What a nice birthday present! Apple today just released a new version of their excellent photo management software, Aperture 3. I have Aperture 2 and I love it. I don’t think there’s a better photo management software program available today that can be used to organize and make minor (non-destructive) adjustments to the thousands of photos that people take every day. And the few minor gripes I had about the features that were missing from Aperture 2 have been included in version 3. Although the new faces and places features similar to iPhoto are welcome and needed additions, the following features are what I thought were missing from Aperture 2 but are now available. For $99 to upgrade I think Aperture 3 is Worth The Dough! And if you don’t have it at all, I also think buying the full Aperture 3 for $199 is WTD also.
Make nondestructive image enhancements to specific areas of any photo using new adjustment brushes. Use brush strokes to modify — brush in or brush away — most of the standard image adjustments available in the Adjustments inspector. You can control the size, softness, and strength of each brush with intuitive sliders.
Use the new Curves tool to adjust exposure and tweak color. Curve adjustments can be applied to luminance, RGB, or individual color channels. You can set the black, white, and midtone points, as well as place custom points along the curve using a target tool. All Curves adjustments can be brushed in or brushed away as needed to achieve desired results.
If you use a combination of adjustments frequently, save it as a preset. Then apply the preset to individual images or a batch of images. Aperture 3 includes dozens of ready-to-use presets, and you can easily create your own and export them for use by others.
Import, browse, and play back video clips — including HD video — from digital SLR cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, and digital camcorders.
Hover over the Focus Points button in the Camera Info pane to see the focus points used by your camera to autofocus the image. You can also click the button to turn the display of focus points on or off.
Apply up to eight different color-coded labels to images to organize and group them. Add a custom name for each color label in Aperture preferences. Simple keyboard shortcuts allow you to apply labels using the keyboard.
Now Aperture can automatically apply graphic watermarks not only when exporting images, but when printing as well.
When using the Batch Change feature to rename photos, you now have the option of applying the name change to the master image files on disk.
Source: Apple’s Aperture site.
