When Aperture v1.5 was released I eagerly embraced a workflow using Referenced files. After all, I enjoy the freedom to periodically open images in other programs without exporting them, and being able to store images offline was a necessity given the volume of pictures I shoot. Having Aperture reference the files and store previews within the Library seemed ideal. I chose to create previews that were large enough that I could use them to create presentations using Keynote. while on the road. What a wonderful boost to productivity!
And then all of a sudden I encountered a wall. I needed to email one of those offline referenced files to a client. Emailing online or managed files from Aperture couldn’t be easier - you simply select the image(s) and click the mail icon. But Aperture stubbornly refuses to allow you to create an email using the previews of offline images by clicking the Mail icon
I finally found a way to send an email of an offline image. Rather than clicking the mail icon, first create a new email. Then in Aperture click on the image thumbnail and drag it into the email. If you don’t care about the size of the image in your email, you can simply send it as is. However since I create large previews , these images are larger than what I like to send in an email.
To resize the images , Ctrl + click (right click) on the image in the email to open it in Photoshop. Resize it there and save it. Then attach that version to a new email. (Delete the original email with the larger version.) Admittedly this is a little awkward, but it does work. That way if you’re on the road and a client asks to see a picture that’s in your Aperture library, you can send it immediately and not have to carry your entire backup drive with you.
Yes, as other s mentioned you can do that, but the image will be in Adobe RGB rather than sRGB that way.
Thanks for the input though!
Re Final Paragraph.
If you are creating the new email in Mail then a little pop up menu in the bottom right hand corner called Image Size allows you to resize the image right within Mail. no need for a round trip to photoshop unless the slight quality difference is very important.
You know you can tell Mail to resize the pictures for you right? of course you only get three size choices but it does save a trip to Photoshop if you're in a hurry...
Francois, that's a great suggestion since that way the color space would also be correct and you could avoid opening PS. Thanks!
Ellen
Personnaly, I would drag the picture (actually the preview) on my desktop (possible if you had previews created when importing the pictures) and then reimport the picture in Aperture to use the "export to e-mail" command.
I think your way to do it was fine but you need to start (if you have it...) Photoshop just to scale a picture. A bit overkill, maybe.
br, Francois
David (and all) - If you look in the Aperture preferences, you'll see that you can tell it which export preset to use for email export - so you can use one that converts to sRGB. Of course, this only applies if you have the images online and use the email option. Using Ellen's method I'm not sure whether you can govern what colour space is used.
The problem with using iPhoto is that you have to copy the Aperture previews into iPhoto before you can use them in iPhoto. If we could simply select them in the Aperture library and access iPhoto tools it would be a great solution. However it certainly is still another way to solve the problem!
Have you tried iPhoto? I don't actually have Aperture so I can not try this. I believe since Aperture 1.5 you can see your previews from withing iPhoto. From iPhoto you can send e-mail and have them resized as well. (This would bypass both Photoshop and Aperture itself)
As far as I know you'd need to go into Photoshop or an external editor to change it, or make converting to sRGB a step in an Automator action that would resize as well as change the colorspace. (Of course you could also create a droplet that would do the same thing.)
Ellen
Is there any way to change the colorspace of the previews? - they appear to be fixed at AdobeRGB and sRGB would be a better choice for email.
Gustaf, thank you. That's much easier than going into Photoshop or using Automator. It just shows you that sometimes you need to open your eyes and see what's right in front of your nose! I hate to admit it, but I've never noticed that menu in Mail before!
Ellen
Forgot to say where you can find it: in the bottom right of the mail window.
If you use Mail.app as your email client you can actually resize the image right there and then without opening Photoshop. In any mail that includes an image an Image Size drop down menu will appear where you can choose between a few preset image sizes.
Another option would be to make a folder action in automator using the scale image action under preview. Anytime an image is dropped into the designated folder, it would be resized accordingly.