Aperture (software)

For other uses, see Aperture (disambiguation).

Aperture

Aperture 3, demonstrating preset tool in full screen mode
Developer(s)	Apple Inc.
Stable release	3.2.1 / October 27, 2011 (2011-10-27)
Operating system	Mac OS X
Type	Photo post-production
License	Proprietary
Website	Apple Aperture Homepage

Aperture is a photo editing and management software program that was developed by Apple for the Mac OS X operating system, first released in 2005 for $499 (all prices are in USD), dropped to $199, and now released on their App Store for $79. The software handles a number of tasks common in post-production work such as importing and organizing image files, applying corrective adjustments, displaying slideshows, and printing photographs.

Features of Aperture include non-destructive editing, organization of photographs by keyword, faces (using face detection and recognition), and places (using GPS metadata embedded in image files), brushes for applying effects (such as dodge and burn, skin smoothing, and polarization), and exporting to several popular websites, including Flickr, Facebook, SmugMug, and Apple's MobileMe service.

Aperture 3, the latest version of the software, was released on February 9, 2010 and runs on Intel-based Mac computers. On January 6, 2011, Apple announced its availability on the new Mac App Store.

Features

• Complete Raw image format support from import to export.
• Supports tethered shooting from Nikon and Canon DSLRs.
• Master image files (RAW or otherwise) may be kept in place on import or migrated into the Aperture library.
• RAW Fine Tune, allowing version of RAW decode to be managed over time and conversion parameters adjusted.
• Many image adjustment tools including specific color retouching, a luminance based edge sharpener, and spot repair.
• Lens correction tools, such as chromatic aberration.
• Project management, with extensive metadata and searching support.
• Autostacking, a way to group photos based on the time between shutter clicks.
• Stacks (for grouping photos) and Versions (for making multiple working copies of the same image).
• Multiple display spanning.
• Loupe, allowing viewing of images at zooms from 50% to 1600%.
• Light Table, a type of freeform workspace.
• Native support of the Adobe Photoshop PSD, PNG, JPEG and TIFF formats.
• Nondestructive image editing.
• Customizable printing and publishing.
• Supports importing from USB and FireWire memory card readers or directly from a camera connected via USB.
• Ability to simultaneously zoom and pan multiple images.
• Read and write support for IPTC image metadata.
• Heavily customizable book creation.
• Web gallery and blog creation, uploadable via FTP or Webdav.
• Full-featured full-screen mode, for editing and sorting images.

Aperture 2.0

Aperture 2.0 was released on February 12, 2008 with a reduced US price of $199. This can be compared with the $499 price tag of version 1.0.

• Streamlined interface.
• Enhanced performance due to database optimizations and interface improvements.
• Enhanced image processing with updated RAW support.
• Improved integration with Mac OS X, MobileMe and various software packages including iLife and iWork.
• Support for editing plug-ins, including Apple's own dodging and burning tool (Aperture 2.1).

Aperture 3.0

Aperture 3.0 was released on February 9, 2010, and is the first version of Aperture to require an Intel based Macintosh computer (previous versions could use PowerPC based systems). Apple claims more than 200 new features are included in version 3.0 and cites the main enhancements as follows:

• 64 bit application, able to handle huge files such as very high definition scans.
• Face detection and recognition tool, called Faces.
• Place pictures on maps using Places. It is compatible with GPS metadata and manually editable through an interactive map.
• Native Flickr and Facebook export.
• Nondestructive, edge-aware brushes to apply adjustments to photos.
• Dozens of new built-in adjustment presets. Some photographers created custom presets available for download.
• Advanced Slideshows.
• Handling and editing of video and audio files.

Version history

Version number	Release date	Changes
1.0	November 30, 2005	Initial release.
1.0.1	December 21, 2005	Fixed bugs with shadow blocking in 8-bit images, EXIF export issues, and improved performance in keyword searches.
1.1	April 13, 2006	A significant update that includes new features such as universal support, improved RAW image quality, RAW fine tuning, auto noise compensation, a new color meter, enhanced export controls and other more minor improvements and bug fixes.
1.1.1	May 4, 2006	Addresses several issues related to performance, stability, color correction, and display compatibility.
1.1.2	June 21, 2006	Addresses issues related to overall reliability and performance.
1.5	September 29, 2006	A significant update with many new features, including Flexible Library Management (master images can be kept outside the library and offline as well), iLife '06 and iWork '06 integration, Automatic Metadata Exportion, Edge Sharpen and iPod photo syncing. Also now officially supports all Intel-based Macs with at least 1 GB of RAM. Price dropped from $499 to $299.
1.5.1	November 2, 2006	Improves overall reliability and performance in many areas of the application, including keywords, the Loupe, cropping, previews, metadata presets, file renaming, iPhoto library importing and watermarks.
1.5.2	December 11, 2006	Addresses issues related to overall reliability and performance in a number of areas, including: Contact sheet printing, Smart Albums, watermarks, lift and stamp, image export, versions created using an external editor.
1.5.3	April 19, 2007	Aperture 1.5.3 addresses issues related to overall reliability and performance in a number of areas, including: Generation of thumbnails for adjusted images, entering and exiting Full Screen mode, working with large sets of keywords in the Keywords HUD, restoring from a vault.
1.5.6	October 26, 2007	Aperture 1.5.6 addresses issues related to performance, improves overall stability, and supports compatibility with Mac OS X v10.5.
2.0	February 12, 2008	Aperture 2.0 includes 100+ new features and addresses performance and stability. Reduced price to $199 in the US.
2.0.1	March 3, 2008	Aperture 2.0.1 addresses issues related to the performance and overall stability of Aperture 2.
2.1	March 28, 2008	Aperture 2.1 introduces editing plug-ins including a Dodge and Burn tool developed by Apple and addresses issues related to the performance and overall stability of Aperture 2.
2.1.1	July 28, 2008	Aperture 2.1.1 addresses issues related to performance, improves overall stability, and supports compatibility with Apple's MobileMe service.
2.1.2	October 20, 2008	Aperture 2.1.2 update improves the printing quality of books, cards and calendars ordered through the Aperture printing service.
2.1.3	March 14, 2009	Aperture 2.1.3 update improves overall stability and addresses minor issues in a number of areas, including the display of thumbnails on import and image rotation.
2.1.4	August 27, 2009	Aperture 2.1.4 update addresses general compatibility and overall stability in the following areas: Creating books, Ordering books/prints and Slideshows
3.0	February 9, 2010	Aperture now requires an Intel based Macintosh. Version 3.0 includes 200+ new features including: faces, places, brushes, adjustment presets, full-screen browser, audio and video support, and advanced slideshows.
3.0.1	February 24, 2010	Aperture 3.0.1 update improves overall stability and addresses a number of issues in Aperture 3, including: upgrading libraries from earlier versions of Aperture, importing libraries from iPhoto, importing photos directly from a camera, memory usage when processing heavily-retouched photos, face recognition processing, adding undetected faces using the Add Missing Face button, printing pages containing multiple images, editing photos using an external editor, display of images with Definition and Straighten adjustments applied, zooming photos in the Viewer and in the Loupe using keyboard shortcuts, accessing Aperture libraries on a network volume Selecting and moving pins on the Places map, adding and editing custom locations using the Manage My Places window and witching between masters when working with RAW+JPEG pairs.
3.0.2	March 25, 2010	Aperture 3.0.2 update improves overall stability and fixes issues in a number of areas. The key areas addressed include: upgrading Aperture 1.x and 2.x libraries, importing libraries from iPhoto or from earlier versions of Aperture, importing hierarchical folders of photos into a library, adding names and confirming matches in Faces, reordering snapshots on the Faces corkboard, creating and saving print presets, duplicating metadata presets, adjustments using Curves, Straighten and Retouching, navigation of photos in the Viewer using scrolling, importing ratings, color labels and GPS data from XMP sidecar files, IPTC metadata compatibility, deleting photos when emptying the Aperture Trash and exporting versions and libraries.
3.0.3	April 29, 2010	Aperture 3.0.3 update improves overall stability and fixes issues in a number of areas. The key areas addressed include: applying adjustments such as Retouch or Chromatic Aberration, creating and using Raw Fine Tuning presets, viewing, adding and removing detected faces, switching target printers and paper sizes when printing, duplicating Smart Albums, repairing and rebuilding Aperture libraries, reconnecting referenced files, working with GPS track files in Places and searching for keywords in the Query HUD or Keyword Controls.
3.1	October 20, 2010	Aperture 3.1 update greatly improves the overall stability and performance while fixing many major issues, most especially in Libraries and Adjustments, while making the application compatible with iLife '11. The key areas addressed include: displaying a progress bar when opening, switching and exporting libraries and masters, improvement in performance when opening large libraries, corrections on rendered previews and thumbnails used in Faces or while in zoom mode, importing and relinking referenced iPhoto libraries from a Mac, iPhone or iPad, improvements in face detection (especially on RAW+JPEG files) and addressing "blank" faces, corrections in search query performance, export of GPS metadata and correction of TIFF dpi setting, and performance improvements of many default adjustments (especially the Red-eye, Straighten, Crop and Presets adjustments).
3.1.1	December 9, 2010	Aperture 3.1.1 update improves overall stability and performance issues, and also includes specific fixes that: Address compatibility with the iLife Media Browser, improve reliability when upgrading existing Aperture libraries, address issues with publishing photos to MobileMe, Facebook and Flickr.
3.1.1	January 6, 2011	Aperture 3.1.1 was re-released in the Mac App Store, with a price drop to $79.99.
3.1.2	March 23, 2011	Aperture 3.1.2 update improves overall stability and performance, including specific fixes in the following areas: Importing iPhoto libraries, Reliability and responsiveness when using brushes to apply adjustments, Reconnecting referenced master images.
3.1.3	July 13, 2011	Aperture 3.1.3 update improves overall stability and performance, including specific fixes in the following areas: library rebuilding, file import issues, multitouch gestures, Faces and Places views, adjustments, web sharing, A/V, RAW–JPEG pairs.
3.2	October 12, 2011	Aperture 3.2 adds support for iCloud and iOS 5, and addresses stability, performance and compatibility issues.

See also

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• blueMarine
• Bibble
• Photo Mechanic

External links

• Apple – Aperture
• Aperture on Facebook
• Apple Aperture 3 Metadata Issues?
• Photo-Folio.net Aperture 3 Finally Usable: Aperture 3.0.2 Update.