Collect photos in a new Smart Album

Collect photos in a new Smart Album

You can collect photos based on any of the information you can search for using the Smart Settings HUD. For example, you can create a Smart Album that gathers photos based on a specific keyword or a combination of keywords, ratings, dates, or other metadata. You can narrow or broaden the Smart Album search criteria in the Smart Settings HUD at any time.

Create a Smart Album that searches only within one project

  1. Select a project in the Library inspector.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Choose File > New > Smart Album (or press Shift-Command-L).

    • In the Library inspector, Control-click the project, then choose New > Smart Album from the shortcut menu.

    • Choose Smart Album from the New pop-up menu in the toolbar.

    A new, untitled Smart Album appears within the project, and the Smart Settings HUD appears to its right.

  3. Rename the Smart Album by entering a new name.

    Figure. New Smart Album in the Library inspector.

  4. In the Smart Settings HUD that appears, specify search criteria.

    Figure. Smart Album Smart Settings HUD.

    The controls in the Smart Settings HUD are nearly identical to those in the Filter HUD. For more information about using the Filter HUD and specifying search criteria, see Searching overview.

  5. Click the Smart Settings HUD’s close button.

Aperture finds the photos within the project that match the specified search criteria and displays them in the Browser. You can now work with these versions of your photos in the same way you work with photos in any project or album.

Create a Smart Album that searches across the entire library

  1. In the Library inspector, select Projects.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Choose File > New > Smart Album (or press Shift-Command-L).

    • Choose Smart Album from the New pop-up menu in the toolbar.

    A new, untitled Smart Album appears in the Albums section of the Library inspector.

  3. Rename the Smart Album by entering a new name.

  4. In the Smart Settings HUD, specify search criteria.

    Figure. Smart Settings HUD opened next to the Library inspector.

    For more information about using the Smart Settings HUD and specifying search criteria, see Searching overview.

  5. Click the Smart Settings HUD’s close button.

Aperture finds the photos in the library that match the specified search criteria and displays them in the Browser. You can now work with these versions of your photos in the same way you work with photos in any project or album.

Configure a Smart Album to collect photos of particular people

You can create a Smart Album and specify a person or a group of people as search criteria. For example, you can create a Smart Album that is set to collect photos of your family members. First you create the Smart Album, and then you use the Smart Album’s Smart Settings HUD to specify that it collect photos of each individual in your family.

  1. In the Library inspector, select Projects.

  2. Choose File > New > Smart Album (or press Shift-Command-L).

    A new, untitled Smart Album appears in the Albums section of the Library inspector.

  3. Give the Smart Album a name.

  4. In the Smart Album’s Smart Settings HUD, choose Face from the Add Rule pop-up menu.

  5. Select the Face checkbox, choose “includes” from the Face pop-up menu, then enter the name of the person you want to include in the Smart Album in the text field to the right of the pop-up menu.

    Figure. Face search options in the Smart Settings HUD.

  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each additional person you want added to the Smart Album.

  7. When you have finished, close the Smart Settings HUD.

Tip: In Faces view, you can quickly create a Smart Album that gathers photos of a particular person by dragging the person’s snapshot to the Library inspector. For more information about Faces, see Faces overview.