Last week Apple launched rather quietly the latest version of their photo catalog and editing software, Aperture 3. I never gave Aperture a second look, as I’ve been a Lightroom user since version 1. When Apple came out with their second version of Aperture, I decided to give the trial version a run and see if they had finally managed to catch up to Adobe. Unfortunately, the software left much to be desired in the features department, specially when compared to the adjustment brushes, presets, web galleries and print module available in LR2.
Well, Apple definitely got it right this time around with version 3. There’s nothing left to be desired, as in years past. In my own humble opinion, Aperture has finally caught up and in some instances surpassed LR. I must admit, I haven’t even bothered downloading LR 3 Beta, as some of the features displayed in tutorials and training sites, are pretty much an improvement over previous existing features. Aperture on the other hand took quantum leaps over its previous version, and that’s what got me intrigued enough to download the trial version once more.
I’m not going to go in-depth about all the features available in the program. For that, you can watch detailed videos at the Apple page by clicking HERE. In the meantime, here’s my list of reasons why I’m seriously considering switching to Aperture 3:
1. Presets baby!! That’s right, now you can finally create and export presets, as well as import them from other users. Something that Aperture users had been wanting for some time.
Toronto Portrait Photography - Aperture 3 with Presets Interface
2. A very usable Curves tool. Unlike the clunky curve tool in LR, the one in Aperture feels just as if you were working in Photoshop.
3. Built in Photobook layouts. Actually, now you can choose from templates from four (4) different high-end album companies. All you need to do is download their respective plugins. This is quite a big deal for wedding and portrait photographers who don’t want to spend a whole lot of time tweaking album layouts in Adobe InDesign.
Toronto Portrait Photography - Aperture 3 Photo Album Interface
4. Truly advanced multimedia slideshows. This is really the icing on the cake, as you can put together an entire slideshow, even with multi-layered audio tracks and HD video without ever leaving Aperture. My work around up until now had been to export my images from LR2 to a folder and then run them through iMovie.
Toronto Portrait Photography - Aperture 3 The Slideshow Interface
5. All of my Nik Software’s Complete Collection plugins for Lightroom also came with an Aperture version, and they all work the same way.
I must point out though that the software came with some bugs, and quite a few people have reported memory leaks, as well as extremely long periods of time to migrate their libraries from version 2. My trial copy crashed quite a few times in the first 24 hours of use, but then I picked up a tip from a user in the Aperture support forums, who recommended to turn off the Faces feature. Well, that did it for me and haven’t had a crash since. I believe these are issues that will be fixed with subsequent patches from Apple. For a more in-depth report on the new features, you can read Sara France’s article on the release of Aperture 3 by clicking HERE.
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