Aperture 3 Review

Apple introduced its Aperture software as a way for professionals to import and organize their photos, along with performing touch-ups, processing RAW images and more. Now, Aperture 3.1 is out, adding over 200 new features including more powerful photo editing software tools, better organizing tools, faster performance via 64-bit support and much more. This software is a must for professionals, and casual users should to take a look, too, especially with new features from the latest iPhoto photo editing software.

Ease of Use

We want to emphasize how much easier it is to use the newest version of Aperture. There are many new and more extensive features, which we discuss below, but it’s just easier to navigate the user interface than the previous version. There are also plenty of useful tutorials available on Apple’s website, both video and text.

It also runs a lot faster than previous versions, thanks to some “under-the-hood” improvements, including 64-bit support. If you’re running Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), you’ll be ready for much faster imports, browsing and editing than before. Apple’s Aperture 3.1 is only available for Mac computers.

New Features

Some of the new features in Aperture 3.1 were inspired by what iPhoto had to offer, such as Faces (face detection/recognition), Places (using GPS information to map out where a photo was taken), easy publishing to the web (Facebook, Flickr and MobileMe) and improved slideshows.

Other new features include an improved user interface, the ability to create beautiful photo books, more printing options, search and metadata improvements, a better image organizational system and an enhanced, simplified import tool.

Toolset in Depth

Aperture is used by Mac photo professionals and prosumers who need to import, process from the RAW format (also known as a digital negative, that needs to be readied for editing and printing). Users can perform non-destructive editing, similar to features found in photo editing software.

Aperture’s other strength is the ability to organize and manage their large number of pictures from a photo shoot, sometimes in the hundreds or thousands, plus the ability to put photos into specific albums and to sync libraries. Most other photo editing software apps don’t have this level of management.

Once photos are selected for import, there are many options, such as applying an image preset to the images, performing a backup of the images, importing RAW+JPEG images and adjusting images on the fly.

A new feature on this version is the Full-Screen Projects View that lets you browse through photos and libraries, making it easier to sort through them and perform edits. We were able to zoom into a photo at a jaw-dropping 1000 percent to see all the details and make pinpoint edits.

Users can take advantage of two key features in Aperture 3.1 that were originally found in newer versions of iPhoto photo editing software in the Faces and Places feature. The Faces feature will find and recognize people in photos and allow you to sort and search your pictures by who's in them. It can also detect unknown faces and prompt you to identify new people.

The Places feature uses data from photos taken on cameras that have GPS capabilities, allowing users to organize and label photos from where they were shot. For example, it’s easier to manage photos from your trip to Yellowstone National Park when you can pinpoint the specific landmarks where pictures were taken. This is a popular feature found in other photo editing software, and we’re pleased to see it in Aperture 3.1.

The non-destructive image editing tools have been enhanced, giving Aperture a more rounded editing experience than previous editions. Brushes are new to the software, allowing precise adjustments or effects to be “painted in” on specific areas of the photo. Non-destructive editing is defined as any sort of edits performed on a photo, and the image quality isn’t affected, nor is the original photo.

There are also a good number of modifiable image presets available that let you quickly add unique effects. Plus, users can save the presets they’ve tweaked to their liking.

With the rise of HDSLRs (pro-grade DSLR cameras that shoot HD video) and HD point-and-shoot cameras, there needs to be an easy way to view the footage. Aperture 3.1 will import video and allow users to organize and play the video clips back. It also works with video from a video camera, not just still cameras that take HD video.

Sharing

Once you’ve imported images, organized them and performed edits, you'll want to share your work. The new Aperture 3.1 has plenty of options for sharing your projects. The slideshow is much more advanced than previous versions, allowing you to mix images, video, sound, music and more to create a really cool multimedia experience. Then you can export it as a movie to share online.

You can create photo books based on Aperture themes, then order a beautiful book of your photos, either through Apple or a third-party service. This is another feature found in iPhoto photo editing software. If you need to do prints, Aperture has many presets to allow specific types of prints, metadata, watermarks and more.

Of course, it’s also easy to upload to Facebook or Flickr, two of the most popular websites to upload photos from photo editing software. Users can always create a gallery on MobileMe. Use iWeb (part of Apple’s iLife) to create a really nice photo website to share on MobileMe.

Summary

Apple’s Aperture 3.1 is more well-rounded with features than previous versions, allowing users to stay in the app instead of moving images over to another app for editing and sharing. Apple took strategic features from newer versions of iPhoto photo editing software to strengthen Aperture further. It’s also faster, thanks to 64-bit processing.

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