An amateur photographer plays with Aperture

Apple's Aperture was certainly designed for the professional photographer. Does that mean talented, eager amateurs can't benefit from using it? Of course not. Using his great educational discount ($249 vs. $499), Tom Bridge at O'Reilly bought himself a copy and really liked what he found. He said that, in contrast to iPhoto's "digital shoebox" feel, Aperture is "...a working photographer's office: full of space, a light table, boxes of slides and all manner of accoutrements."

Starting with a fresh batch of images (he didn't import from iPhoto), Tom did some basic editing, and explored both Aperture's album feature and built-in project manager. His initial reaction: "Immediately, I prefer Aperture [to iPhoto]. iPhoto may run better on my 1.5Ghz Powerbook G4, but when I attach an external display, it's like iPhoto's speed no longer matters, as Aperture was designed from the bottom up to be more useful in a larger space."

It's a good overview, written by an admitted intermediate photographer (read: most of us). Check it out.

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Source: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8648?CMP=OTC-13IV03560550&…

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Apple's Aperture was certainly designed for the professional photographer. Does that mean talented, eager amateurs can't benefit from using...

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Kevin Long

I think that a true amateur photographer will love the program. After spending over $4000.00 on a Camera and Lenses I am ready to spend the cash for dual displays for my current Mac. With any hobby the right gear always makes it more pleasant. I have a real Job and don't have much time, this app will save me lots of it. a href="http://www.vocalmediaonline.com/podcast/">I am in the process of creating a Podcast and would love for you to check it out The Call

December 05 2005 at 12:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Chris Meisenzahl

JT, My understanding is pretty much the same as yours. I think it's overkill for most of us amateurs. But it seems to be a great new tool for those that are in the field. Chris http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/

December 05 2005 at 7:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mike Lauder

The review over at Ars Technica is very scathing: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/aperture.ars

December 05 2005 at 7:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Word on the street is that the biggest caveats of the program are: RAW management and filters, ressource hog, and that below 23 inches of screen real estate, everything is cramped. Can anyone confirm this? Still, this looks like a very fun program to use if you can afford the hardware.

December 05 2005 at 7:21 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply