy of Photoshop LE.
I delete the background layer and create a full-page watermark document that is all transparent except for the watermarking scattered all over the image. I save it as a PNG to preserve the transparency and to keep the file size small.
Next I launch Automator and create a new workflow. First I drag PDF:Watermark PDF on, followed by Preview: Print Image. I set up the watermark action by adding the watermark file that I created previously with the Add.. button and adjusting the settings so that the watermark image is positioned correctly. This takes experimentation since the example image is not very helpful. I set up the Print Images action so that the orientation and printer selection is what I want. I have seen comments that this technique only works with the default printer, so you may find yourself wrestling with that.
And ignore the red text that says that the PDF files from the Watermark PDF action will not flow into the Image Files input to the Print Images action.
If you want to change the useless example document used in the action, replace the file called Bears.pdf in System > Library > Automator > Watermark PDF.action. Open the action with a control click and select Show Package Contents. It's in the Resources > English.lproj folder on a system that is using English language settings. If you want to get really hacky, you can examine the python script that does the watermarking that lives in the Resources folder.
Next I save the workflow as as a plug-in for a print workflow and call it Watermark3x4:
As long as the watermark image is correctly positioned I am done. To use this workflow from Aperture, I select my images and go to File > Print. I change the contact print settings to get it the way I want it (on one or many pages), but I don't press Print. I press Preview instead.
When Preview comes up and shows the first contact print page it has no watermarks.
To add the watermarking, I click the Print icon and then select the PDF button. I click on Watermark3x4 on the drop-down menu that appears and the pages print immediately. I click Cancel to get out of Preview.
The workflow I created lives in the Library > PDF Services folder in my home folder. To get rid of it I just drag it to the trash.
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Aperture 1.5.1: Problems With Smart Albums and Contact Sheets?
2006-11-04
I am seeing reports of a problem with smart albums under Aperture 1.5.1. It only affects smart albums that use ratings AND are have not been created inside a project (created at the library level). Creating a smart album inside a project makes it specific to that project, so this is not a workaround. Existing smart albums and those created under 1.5.1 seem to be broken.
Also, cropped images on contact sheets are said to be distorted.
I am not running 1.5.1 yet, so don't have any independent assessment of these.
Also, cropped images on contact sheets are said to be distorted.
I am not running 1.5.1 yet, so don't have any independent assessment of these.
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