Versioning

Remember that the original RAW image has not been altered. Rather, a reference filecalled a version of the digital master filehas been created with the adjustment information (refer to the section "Master Image vs. Versions" in Lesson 1 for a more complete explanation). It's important to understand that the original digital image is never modified in Aperture. Whenever you modify an image, the changes are stored in a version of the master file. Versions tell Aperture how to build and apply adjustments to an image. They contain all the instructions Aperture needs to transform a master file when displaying the versions onscreen, printing them, or exporting them, but they are not copies of the master file, and therefore have relatively small file sizes.

Since you can create as many versions of your images as you like without using valuable storage, you can experiment with unprecedented freedom.

You can create new versions in two ways: You can duplicate the changes and create a version that includes your previous adjustments, or you can create a version without adjustments. Let's experiment by creating some versions of our sample image.

1.

Select Tibet 05 096 in the Browser and choose Images > Duplicate Version. A new version of the image is created that maintains the adjustments you have already made. This is useful if you like your adjustments so far, but you want to experiment by pushing them a little further. You will also notice that as soon as you create another version, it is labeled Version 2 and added to the stack. You can also create a new version based upon the original master image.

2.

Click to select the first image in the stack. Choose Images > New Version from Master. A new version of the image is created without any of the adjustments. Here you can start from scratch, making adjustments and experimenting in a completely different direction.