Putting a name to a face
The newest version of Aperture would like to make your acquaintance. No, really. Aperture 3 has a new feature that allows it get to know you, or at least to recognize your face, and put your name to it. It starts off by analyzing your photos and finding all the faces in them. But not only does it detect that there is a face in a photo, it "looks at" the face, or faces in a photo, and finds the same person in multiple photos. Then, you can add a person's name to their picture, so that you can easily search for "Christine" and see all the photos in your library featuring Christine, even if she's one of many faces in a group shot. And just like in real life, the more time you spend using the face recognition features in Aperture, the more it "gets to know people" and so it improves in its recognition as you use it more. The pleasure is all Aperture's.
"Yeah, I went there."
It wasn't so long ago that GPS receivers were erratic pieces of equipment found only in very expensive, underwhelming personal locators. But these days, GPS is used in everything from integrated car navigation systems to cell phones to laptops even to cameras, and the technology has improved a lot. If you've got a GPS enabled-camera, Aperture 3 lets you take full advantage of the embedded location data so that you can easily organize and sort your photos by where they were taken. But as far as it's come, GPS still isn't perfect. So, if your camera puts the location of a picture across the street from where it was taken, Aperture lets you adjust the location of your shots with an easy-to-use map interface. This same interface lets you take advantage of the location capabilities of Aperture even if your camera doesn't have a built-in GPS receiver. That way, not only can you tell your friends, "Yeah, I went there," next time you're talking trash — you can SHOW them.
Get past Picasso
When making adjustments to photos, most programs require a touch more delicate than that required to paint a picture in real life — and take considerably more time. More often than not, what started as a photo in need of a little polish comes out looking like a Picasso masterpiece. Unless Impressionism is your preferred style of photography, this can put a serious damper on your artistic endeavors. But put your fears aside; Aperture puts you back in charge of your pictures. It provides you with very particular brush control to power your edits, so you get precisely the effect you had envisioned. Helping push your photo-editing past the Picasso phase is the Detect Edges option. When Detect Edges is enabled, Aperture "sees" the edges in your pictures, so you paint effects exactly where you want them, without going "outside the lines". And since there are plenty of pre-included effects for everything from smoothing skin to blurring the background of a photo, making adjustments to your photos has never been quicker or easier. Realism, anyone?
Setting the mood
Photography, like any art form, has the power to evoke strong emotions from the viewer. But even the most seasoned professional doesn't always get the shot perfect in the field. If one setting is a tad off, the whole shot can be ruined. But, if you've got Aperture 3, a small mistake by no means dooms your picture to the digital landfill! Aperture features loads of adjustment presets to tweak your photo's look so you can draw exactly the feelings you choose from your viewers. You may even realize that the "perfect" shots from the field can benefit from a slight modification. Of course, the adjustments aren't just for touch-ups. You can use the one-touch adjustments to add whole new effects to your shot, like black-and-white! Or, for shots that perfectly match your vision, you can create (and save) custom adjustments, then apply them to other photos or projects. And adjustments are easy to use, whether you're using the one-click fixes or making your own adjustments to presets. As you browse your adjustment options, you can instantly see a preview of the effect on your image in a separate window. And, if you apply an adjustment and decide later that it wasn't the effect you were going for, all adjustments are non-destructive, so you can easily go back to the photo before the adjustment was applied. Once you've used adjustments and brushes to perfect you're shot, you're ready to elicit smiles, tears, or any other emotional display you'd like from your fans.
The big picture
In the last several years, Apple has turned their computer display panels from capable components into beautiful cinematic screens. And now, Aperture 3 lets you take full advantage of the splendor of a Mac screen. With the latest version of Aperture, you can browse through your entire library in the full-screen browser without leaving full-screen view. You can view your full-screen pictures at zoom levels from 25 to 1000 percent, or even browse your video clips full-screen. While viewing your photos full-screen, the Vanishing HUD feature lets you temporarily hide the Adjustments inspector so you can view only the control you're using, and your picture. Viewing your photos on the full splendor of your Apple display is nothing short of glorious.
The electric slide show
Let's pretend you're at a wedding, taking pictures to make a commemorative gift for the newlyweds. You get some great shots of the couple, the crowd, the church. Then you go to the reception. The electric slide breaks out on the dance floor, with people rushing to join. This is too good to miss. So, you switch your camera to its HD video mode and start recording the spontaneous dancing. Now, assuming Ric Silver doesn't sue you for capturing the electric slide on camera, this would make a great addition to your present. But . . . this is 2010, not 2020; embedding video into a scrapbook is not exactly practical. Before you scrap the footage, listen up. Aperture 3 makes it easier than ever to create stunning slideshows. Not only can you use the wonderful, optimized wedding photos in your Aperture library, you can include that HD video from the reception, and even keep it, and other video clips in your Aperture library. To complete the slideshow, you can include audio from your footage, music, voiceovers, and more. Your audio can even be layered so you can hear the happy pair exchange vow while your favorite tear-jerking melody from iTunes plays softly in the background. To really take your gift to the next level, you can add titles, themes, borders, and more. And Aperture 3 makes it easier than ever to create that unique slideshow with great controls. Once you start creating slideshows in Aperture, your scrapbook paper will be doomed to dust-collecting. Of course, you could still use Aperture's tools to help you build and publish a beautiful photo book, but once you see how much fun it is to use Aperture 3 to build beautiful multi-media slideshows, you'll have a hard time switching back.
The cake itself
The features we mentioned above are just the new features in Aperture, the icing on a very scrumptious cake. Aperture was already a very powerful, easy-to-use tool for organizing, touching up, altering, and sharing photos. Quite simply, it's the best way to handle photos on a Mac. And now, with Aperture 3, it's better than ever.
Make the move
There are plenty of reasons to make the move from iPhoto to Aperture. iPhoto is a great program with some pretty cool tools. Well, Aperture does everything that iPhoto does, plus a lot more. And Apple makes it easy to make the move to their premium photo management software. You can easily import your iPhoto library, complete with all the work you've already done in iPhoto. Don't delay — make the switch today.
