Fri, 12 Feb 2010 First look at Aperture 3, Apple's photo editing and archiving software

During the development of Aperture 3, Apple let a select group of professional photographers try out a beta version of Aperture 3. We spoke with some of those testers, to find out which of Aperture 3's features they found most useful.

Mixing Multimedia

For advertising photographer Chase Jarvis, one new feature stood out immediately. “The big coup for me is the full, multimedia video integration.

Since I started shooting video on my D90 two years ago, it’s been a really messy workflow. Apple has done a great job of bringing it all into one program.”

More and more photographers are taking advantage of the built-in HD video capabilities on cameras like Nikon's D90 and D3s, and Canon's 5D Mark II and 7D.

Aperture allows you to import those clips, scrub through the video, make multimedia slideshows, and export to FinalCut Pro.

Wedding photographer Sara France also praised Aperture 3’s multimedia tools. “A lot of our videographers have switched to [Canon DSLRs] because of the amazing quality you can get with the Canon glass, the shallow depth of field, and the ability to shoot in low light.”

France already produces slideshows for her clients; now she can also integrate video into the final product. Her favorite detail is a custom timing feature that allows you to determine the pace of a slideshow by simply pressing return each time you want to change a slide.

Organising by Face

Face detection wouldn't seem to be a feature that professional photographers would care about. But as stock photographer Doug Menuez found out, Faces can be a huge help for anyone who has to manage large libraries of images.

Currently launching a small stock photography company, Menuez has used Aperture 3's Faces feature to solve one of his biggest logistical challenges: organizing model releases.

For each image he wants to sell (and he has “hundreds of thousands of images”), Menuez needs to make sure the models in the photo have signed the proper paperwork. So he scanned all of his model releases and accompanying head shots, and used Faces to match releases to images.

Sara France is also excited about being able to organize her images by face. It’s not unusual for France to get a call from a old client looking for additional pictures of a specific person. By identifying one face an image, France can quickly find other photos with the same face from among thousands of unedited images.

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