Good job Apple!

[Mystic]

I have just started to use Aperture 3.3 (actually upgraded already to 3.4 something) and I am extremely impressed. I just barely started to use this program and I am already getting better results than Photoshop Elements 11 and Lightroom 4.2.

One photo in particular in Photoshop Elements 11 I used the Smart Fix on that photo in Elements and the wall was the wrong color. Using Auto Enhance in Aperture the wall is correctly colored. The worthless Auto Tone in Lightroom 4.2 will destroy a good photograph that does not need any adjustments if you don't remember to turn off Auto Tone. Well, it is nondestructive editing so you have to undo the Auto Tone for that photograph. I have read reviews online for Lightroom 4.2 where the reviewers say that Auto Tone in Lightroom 4.2 is superior to Aperture. Well I for one now know the truth. Auto Enhance is superior. The online reviews are worthless.

I would need Photoshop to improve on that Aperture program. Good job Apple. Very, very good job. Please keep it up and come out with Aperture version 4.

 

[JHZR2]

Post an example. Surely evil Apple cannot do anything right.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I'm on Lightroom 4.4, and the Auto Tone function is still a [censored]. You certainly can't just blindly apply this function to all your photos.

I will have to check out Aperture. Does it have lens correction profiles built in?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Nevermind... Aperture does not run on Windows.

 

[zloveraz]

No unless the lens distortion corrections are in the RAW file. Several third party plug-in are available, i.e. fish-eye hemi or PTLens which is excellent!

Lightroom, DXO and Capture One (among others) include their own supplemental data tables for optical distortion.

 

[Mystic]

I can't post an example. All the photos are copyrighted. Aperture is Apple only. If there was a Windows version I would buy it right now. I have two books on Aperture and in the best book I have the people who wrote the book recommended using Auto Enhance during import at least for RAW files. It is non-destructive editing so if you are not happy with the Auto-Enhance you can undo it later and do other adjustments. There are several possible adjustments including Curves.

I give credit where credit is due. I have criticized Apple at this website but I think they have done a good job with this Aperture software which is $79.00 downloaded from the Apple App Store. Compare that with the cost of Photoshop. Now it certainly would still be good to have Photoshop. In the program itself there is no software to correct for lens distortions but I believe there is a plugin you can buy for that. Some people have recommended plugins for sharpening and noise reduction. I will not buy any plugins until I test the program really well and determine if it needs any plugins.

The sharpening is different than in Photoshop and I will have to get used to it. I used in a little bit in an earlier version of Aperture (Aperture 2) and it seemed to work well. This Aperture 3.4 seems much better than Aperture 2. When I used Edge Sharpening in Aperture 2 it seemed to work well.

 

[Mystic]

I guess I should add that Auto Enhance in Aperture will correct White Balance (in a RAW image), Enhance, Curves, and Highlights and Shadows. The software is advanced enough it will not apply a correction unless it is needed.

 

[Mystic]

The one sure way to get a photograph properly corrected is of course to use curves in Photoshop. But with Adobe going to subscription only service which would cost we twice as much (at least) as I have paid for Adobe products in the long run I went looking for alternatives.

I like Aperture so far but if I have any issues I might try Corel Paintshop Pro or else just use Nikon View to open my RAW files and use the Photoshop I have now to correct the photographs using curves. Eventually a person would have to use Nikon or Canon software or whatever to open their RAW files after their copy of Photoshop was very old and no longer had support for the most recent cameras.