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(More customer reviews)Before I start the review I need to add a few caveats. The first is I have not really used Adobe Lightroom so I will not be comparing Aperture 3 to Lightroom. (Lightroom is the biggest competitor to Aperture and from what I have read owns the majority of the market). I have tried Lightroom 3 and I could not get past the restrictive module system and the small editing space. I thought I was going to have to slog through learning how to used Lightroom 3 when Apple surprised and delighted me by releasing Aperture 3. Also, I haven't really used iPhoto that much since I got Aperture 2. So I will only be making passing remarks about those programs. The other caveat is that this is a massive program with massive upgrades and there is no way I can cover everything so I will be covering how this program handles my workflow.
Bottom Line Up Front: Aperture 3 is an amazing Photographic Workflow System that fits all of my professional and personal needs. Apple has implemented so many amazing features into this program that it is an absolute must upgrade from Aperture 2. For anyone interested in taking their photography up from the casual (iPhoto) to enthusiast level, Aperture 3 is a great tool to help you accomplish that. For anyone using Lightroom who hates being restricted by what module you are in, Aperture 3 offers amazing new professional features especially concerning showcasing your work. (Still+Video slideshoes, GraphiSutdio, Queensberry, Leather Craftsmen, and Couture Books are just some of the outstanding new features.)
One thing you need to know up front is that Aperture 3 has some stability issues. I have been using Aperture 3 for about 16 hours and have had about 8 crashes. One thing to note is that because of how Aperture works you do not lose any work. You just need to restart the program. I am sure we will be seeing a patch released relatively quickly. Aperture 2 was always the crashiest program I own (most Apple programs never crash but Aperture 2 crashed about 1 time every 8 hours). Unfortunately it looks right now that Aperture 3 will continue that tradition. I will say that Aperture 3 plays a lot better with Snow Leopard than Aperture 2 did. For me these crashes are irritating and I hope they get worked out. However, this is still a truly amazing upgrade over Aperture 2.
My basic digital workflow is to Organize, Edit and Showcase so this is how I will structure the review.
Organize
For Aperture 3, apple has added 2 new ways to organize you photos; Faces and Places. I have read some people disregarding these features as amateurish (You can switch them off if you don't want to use them. Also, faces slows Aperture down right after import as it scans for faces). I, for one, use Aperture 3 for professional and personal purposes. So even if these features were not professionally useful, I still like them (I do find them useful professionally also). These features are nice for allowing photos to stay together in the group in which they were shot. I used to have to pull photos out, especially of people, to relocate to another folder or project. Or I would have to add the person's name as a key word. Either way it was tedious and often required a compromise. Now I can leave all of the photos from a shoot in one location and find a person. Or I don't have to remember when I was shooting at a particular location. I can go to the map and find the photos that way. I think this is awesome from an organizational standpoint. A note on the faces feature. It does a fantastic job finding even the blurriest or off angle faces in a photo. However, it is not as good at recognizing people as I think it should be as it asked me to name some in-focus straight-on shots of people I had already named. This is still a great feature just don't expect miracles.
Aperture 2 used to really bog down once your library got over 10,000 photos. For this reason, I started creating a new library every quarter of the year. I don't know if Aperture 3 has fixed this 10,000 photo slowdown but what they have done is make Library management much better. First off you can change libraries on the fly without having to restart the program. You can also merge and export libraries from inside the program. This library management was one of the biggest things on my Aperture 3 wish list. Aperture 3 is a native 64 bit program so on the newer machines with Snow Leopard I am sure the limit will be higher than 10,000. However, because of Aperture's free-form design and differences between hard drive memory and the relatively small physical memory your computer has there will still be a point where large Aperture libraries will bog your computer down.
The final thing I will talk about concerning Organize are color labels, flags and a new sort option; sort by Orientation. I was just about to go through and hand sort by orientation so this feature will save me a ton of time. You can flag a photo by clicking the top right of the photo. You assign color labels by hitting the option key and 0-7 or by right clicking and selecting the color. The flag and color labels give you more options to quickly organize your photos. As an example, I used to sort my photos according to people, scenic nature, and abstract. Now I can leave the photos in their imported projects and just assign purple to people, green to nature, and yellow to abstract. Then I can make a smart album that sorts for green or yellow, etc. Sweet. Many times I have transition photos as I am processing the photos. Those photos can get in the way. Now I can flag them. Also, externally edited photos return to Aperture as TIFFs. These files get huge (try 60 MB per photo--ouch). Unfortunately, Aperture does not have a file type converter so after I get finished with the TIFFs I export them out as JPEGs and then import them back in as JPEGs. Then I delete the TIFFs. A laborious process but the flags can be used to help me keep track of the TIFF photos so when I get to the export process I can easily find them.
Edit
There have been many many upgrades to the photo editing abilities of Aperture 3. The two major categories are Presets and Adjustments. The Presets are quick fixes, color, white balance, Black and White, and adjustments. You even have the option to create your own presets. These Presets allow you to make quick adjustments without having to fiddle with the sliders. For example if the white balance is not quite right on your photo and you know you shot in tungsten light then just pick that preset and it adjusts the white balance for you. From what I have seen so far this even works well on JPEGs. You can do similar things with exposure and other parameters.
The Adjustments section has far too much to cover here in this already lengthy review. However, the quick brushes are a powerful new feature that I will try to cover. One example of these brushes is Dodge. This used to be a plug-in in Aperture 2 now it is in the program (If you are used to this from Aperture, all of the brushes work in the same way). The reason this is significant is that all of the in Aperture edits are non-destructive. That means you can always go back to where you started. All plug-in changes, one, create a new copy and permanently change that copy and, two, are TIFFs which take up a tremendous amount of space. All of the quick brushes allow you to resize the brush, change the amount of fall off around the edges, and strength of the brush. Additionally, all of the brushes have an overlay to show you where you have applied the change. Some of the other brushes included are dodge, burn, saturate, reduce noise, sharpen, etc. This is an incredibly powerful editing tool that allows you to non-destructively enhance your photos in some dramatic ways.
I had quite a few plug-ins with Aperture 2. The good news is that they work with Aperture 3. The bad news is they are 32 bit while Aperture 3 is 64 bit. The way Aperture 3 handles this is to close and then reboot into a 32 bit mode. Slightly annoying but I am glad my plug-ins still work.
My favorite plug-ins for Aperture are the Nik Effects programs. Even the new Aperture 3 editing tools do not render those plug-ins obsolete. However, I like to layer 3 to 4 filters over a photo. Since Aperture exports the photo out to the plug-in I can only layer 1 at a time and that means more transition photographs. Aperture needs to allow plug-ins to work inside of Aperture for non-destructive edits.
Finally, Aperture needs and in-program file type converter. The export/import routine is crazy and it is made worse by the fact that you lose rating, key words, etc.
Showcase
This is another area where Aperture 3 has really made amazing improvements. When I first got Aperture 2, I had a book printed and to me it wasn't even acceptable for home use, let alone professional use. Well that has changed with Aperture 3. You can download plug-ins from GraphiSutdio, Queensberry, Leather Craftsmen, and Couture Books.(Note you need to be a partner photographer or verified business to get the Queensberry or Leather Craftsmen plug-ins). Take a look at these books and you will be astounded by the quality. (For home users, the price will probably astound you but now you can see why wedding albums cost so much.)
Aperture 3 has also added a slide show function. What is cool about this feature is the ability to use both still and video in the slide show. Many believe this hybrid style is the future of publishing. With cheap electronic paper only a short way off, the day of stills only is coming to a close. Overall, the slide show creator is very good but falls short in a few areas. The first is the limited number of...Read more›
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Aperture 3 combines powerful performance with iPhoto simplicity to help you refine images, showcase your photography, and manage massive libraries on your Mac. With more than 200 new features and enhancements, it can help you take your photography to the next level. Now you can perfect your images with brushes. Apply adjustment presets to instantly create a custom look. And when you import your pictures from iPhoto, all name and location data is preserved.
Taking photos. Further.
Organize photos by faces and places.
Aperture 3 advances the Faces and Places technology in iPhoto. It features new ways to organize your photos by the people in them and more robust GPS tools for mapping images.
Now you can group your photos by the people in them. Even within individual projects.
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