Probably easy to do, but I haven't figured this out yet ;-)
I organize all photos in a hierarchy of year/month/date in a folder called Photos. My standard workflow entails copying files off the CF card to the Mac's desktop, running exiftool on that directory and then adding the new directories to my Photos folder - I would end up with a directory structure like Photos/2010/08/26, for example.
I import into Aperture by using the Import files and folders as projects option - that duplicates the physical directory structure of the hard drive in Aperture. The problem comes in when I have photos from another camera or older photos that would be placed in a folder already imported into Aperture before.
What I would like to do is to let Aperture run through all the files and folders in Photos/2010, for example and simply augment what is already there. Instead, all I ever manage to do is to end up with another hierarchy called 2010 (1) and all other folders beneath it. I select that duplicates should not be imported, but I am unable to get Aperture to simply add to what is already there, rather than ending up with a duplicate folder hierarchy.
Am I making sense, and is there an easy solution? Thanks!
Have you tried using Aperture to import straight from the CF card and use its ability to rename everything on import? Then have it save it in your photos folder from there? Since I am less familier with using a referenced library I am not sure that will aperture will assist you much past the importing process but you might be able to use its built in naming options to help.
Make a naming preset for importing that adds the time when the image was taken to the name of the photo. On import into Aperture use the preset to rename the incoming files with all your date info and what not but also the time element. Then if you import photos at a later time you can do the same thing and the time element in the name will help put things in their place.
In Joseph’s “15 Tips on File Management in Aperture 3” ebook he covers how he does this and gives the reasons why and the idea behind it. Might be worth checking into.
I’m a bit particular about the storage of my files on the OS level, so I’m not too keen to leave that to an application ;-)
Manfred,
A few things. First, per Nathan’s suggestion, you CAN allow Aperture to do the sorting for you, and still sort them in the Finder as you’ve outlined. That’s in fact exactly how I manage my library; all images go into a folder on my Drobo titled Aperture Masters/2010/09/08 for example. The only difference between your and my workflow is that I have Aperture move them into that hierarchy; you do it by hand.
I’m actually curious; what do you use exiftool for?
Nothing else has to change in your workflow; you can still copy the files off your CF cards to the desktop first, and do whatever you want to them with exiftool. The only difference is you’d import them from the desktop, and have Aperture relocate them to your yyyy/mm/dd structure.
You could let Aperture rename the files at this time, or not, as well.
You would need to build the structure of yyyy/mm/dd by hand in Aperture, however if you’re doing this in the Finder already, you’re not adding any steps—just transferring them to Aperture.
Unless I’m missing something, I think that’s your best option.
Oh—and there’s no way to do it the way you’re asking. Aperture will ignore duplicates, but will still duplicate the structure, giving you the …(1) problem you have now.
@PhotoJoseph
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