When you export slideshows from Aperture, you may find that images are not always as sharp as you expect. Here are some tips to maximize image quality in your exported slideshows.
Aperture uses JPEG previews of your images to create slideshows. You can control the size and quality of these previews in the Aperture preferences. The default settings for image previews strike a balance between hard disk space required to store the previews and image quality.
Here's how to increase the pixel size and quality of your Aperture previews:
- Choose Aperture > Preferences from the menu bar at the top of your screen.
- Click the Previews icon along the top of the Preferences window.
- Set the Photo Preview drop-down menu appropriately; if your images have a resolution of 8 MP or less, "Don't Limit" is a good choice. With this setting, Aperture will create previews that are the same pixel size as their associated master images and will give good resolution for any slideshow. If your images are very high resolution (above 8 MP), then you may want to limit the Photo Preview size somewhat to save disk space. If you plan to export slideshows, consider the frame size you plan to use. For example, if you export for HD 720p, the frame size is 1152 x 720, and a Photo Preview size of "Fit within 1280 x 1280" will be fine. If you plan to export for HD 1080p, then "Fit within 1920 x 1920" would be a more appropriate setting. If you plan to display slideshows directly on your computer display, consider the computer display resolution when setting the Photo Preview size.
- Drag the Photo Preview quality slider to the right. At higher settings, Aperture uses less data compression to generate the JPEG previews. This results in higher quality, but does require more disk storage space. Setting the Preview quality slider to values above 10 is not generally recommended. Higher settings dramatically increase file sizes with a minimal improvement in discernible image quality.
Important: After you change the Preview preferences, Aperture will use your new settings to generate previews for subsequent images you import. To regenerate previews with the new settings for existing images:
- Highlight the images in the Aperture browser.
- Control-click or right-click one of the highlighted images.
- Choose Update Previews from the shortcut menu that appears.
You can experiment with various Photo Preview sizes and Photo Preview quality settings to find the right balance of slideshow quality and disk storage requirement for your needs.