Rating Images

When you stack images, you automatically get a simple, default sort of rating in the form of the pick. With a stack, you know that the first image is the best image in the stack. But Aperture's rating capabilities go far beyond simple stack picks.

Aperture allows you to assign a rating of one to five stars to any image. In addition, you can assign a Reject rating or no rating at all. Image ratings are searchable, so you can quickly filter out only the best, five-star images in a project, album, or any other Aperture construct, including the entire library.

There are several ways to apply a rating to the current selection of images:

• Select a rating from the Metadata menu (Figure 4.41).
  
  

  Figure 4.41. You can assign a rating to an image by selecting the rating from the Metadata menu.

  

  
  
• Use a rating keyboard shortcut. Command-Option 1 through 5 will apply a rating of 1 to 5, while Command-Option-0 will delete an existing rating. You can assign a Reject rating by pressing X.
  
  
• You can increase or decrease an existing rating by one star by pressing + or - or by choosing Metadata > Increase Rating or Metadata > Decrease Rating. If the current selection has no rating, increasing will add one.
  
  
• If you prefer rating with the mouse, you can use the rating buttons on the control bar, to the left of the keyword buttons.
  
  
• To quickly add a rating of five stars, press the \ key.
  
  

No matter which control you use, every selected image will receive the rating (or change of rating).

Note, too, that lifting and stamping (or the keyboard equivalents) copies ratings along with all of the other image metadata.