Apple Releases Aperture 2
Apple today introduced Aperture 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software. Featuring an improved interface, faster browsing, and enhanced image processing, Aperture 2 delivers more than 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use, and more powerful than ever. Thanks to its new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit, and publish photos like a pro. Owners of previous versions of the software can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99.
Aperture 2 includes an all-in-one inspector that consolidates the Project, Metadata, and Adjustments panes and lets you switch between them simply by typing W. Another convenience, the simplified Viewer and Browser setup lets you maximize screen real estate for your images.
Quickly locate images in the innovative All Projects view with project skimming (à la iPhoto Events). In fact, you can access your entire iPhoto library, directly within Aperture 2, to import selected events, albums, or individual photos using the iPhoto Browser. Choose Show iPhoto Browser from the File menu to reveal the browser.
Thanks to an optimized database and a streamlined, more responsive user interface, Aperture 2 provides dramatically improved performance throughout your workflow. The new Quick Preview mode, for example, provides rapid-fire photo browsing, letting you quickly compare, rate, and make image selections. You can create custom keyboard shortcuts to speed up your work. Or use the significantly improved search tools to conduct fast, pinpoint searches with extended search logic. Aperture also offers enhanced performance when making processor-intensive adjustments, such as Noise Reduction and Highlight and Shadows.
Leveraging the next-generation RAW image processing in Mac OS X Leopard, Aperture 2 delivers images of astounding quality, offering superb color fidelity, increased shadow detail, reduced noise, and advanced highlight recovery. Realize the very best results from every image by applying new RAW Fine Tuning controls, adjusting RAW rendering on an image-by-image basis.
To improve and enhance photographs, use the new Recovery tool to pull back “blown” highlights. With the Vibrancy tool, you can selectively boost saturation without adversely affecting skin tones. Or pick up the soft-edged Retouch brush to quickly and easily remove blemishes, clean up sensor dust, or clone out unwanted elements. Aperture provides RAW support for the leading digital cameras. It also supports DNGs made from the RAW files of most digital cameras.
Thanks to seamless integration with other Mac software, services, and Mac OS X, Aperture 2 saves you time and effort by reaching out to almost every application on your Mac. With a .Mac account, you can take advantage of new support for .Mac Web Gallery to create beautiful online portfolios — even allowing clients, colleagues, or friends to download JPEG or RAW originals complete with embedded metadata while you’re in the field.
Aperture also lets you sync your Aperture library to an iPhone or iPod. Or enjoy your photos on a widescreen TV in glorious high definition using Apple TV. Tight integration with iLife ’08 and iWork ’08 means you can bring your photos to life in exciting ways: creating audio slideshows in iMovie, animated presentations in Keynote, or impressive digital portfolios in iDVD. In iLife, iWork, and applications such as Leopard Mail, you’ll find a media or photo browser that lets you browse the projects, albums, and Smart Albums in your Aperture library for images you’d like to use.
