rleonetti Loc: Portland, Oregon

Decided I can't stall any longer but the situation I have is:

Large Library: all jpeg's
Divided into both referenced (some iPhoto) and managed
Arranged now in lots of projects and folders
Some photos have been renamed

Main question: should I export Masters or Versions into new files?
Should I build a file structure of folders in that process (tedious)?
Should I rebuild all the previews IF I export the files this way?

or, am I mis-reading the LR plug in: it takes my file structure but DOES NOT pick up the hours of adjustments I have invested?

I would appreciate advice (knowing I have read everything on UHH back through 2014)

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

You are correct in that LR does not "read" the non-destructive change directions in the Aperture library and so cannot re-create your editing work.

There is a utility called "Aperture Exporter" (https://apertureexporter.com) which will generate all the edited versions of your images (as TIFs or JPEGs, as I recall) to generate a Collection that is recognizable by Lightroom. Be aware that AE will create an output file that consists of the original image or raw files as well as the versions (edited versions based on what you did in Aperture), so be sure to have enough disk space to hold everything.

I think it is worthwhile for you to check it out at the very least.

By the way, know that LR only handles files as referenced - there is no importing of images into the LR program itself. The LR Collection is roughly analogous to the Aperture Project, and as I recall AE will keep that structure as well.

UtahBob Loc: Southern NJ

I think f8lee is on the right track with using aperture exporter. Here is a comparison of the LR verses AE and if that doesn't scare you into AE just for time savings alone I don't know what will.

http://apertureexporter.com/content/aperture-exporter-vs-adobes-importer-plugin

I'm going to import my Aperture library tomorrow. Once I went to Yosemite my Version 2 no longer works so before I upgraded the OS, I exported all my Raw and JPG files out using Aperture export function which maintains the folder setup. I'm going to import and copy all the files to my main photo storage location maintained by LR.

If my Aperture still worked under Yosemite, I'd get AE and use it.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

I would encourage you to consider what you want your eventual workflow to be, then organize you folder structure to support that workflow. Then, move the photos into folders in a way that reflects what that eventual workflow will be.

Yes, this is the most difficult part. You'll find moving the photos to be the easy part.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

I used Aperture originally before switching to Lightroom - I had it on Lion, Mountain Lion, then it was patched for Yosemite, then when Yosemite came along Aperture still worked. In fact, I had it when I went to El Capitan and then I finally got rid of it.

The point here - you may still be able to download the most current version of Aperture to your Yosemite machine and it may still function if it has the patches for Yosemite included.

UtahBob Loc: Southern NJ

I think you are correct in that if I paid and loaded the Aperture 3 upgrade to my Aperture 2, it would work. I made the move from Snow Leopard to Yosemite after the Aperture announcement and I was already vested somewhat in LR so it just made sense to place all effort into LR from that point forward.

When I first installed Aperture 2 in late 2009 it was my intention to consolidate all my photo files but I just ended up using the program to hold business photos and some personal photos but not the massive trip files and pano source files. I would only rotate and crop some of the business photos and there were very, very few photos with any pie adjustments even on the personal side. Given that, in prep for the migration to LR and the Yosemite OS, I did a lot of culling and such and just did an export of originals to a folder structure (rather than digging into the Aperture package file).

It is a shame I never utilized the true power of Aperture but in the end, given what Apple has decided, I might have lucked out. I'm pretty happy with LR ... but my hardware from a seven year old machine is not really up to the task.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

I hear you... I liked Aperture 3 myself and had a good size managed library.... then Apple dropped the bomb - I downloaded a trial of Lightroom and after a few days playing with it signed up for the CC photographer's package and migrated all my images manually....meaning raw's and exported JPG's - luckily I was not doing all that much post processing at the time and had just recently switched to shooting raws, so 80-90% were jpg.

It was a bit of work, but after a few hundred images it went faster... :)

NOW there are a couple tools to help ;)

cmoroney Loc: Pasadena, California

I use Aperture on my Mac running Yosemite (I needed to upgrade my version of Aperture using the App Store first) and it still runs fine.

I also second the use of ApertureExporter to migrate into Lightroom. I can see all the changes that I made in Aperture (although I only get the final version as a tiff or jpeg, not the history), and ApertureExporter dumps each album or smart album into a separate folder that I then import into Lightroom.

I'm slowly (very very very slowly) dumping all my Aperture albums into Lightroom. I wish I'd been using Lightroom from the very beginning as I find it
far superior to Aperture, though I may just have not learned Aperture all that well. But I am SO glad that ApertureExporter exists!

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Agree, I also find Lightroom much better, and think the raw converter (ACR) is slightly better than the Apple raw converter built into the OS.