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`Review: Aperture 3 | TechCrunch
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`Review: Aperture 3
`
`Devin Coldewey
`@techcrunch / 6:15 PM CDT • March 19, 2010
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`If you’re a photographer and use a Mac, chances are you’re using Lightroom or Aperture. Probably Lightroom, since
`Aperture is less popular among pros — and the latest version seems to be an acknowledgment of that. The features
`added in version 3 are clearly intended to draw casual shooters using iPhoto to the paid image editing honey pot. Since
`so many of these amazing new features are direct side-loads from iPhoto, it smooths the process and makes the
`program as a whole more approachable, though whether existing Aperture users will find them helpful is questionable.
`Brushes, on the other hand, are a welcome addition to any photographer’s toolset, and depending on how dedicated you
`are, may be worth the price of admission.
`
`Invasion of the iPhoto features
`
`As long as I’ve been using Aperture, I’ve considered it a processing application. Its photo management was troublesome
`here and there, and iPhoto had the best ways of showing off your shots, but I dealt with it since maintaining two separate
`libraries of the same photos would be disk space suicide. I’ve only used Lightroom a little bit (and a version or two back)
`but all my friends say that it just has a better workflow for serious photo work — importing a couple hundred shots,
`scrubbing through them, doing the necessary adjustments, and outputting to the necessary format. Not that I have
`trouble doing that in Aperture, but apparently it’s faster and better in Lightroom.
`
`Confronted with such a fearsome opponent, Apple decided that it would be better to flank than to risk a frontal assault.
`Hence the expansion of Aperture’s incorporation of iPhoto features Faces and Places. I question their relevance in a
`photo processing application, but given Apple’s tendency towards coalescing functionality, I’m guessing that iPhoto will
`
`https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/review-aperture-3/
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`1/13
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`Review: Aperture 3 | TechCrunch
`2/22/22, 10:16 PM
`eventually be Aperture: Gimped Edition, and the only real choice for organizing and messing with large numbers of
`photos will be Aperture.
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`There are some kinks to be worked out. Faces plainly doesn’t work. After it spent literally five hours going through my
`photos (about 1000 per hour), this is what it has come up with:
`
`No, it didn’t have a lot to go on (I hadn’t “trained” it much yet) but really now. After giving it a few more pointers on what I
`looked like, it still mistook a three-year-old tow-headed girl, my friend Monica (who is Indian, and in a wedding dress),
`some E3 booth babes, and Casio president Kazuo Kashio for pale, bearded, Devin Coldewey. The cork board
`background is jarring (you can change it but the corny, inefficient “polaroid” interface and font remain) and the interface
`for going through your shots is terrible. I realize this is a technology still being perfected, and that is why I am wondering:
`what is it doing in my RAW editing program?
`
`https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/review-aperture-3/
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`2/13
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`Review: Aperture 3 | TechCrunch
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`Places is useful if you have a geotagging camera (still rare) or want to spend a few hours dragging and dropping stuff
`Events
`onto the map. It can be fun, actually, if you take a lot of pictures of your friends, and want to drag and drop this or that
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`night onto the location you went to; it’s like creating a different kind of album (“Linda’s Tavern”), and indeed you can
`make a browsable smart album from locations. If you’re like me, you won’t feel complete until the photos are more or
`less where they were within the city, and not all grouped in a single pin, smack in the middle of the city. This could have
`some promise, but with a backlog of several thousand shots, getting a library up to date in Places is a task I wouldn’t
`wish on my worst enemy.
`
`It’s a mistake to judge Faces and Places by simply saying “well we were fine before them,” because it may just be that
`we found ways of working in the old system of organization (Project>Folder>Album) that approximated what these new
`features do. But I don’t think it’s wrong to say they just don’t really do much, and feel out of place to boot. You have to
`work at them, or shoot for them, in order for them to really be worthwhile. Still I have to give credit where credit’s due: if
`you just consider Faces and Places new columns to organize by (like rating or date) then they’re worth their salt. As
`flagship features, though, they’re duds.
`
`Lastly, the slide show thing. It’s like finding a trout in the milk. Not that it doesn’t work — it works as well as iPhoto’s thing,
`and I suppose it’s better to have than not. It’s just a little weird to have a sort of… aftermarket feature popped in there
`next to the serious editing tools. Its little presets are, like in most Apple programs, 25% solid, 75% fluff. Who in the name
`of all that is holy is going to pick “Shatter” as their slide show transition? It’s ghastly.
`
`The new features are very well explained in little videos accessible through the “Welcome” screen, which will be handy
`for new users — if they can find the screen after they close it (it’s in Help>Welcome to Aperture).
`
`The good stuff
`
`https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/review-aperture-3/
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`Review: Aperture 3 | TechCrunch
`2/22/22, 10:16 PM
`So if the iPhoto features are icing, the actual cake is the RAW editing, adjustment tools, and user interface. Let’s start
`with what I would say is the best new feature: Brushes.
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`You can see a pretty thorough overview of the feature at Apple’s site, but the gist is that it allows you to apply certain
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`effects in limited areas using a brush of adjustable size and intensity. That’s great! I can’t count the number of times I’ve
`vacillated between two versions of a photo where an adjustment necessary for one part ended up blowing out another,
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`or I just wanted to bring out the color in the eyes but not in the background. A lot of fiddling could usually approximate the
`effect I wanted, but it would be so much easier to just use a brush. I’ll be using the hell out of this feature, and it’s
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`perhaps the only real step Apple took against Adobe in this update.
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`(combination Brushes and Help Video screenshot)
`
`The brushes are non-destructive, like any of the dials and curves you can play with in the adjustments panel, so you can
`feel free to experiment, layer, and try out different effects. One thing I often have to do when shooting review shots is
`emphasize the color of LEDs, but if the subject is well-lit, the LEDs are going to be barely visible. No problem; make a
`little brush, add in a little contrast right there, bump the saturation just in the one area, and boom, it sticks out like a sore
`thumb. Brushes are useful for lots of little things like that.
`
`The new full-screen browser is handy but not really a revolution. They’ve added the ability to get around your library a
`little more, which is nice, but it’s not as streamlined as the regular browser, which is always accessible by a single
`keystroke. The fullscreen presentation has definitely been improved, however, and when showing off photos to friends or
`clients, it’s a better option than either the plain editing window or a slide show.
`
`The preset adjustments, I think we can agree, are being blown way out of proportion; Apple’s breathless description sets
`them up to be quite the killer feature. Unfortunately, these are the same kind of “professional adjustments” that you have
`been able to apply on cheap point-and-shoots since the beginning of time. There are a few quick adjust things like high-
`contrast black-and-white or exposure +1 that are nice to have previews for (the live preview window is handy), but let’s
`
`https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/review-aperture-3/
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`4/13
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`Review: Aperture 3 | TechCrunch
`2/22/22, 10:16 PM
`be honest, these are just filters. I’d like to be able to say that they’re carefully adjusted so you won’t see weird color
`effects, blackouts, or blowouts, but the fact is every one I tried looked cheap and overdone. The others, like white
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`balance and so on, seem pretty redundant considering the actual controls for adjusting those aspects are mere pixels
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`away in the same window.
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`Click to see it larger. You can’t really tell here, since this photo isn’t very high contrast, but in several of the other shots I
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`tried this on, the vintage look was really purple, cross-processing was really green, and toy camera pushed the contrast
`way too far. Subtle adjustments these are not.
`
`The good news is that people new to the program might try a couple, see that they were created by dragging curves and
`color bars around, and then make their own. I’ve had my own “base” adjustment for years now, which was just as easily
`accessible and just as customizable, though limited to a single adjustment category. Putting together a “look” for a shoot
`using this feature might be easier now than before, but it’s still just a toy at this point.
`
`The ability to have multiple libraries is nice; splitting work and personal stuff would be my move, so that if a meteor
`crashed into TC HQ (or, more likely, I’m fired for insubordination), I could free up a couple gigs in one clean sweep. It’s
`also convenient for backing up and sharing; “here’s my whole ‘wedding’ library, feel free to do what you like with it” rather
`than “here’s a folder full of RAW files.” (Update: my mistake, multiple libraries were already available.)
`
`A quick note
`
`Just a PSA: installation of Aperture 3 took ages. Plan on losing at least a working day to 100% processor usage as it
`converts your library, searches for Faces, and reprocesses your RAW files with the new profile. I’m not holding this
`against Apple (it’s a LOT of data to sift through) but it’s just something to be aware of.
`
`Conclusion
`
`Aperture is still a great program, in my opinion, and the budding photographer would be a lot better off with this than with
`iPhoto if they’re planning on doing anything more than collecting snapshots. I’ve gotten used to Aperture’s workflow and
`they haven’t changed it much in 3, in fact they’ve provided a couple serious improvements with Brushes and potentially
`Places and Faces — you know, if you’re into that kind of thing.
`
`The trouble I see is that Aperture, once a rather single-minded program, is being diluted with features that have nothing
`to do with its core functionality. Why not have a new program, called “Collection” or something, that hooks into all your
`libraries, allows for creating robust slide shows, exporting directly to Facebook, and all that sort of thing? Putting all this
`junk into Aperture is doing to it what Apple has done to iTunes: once a sleek and straightforward program, it has now
`grown bloated beyond comprehension; it’s a bit like seeing a once-great fighter gone to seed. I have more of an
`
`https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/review-aperture-3/
`
`5/13
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`MemoryWeb Ex. 2014
`Apple v. MemoryWeb – IPR2022-00031
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`Review: Aperture 3 | TechCrunch
`2/22/22, 10:16 PM
`attachment to Aperture than to iTunes, but if Aperture 4 continues along the vector indicated by Aperture 3, you can
`consider me a Lightroom conversion.
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`Give Aperture 3 a 30-day trial for free here. $199 to buy, $99 to upgrade.
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`Update: I completely neglected to mention that Aperture 3 also now has full 64-bit support. This means newer macs
`sporting Snow Leopard and adequate hardware should get a sweet performance boost.
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`Also: wow, guys. Take it easy. I didn’t insult your children. I’m not sure where I suggested that Aperture is the worst app
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`ever made, or attempted to do anything other than hit the major new features and give what can really only be my first
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`impressions, having used Aperture for a couple years but A3 only having been out for a month. What can I say? The
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`core functionality is unchanged, and I feel half the new features are specious, suggesting the feature creep that has
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