Aperture 1 was released in 2005 to a lukewarm reception. The biggest problem was that as the first app of its type on the market no-one really knew what to make if it or what to use it for. It looked like a solution searching for a problem. The world's moved on since then and the proliferation of dSLR cameras has meant that professional and enthusiast photographers are looking for workflow tools to help manage their growing image libraries and facilitate the post-production process.

That's where Aperture 2 enters the picture (pardon the pun!). Apple calls it an "all in one post production tool". I've just returned from a product briefing with Apple and I'm impressed. I'll have a full review published elsewhere but I thought i'd share a few things from the briefing that aren't in the review.

1. Apple has an Aperture advisory committee made up of professional photographers from prestigious magazines, newspapers, weddings and other spheres. They provide direct input to the development team.


2. Part of Aperture's performance testing was with photo libraries of up to 750,000 images.


3. Aperture can be used to create photo books just like iPhoto with one significant advantage - the Photo book layout can be customised (iPhoto limits you to specific templates and layouts)


4. Aperture allows you to create metadata templates that you can apply to images as you import.


5. The new Vibrancy control lets you alter image saturation without affecting flesh tones.


6. The 2.1 update that was released last week adds a plug-in architecture so that developers can create their own Aperture plug-ins. An SDK will be released imminently.


7. Apple will be exhibiting at PMA Australia.

At just $269AUD, Aperture delivers plenty of bang for buck and is recommended for all dSLR users running a Mac.

 Aperture 2.0 • Apple • Image Management • Photography