[Ninety9]

you can decide at import where you want your photos stored. use the drop down and it should have library, folder… if you include the photos in the library then everything is all neatly stored away and aperture is managing your photos.

if you would prefer to manage your own files you can have aperture either move or copy the photos to a designated folder, these are then called referenced files. referenced files being stored somewhere else and not in the library will save you size on the library. to save more space in your library you can reduce the size of the previews (which will always be stored in the library). keep in mind that if your referenced photos are on an external drive and that drive is not connected, you can still see the photo (because you are looking at the preview) and you can keyword and stuff like that but you can not make adjustments to the photo (not even crop).

an easy workflow that i have heard a lot of people using is to import the photos from the card to aperture -photos saved to library-. when home or connected to external drive back them up with the vault. you can export the project (save that too for the paranoid) to say your main machine. back on the laptop you can “relocate masters” to someplace else and free up some space. you can still show clients images because you still have the previews.