Aperture by Apple

[EVPohovich]

Aperture

Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing, Rob Schoeben, next took the stage to talk about some of the challenges now facing digital photographers: Culling through media cards, retouching images, delivering on tight deadlines.

“Post production is a seamless extension of the creative process, not an afterthought,” said Schoeben.

Schoeben explained that photographers lack a solution like Final Cut Pro. Enter Aperture, Apple’s “first all in one post production tool for photographers.”

Built specifically for pro photographers, Aperture features and end-to-end RAW workflow, and makes RAW as easy to work with as JPEG, according to Schoeben.

A feature called Stacks lets photographers group sequences of shots together based on the time between shutter clicks. The software features a full-screen workspace and a completely editable environment that can span multi-image displays.

A multi-image viewer lets you check images side-by side, up to 10 or 12 on a side, at magnifications up to 800 percent.

Aperture also sports essential tools like red-eye reduction, cropping, straightening and more, and features a non-destructive workflow and versioning capabilities.

Aperture users can quickly create and print comp layouts, and can customize proof sheets and contact sheets. You can also order prints online and publish online or to .Mac.

Thoughts, comments, discussion here.

Apple Store Link

[WannaBe_80z]

Some said Photoshop killer. I say Photoshop cousin, they will work together nicely. But it is no PS replacement.

So anyone want to get me a quad core with 16 gigs of ram so I can run the whole video suite and all these nice little additions they keep pumping out

[clicky2]

I agree. I use photoshop to create as well ... doesn't look like something you can do easily in Aperture.

[aversion]

unless it's a lot cheaper than PS who would switch? If you're just taking snaps something like picasia is better, if you're taking it seriously it has to be PS. This falls somewhere in the middle where people buy something because apple produced it.

[clicky2]

I don't know ... if I only used PS for editing photos this might be a better option for me (seeing as I do use a PowerBook that it can run on). It's a couple hundred less ($499 usd), and seems to support more advanced, non-distructive editing of RAW files. Looks like it's geared more towards the photographer than the designer ... I'd say Photoshop is just the opposite ... or at worse does a good job of straddling the fence.

[aversion]

RAW editing is always non-destructive, everything in their promo text applies to every RAW editor not just aperture, though that's what they imply. And I don't really see that aperture has that much more going on than CS2's converter, or something like the free RAW app from pixmantec. There is certainly far less powerful photo-editing tools in aperture than in photoshop.

This is their own feature list:
* Fine-tune exposure
* Adjust levels (using a histogram with midtone and quadtone controls; includes Auto levels and Auto contrast settings)
* Set White Balance (includes an eyedropper for easy white point setting)
* Crop
* Modify highlights and shadow
* Mix RGB channels for perfect black-and-white conversions
* Reduce noise
* Correct red-eye
* Sharpen images (using Unsharp Mask or Sharpen Luminance tools)
* Straighten images and horizons
* Desaturate color levels
* Change a color image to Sepia (with controls to set the degree of Sepia coloration)

You can do all that in PS CS2's RAW editor and more in pixmantec's RawShooter. The only thing they have in the RAW editor is a clone tool, which PS has in the pixel editor. There are no layers in aperture, there's no selective editing, it's really just for people that want to make basic changes to their snaps. It would suit people who might otherwise use something like iphoto or picasia to edit images, or photojournalists who aren't allowed to change the essential nature of their images and just want to convert their files straight and manage them.

There are a couple of basic tasks I don't see addressed here, such as reduction of purple/blue fringing. That's a standard feature of every RAW editor, so I hope aperture has it somewhere.

What really puts me off is that it lacks selective editing that compliments what developers do in a darkroom, such as dodging and burning. Personally, I'd rather not use an editor for my digital files that restricts my options more than those available in a darkroom.

What aperture does have is better management features, and that's where it selling point should be. It seems to me to be a pretty bog standard RAW editor with a great work flow.

[EVPohovich]

Short lived I see.

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0604aperture.html

April 27, 2006 - Apple recently asked the engineering team behind its Aperture photo editing and management software to leave, Think Secret has learned. The move, which resulted in the departure of several engineers while others were transferred to different projects inside Apple, raises questions about the future of Aperture, Apple's most heavily criticized and bug-ridden pro software release in recent years.

[robbmcaulay]

I was gonna wait for a UB bersion to try it out aswell! It's a shame because it seemed like a damn good program...

I think it's halved in price aswell, it's only 299USD now

[asheep_uk]

It's a pro version of iPhoto, which is a brilliant application for organisation and management. I'd say put all the good things about Aperture (bar the really professional stuff) into the next version of iPhoto and forget all about it.

[EVPohovich]

I think that report might have been a little premature...

http://blakeseely.com/blog/archives/2006/04/27/change/