View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/08/02/12/apple.aperture.2
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 8:45am

Apple introduces Aperture 2.0

Apple on Tuesday released Aperture 2.0, a major revision of the company's professional photo editing and management application. The upgrade brings in a new, sleeker user interface that allows users to flip between Browser and Viewer modes with a single key press and a heads-up display that makes the most of the screen area while still allowing quick access to editing or navigation controls. A completely new RAW image processing engine is also said to bring out more detail and more faithful color accuracy for imported shots. Performance has likewise been improved with faster loading times and a Quick Preview mode that lets users browse their libraries at speed without loading each entire image.

New editing tools also let editors enhance special qualities of an image: Recovery reduces overblown highlights, while Vibrancy boosts saturation without hurting the skin tones crucial to portraits. A Repair/Retouch function similar to that from iPhoto lets users quickly remove cosmetic imperfections just by dragging across affected areas. The Aperture update is also designed to integrate more smoothly with Apple's modern web tools: users can more readily post photos to their .Mac Web Galleries with formatting for the iPhone and other handhelds. Apple launches the software immediately for $199 through the company's online Apple Store.