Essential Aperture Keyboard Shortcuts

If you really want to speed up your Aperture workflow, this is the essential list of keyboard shortcuts you need to know.

V (Cycle View Mode)
Cycle through the three main views of Aperture: Browser, Split View and Viewer

P (Quick Preview Mode)
Browse images faster, using a lower resolution, even if Aperture is still importing photos

Z (Zoom Viewer)
Zoom in and out of a photo

Y (Metadata Overlays)
Show/Hide Viewer Metadata Overlays (in case you want to use every pixel of your screen)

M (Show Master)
Show the Master (Original) photo

F (Full Screen Mode)
Use F to enter and exit Full Screen Mode

H (Inspector HUD)
Shows/Hides the Inspector HUD. Very useful in Full Screen Mode

1 to 5 (Star rating)
Apply 1 to 5 Star Rating. Press 9 to reject the photo. Rating every photo helps you to stay organized!

C (Crop)
Select the Crop Tool

G (Straighten)
Select the Straighten Tool

A (Selection Tool)
I use it to exit Crop or Straighten Tool

` (Loupe)
Shows the Loupe Tool, which is a magnifying glass that can be very useful to check noise and sharpness

Command + Shift + E (Export)
Export selected versions

These are the keyboard shortcuts I use the most, if you want a full list, please refer to the official documentation released by Apple.

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Aperture: how to use GIMP as external editor [Tutorial]

I don't like very much the Black & White conversion tools available in Aperture 3. I tried Silver Efex Pro by Nik Software and it's great, imho it's the best B&W conversion tool, but it's very expensive for me (I'm not a PRO).

Since you can easily edit your images with an external editor and save them back in Aperture, I usually use the free and open source GIMP for editing my B&W photos.

By the way, we finally have a native version of GIMP for MAC OS X, no more Apple‘s X11 needed. You can download the version you need (Lion, Mountain Lion...) from this useful page: GIMP on OS X - Downloads, open the .dmg file and drag GIMP application icon to your Application folder.

In order to set GIMP as external editor open the Aperture "Prefereces..." panel and choose the "Export" tab.

Use the "Choose..." button to select GIMP.

GIMP can read the 16 bit TIFF files, but will convert them to the 8 bit internal format, so you can choose "TIFF (8-bit)" or "PSD (8-bit)" as file format. At least not until GIMP 3.0 arrives with full support for 16 bit depth editing.

Note: if you select TIFF file format you will get this annoying warning message "wrong data type 7 for "RichTIFFIPTC"; tag ignored" every time. I was not able to avoid it so I chose PSD file format.

Now that everything is set, choose an image from your Aperture Library (I miss Kenya and the Masai Mara NP, so I chose a Zebra image I shot there last year) and from the right-click (or control-click) menu choose "Edit With Gimp..."

The editing part will not be covered here, since I'm not an expert. So when you're done editing, or when you want to save back to Aperture, the trick is to press cmd - E (or "Export" from the "File" menu) and not cmd - S (or "Save" from the "File" menu). The first time you'll need to choose the TIFF file created by Aperture (the folder will be already selected, so no worries).

You can still use cmd - S to save, but this command will save an XCF file, that is the native image format of GIMP. You can do it if you need it later.

And this is the result of my editing (basically desaturation and increase of contrast using Curves tool) that I posted yesterday on Google+:

Useful Links

GIMP on OS X Goes Native
GIMP on OS X - Downloads

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How to take a Screenshot in Mac OS X [Tutorial]

Even if you are a professional photographer, you don't have to use your camera to take a screenshot of your Mac!

Let's see the useful keyboard shortcuts that you can use on Mac OS X:

• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the Desktop


• Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area, and save it to the Desktop


• Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window, and save it to the Desktop

Using the Control key in addition (ie: Command-Control-Shift-3) the image will be saved to the clibpoard

While selecting an area (Command-Shift-4 or Command-Control-Shift-4) you can held down the following keys:

• Space: to lock the size of the selected region and instead move it when the mouse moves


• Shift: to resize only one edge of the selected region


• Option: to resize the selected region with its center as the anchor point

Advanced configuration

If you don't want to save all your screenshots to the Desktop, you can change the default folder using the Terminal. I created a "ScreenShots" folder in my Home Directory. In order to use it you have to type the following line in the terminal (of course you can choose another name and change the command accordingly):

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/ScreenShots
killall SystemUIServer

You can omit the second line, but you will need to log out and in again for the change to take effect, because the SystemUIServer user process handles screenshoot commands and you have to restart it somehow :)

This screenshot was taken using Command-Shift-4, then space, then click on the Terminal window

Default image format is .png, but you can change it using this commands:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type image_format
killall SystemUIServer

Where image_format can be jpg, tiff, pdf, png, bmp, pict or others.

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#salvaiciclisti 3a Critical Mass Digitale - L'unione 2.0 fa la forza

Avendo da poco abbandonato i mezzi pubblici e la macchina, in favore della più ecologica e soprattutto economica bicicletta, rogorosamente a scatto fisso, mi sono trovato subito ad affrontare i rischi derivanti da una città non a misura di biciletta: Torino! 

Nella mia vita ho fatto molti km in bicicletta da corsa, ma qualsiasi percorso non è mai stato così pericoloso come quello cittadino! O meglio, quello cittadino in Italia: ho provato a pedalare a Copenhagen (esperienza che vi consiglio) è ho pottuto toccare con mano, in questo caso con ruote, come le cose possano essere ben differenti! Si potrebbe parlare per ore di tutte le cose positive che si dovrebbero esportare da quella città, come da altri pesi del nord europa molto più civili del nostro! (le piste ciclabili sono solo una delle cose da cui dovremmo prendere spunto!)

Bisogna ammettere che molto è stato fatto a Torino negli ultimi anni per migliorare la circolazione a pedale (piste ciclabili nuove, [to]Bike ), ma purtroppo non sufficiente! (tra l'altro leggo ora questa spaicevole notizia 100 biciclette del [TO]Bike vandalizzate)

Ho deciso quindi di patecipare alla 3° Critical Mass Digitale promossa dal movimento #salvaciclisti, pubblicando questo messaggio per il nostro "amato/odiato" Presidente del Consiglio, fiducioso che le cose possano migliorare!

Se ci credete, condividete!

Egregio Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Italiana, Prof. Mario Monti,Abbiamo molto apprezzato la nota con cui Lei il 14 maggio scorso ha dato sostegno alle istanze della campagna #salvaiciclisti sottolineando i vantaggi economici derivanti dall’uso della bicicletta in ambito urbano e definendo la bicicletta come “mezzo di trasporto “intelligente”, sia dal punto di vista dell’impatto ambientale, sia a livello economico, dato che riduce sensibilmente i costi legati alla mobilità urbana, sia, aspetto non meno rilevante, per la salute degli individui.”Infatti, in questo periodo di crisi economica, per ridurre i costi derivanti dalla mobilità, molte persone fanno sempre più ricorso all’uso della bici, anche per andare al lavoro.Purtroppo nel nostro Paese coloro che decidono di utilizzare la bici per recarsi al lavoro, si trovano a confrontarsi con una legislazione che, non solo non incentiva, ma addirittura penalizza chi utilizza questo mezzo di trasporto. In Italia, in caso di sinistro durante il percorso casa-lavoro effettuato in bicicletta, l’INAIL riconosce al lavoratore lo status di “infortunio in itinere” “purché avvenga su piste ciclabili o su strade protette; in caso contrario, quando ci si immette in strade aperte al traffico bisognerà verificare se l`utilizzo era davvero necessario” [nota INAIL].Mentre nel resto d’Europa l’uso della bicicletta come mezzo di trasporto per recarsi al lavoro è sistematicamente incentivato e promosso, in Italia il lavoratore che decide di spostarsi senza inquinare e senza creare traffico, non solo non riceve alcun incentivo, ma deve farlo a proprio rischio e pericolo e senza tutele.Allo scopo di mettere fine a questo anacronismo è in corso una campagna promossa dalla Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta (FIAB) che chiede la modifica dell’art. 12 del D.Lgs. 38/2000 e di aggiungere al testo attuale la frase: “L’uso della bicicletta è comunque coperto da assicurazione, anche nel caso di percorsi brevi o di possibile utilizzo del mezzo pubblico”, esattamente come previsto per il lavoratore che si reca al lavoro a piedi.La proposta della FIAB ha già raccolto oltre diecimila firme e ricevuto parere favorevole da parte di ben tre Regioni, tre Province e sedici Comuni tra cui Milano, Bologna e Venezia che ravvisano grande imbarazzo nel chiedere ai concittadini e ai propri dipendenti di usare la bicicletta senza poter garantire nel contempo adeguate tutele.Con la presente chiediamo a Lei, al Ministro del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali e ai Presidenti di Camera e Senato di voler intervenire al più presto per porre fine a questa discriminazione che non ha eguali in Europa e di accogliere questa proposta di modifica legislativa.Per ulteriori informazioni sul tema dell’infortunio in itinere per il pendolare in bicicletta, Le segnaliamo il sito internet www.bici-initinere.info che è stato predisposto allo scopo di diffondere consapevolezza rispetto a questa campagna.Confidando in una sua pronta risposta e auspicandoci condivisione nel merito,cogliamo l’occasione per salutarla cordialmente --------------------------Se anche tu ritieni che chi si reca al lavoro in bicicletta non debba essere vittima di discriminazioni invia questa lettera direttamente al Presidente del Consiglio, al Ministro competente e ai Presidenti di Camera e Senato: e.olivi@governo.it; gabinettoministro@mailcert.lavoro.gov.it; fini_g@camera.it; schifani_r@posta.senato.it.Inoltre puoi contribuire alla diffusione di questa iniziativa attraverso il tuo blog, il tuo sito internet oppure attraverso il tuo account di Facebook o di Twitter.

www.salvaiciclisti.it

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#BirdsOfPreySunday Highlights June 3rd

Our weekly appointment with Birds of Prey again :)
These are some higliths of the last Sunday  #BirdsOfPreySunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele and myself (+Diego Cattaneo)!

Please, plus one or comment original images on Google+ links listed under the photos!

Enjoy the view and thanks everybody for participating!

"A Lanner Falcon taken in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
#birdsofpreysunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele and +Diego Cattaneo  " by +Dick Whitlock (see on G+)

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"Alaska Bald Eagle. #birdsofpreysunday #birds #birdsinflight" by +Mike Criss (see on G+)

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""Lesser-Spotted Eagle Takeoff"
Lesser-Spotted Eagle
Kruger National Park, South Africa

I wasn't planning on adding any more images today, but when I saw that +Phil Armishaw had set the newest theme for  #birdpoker  "Eagles", I couldn't resist. This one also doubles as an early entry for #birdsofpreysunday  (+Birds Of Prey Sunday) curated by +Diego Cattaneo and +Jeffrey Van Daele.

Shooting Techs:
Gear: Nikon D300s, Nikkor 200-400mm f4 VR
Aperture: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
ISO: 800

#krugernationalpark   #eagle   #birdloversworldwide  +BIRD LOVERS Worldwide +Bird & Wildlife Photography +Africa - Birds & Birding 

www.morkelerasmus.com" by +Morkel Erasmus (see on G+)

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"Burrowing Owl
#BirdsOfPreySunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele +Diego Cattaneo +Birds Of Prey Sunday +BIRD LOVERS Worldwide" by +Sumit Sen (see on G+)

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" Red Tailed Hawk in flight for #birdsofpreysunday  curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele and +Diego Cattaneo " by +Mike Matney (see on G+) 

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#BirdsOfPreySunday Highlights May 27th

Here we go! Another sunday full of birds of prey :)
This are some higliths of the last Sunday  #BirdsOfPreySunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele and myself (+Diego Cattaneo)!

Please, plus one or comment original images on Google+ links listed under the photos!

Enjoy the view and thanks everybody for participating!

"Brown Snake Eagle
Taken at a waterhole in the Kgalagadi. 
#birdsofpreysunday by +Jeffrey Van Daele and +Diego Cattaneo" by +Dick Whitlock (see on G+)

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"Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Shropshire, UK.

for #birdsofpreysunday by +Diego Cattaneo +Jeffrey Van Daele 
#birds #birdphotography" by +Mike Haley (see on G+)

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"Resharing for #BirdsOfPreySunday curated by +Diego Cattaneo +Jeffrey Van Daele +Birds Of Prey Sunday 

Typical eagle scene near the Anchor River mouth in Anchor River, AK. 

See more Alaska shots here:https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100327836545033470159/albums/5746172864828927361" by +Tom Talbott (see on G+)

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"Burrowing Owl
#BirdsOfPreySunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele +Diego Cattaneo +Birds Of Prey Sunday +BIRD LOVERS Worldwide" by +Francisco Herrera (see on G+)

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"another one for #birdsofpreysunday by +Jeffrey Van Daele and +Diego Cattaneo...sometimes it would`nt be bad to have better lenses like the one i used for my first bird-sessions, but than i remember the price and wake up quickly" by +Geo Messmer (see on G+) 

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"Looking at You Looking at Me

This American Bald Eagle is keeping an eye on both the Deception Pass waters for food and seems to be checking out me out as well as the boat heads out into the deeper waters of the Puget Sound. He/She has better built in eye sight than I however, I needed 400mm to get this detail.

#birds #birdsunday #naturephotography #naturephotography #naturemonday#natureartthursday #naturephotographers #birdsofprey #birdsofpreysunday+Jeffrey Van Daele #eagle #baldeagle #tree #plusphotoextract" by +Ben T (see on G+)

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#BirdsOfPreySunday Highlights May 20th

After seeing a lot of great shots, I found some time to write another weekly recap of the last Sunday  #BirdsOfPreySunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele and myself (+Diego Cattaneo)!

Please, plus one or comment original images on Google+ links listed under the photos!

Enjoy the view and thanks everybody for participating!

"Immature Eagle" by +Randall Tronick (see on G+)

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"And here's my first Google+ picture chair, with apologies in case of cross posting, ...: African Fish Eagle Power, by Guy Dekelver -www.picsfromthewild.com
Lake Baringo, Kenya

#birdsofpreysunday #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #birds #raptors" by +Guy Dekelver (see on G+)

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"#birdsofpreysunday curated by +Diego Cattaneo and +Jeffrey Van Daele " by +Vince Maidens (see on G+)

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"Burrowing Owl
For #BirdsofPreySunday curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele +Diego Cattaneo +Birds Of Prey Sunday 
+BIRD LOVERS Worldwide" by +Francisco Herrera (see on G+)

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"first tryout of that kind of photography...great wild birds. Not bad for the first time and i had a lot of fun so i think i`ll try it again ;)

#birdsofpreysunday Curated by +Jeffrey Van Daele and +Diego Cattaneo" by +Geo Messmer (see on G+) 

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"Bateleur in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Soaring above us looking for its next prey... 

#birdsofpreysunday" by +Lee Butler (see on G+)

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" A Grey Owl Swoops after Food
It's amazing how their head stays rock steady whilst the body moves
This is for #birdsofpreysunday +Birds Of Prey Sunday by +Diego Cattaneo and+Jeffrey Van Daele" by +Neil Howard (see on G+)

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"Regal Tawny Eagle
Kruger National Park, South Africa

I am re-sharing this older image for +Diego Cattaneo and +Jeffrey Van Daele's#birdsofpreysunday .

I enjoyed watching this amazing raptor scanning the environment for some dinner in the #krugernationalpark some time ago.

#birdphotography 

www.morkelerasmus.com" by +Morkel Erasmus (see on G+)

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"Black Kite
For #birdsofpreysunday by +Diego Cattaneo 
Kolkata, India." by +Sumit Sen (see on G+) 

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Back Button Auto Focus with Nikon DSLR (D90)

This post has been moved to my brand new blog www.nerphy.com!

During my last trip to Brittany and Normandy, I started using the "Back Button Focus" technique: I used the "AE/AF-lock button" of my Nikon D90 ("AF-On" button on better Nikon body ) to auto-focus instead of the shutter release button!

It's quite odd in the beginning, but now I can't live without it :)

There are three main reason for using this technique:

1. Easily switch between continuous-servo AF (AF-C) mode and  single-servo (AF-S) mode without changing camera settings: setting the camera to AF-C, you can keep the button pressed to have  continuous auto focus or you can press the button to focus and release it to recompose the shot! 
2. Save Battery: the VR of your lens is activated only when you press the shutter release button, saving your battery while focusing
3. It's cool!

In the photo above you can barely see my right thumb using the AF-On button to focus the gull against Etretat cliffs: press to focus, release it to recompose and then shoot! if it would fly away, I could keep the button pressed and start tracking it!

If you want to try, follow this steps:

1. Nikon D90 doesn't have the AF-On button.  So, using f4  setting,  you have to set up the AE/AF-lock button to act as the AF-On button
2. Set the camera’s Auto Focus to Continuous servo mode  (AF-C). This part is what I missed when I first tried this technique some months ago: I used AF-S instead. With AF-S, if you don't keep pressed the AF-On button, the camera will not fire!

If you have a D90 you are done . If you have a better camera, like a D3S there are some more settings:

1. Set the a1 setting (Continuous Release Mode) to Release Priority 
2. Find the custom setting for AF Activation (a5 on the D3s) and set it to AF-On Only. 

This is the video the really opened my mind on this technique:

And here you can see the result, that I posted also on Google+, feel free to leave a comment there :) 

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