Apple Simplifies Image Workflow . . .

By Ron Rovtar
Managing Editor
October 19, 2005

NEW YORK -- Apple Computer has entered the professional still image editing world in a big way with new software that answers many problems facing photographers as they move to all digital capture and workflow.

"Aperture," as the new program is called, provides significant time and workflow advantages for pros, making it easier to deliver images on tight deadlines.

While Aperture does not have Adobe Photoshop's depth as an image manipulation program, it potentially could squeeze the venerable Adobe Systems product out of the process when images require only basic corrections. It shines as a workflow product that brings real efficiencies to sorting and editing the vast numbers of images that can come from a digital shoot, whether the photographer is producing editorial, commercial or stock photography.

Apple also revealed improvements to its PowerBook and Power Mac G5 computer lines used extensively by creative professionals and photographers. The announcements were made at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center here as hundreds of exhibitors were setting up for the 2005 PhotoPlus Photography Expo.

Introducing Aperture to about 100 reporters, Apple Vice President of Applications Marketing Rob Schoeben positioned the new software as a "post production product."

"We built this from the ground up," asserted Schoeben. "Aperture has everything you need after the shoot."

Well, maybe not "everything," but there is a lot here and much of it is entirely new.

First of all, Aperture lets photographers work with RAW file formats as well as JPEGs, TIFFs and Adobe's new digital negative format.

Once imported into the computer, a fairly quick process in itself, images can quickly be edited into "stacks," which are simply groups of images made in close temporal proximity. In other words, if a sports photographer rapidly shoots four frames of a cheerleader at a football game, takes a few seconds to refocus on a pass play and shoots six more frames, the images of the cheerleader will come up in one stack while the images of the play will appear in another.

With the images thusly presorted, photographers can enlarge whole stacks of images, resort them according to personal preference and even enlarge similar portions of each image to compare, for example, the sharpness of a model's eye in several frames.

To check the sharpness of a single image, Aperture offers a digital loupe that works much like an optical one, enlarging a portion of an image to 100 percent. Interestingly, the loupe works on all versions of an image, including thumbnails.

The program includes a digital light table on which images can be placed side by side, arranged or resized by dragging on the corners.

Aperture makes delivery of images easier, providing tools for creating web pages from the images and for creating books of images through templates that can be edited in a number of ways. Apple will print the books for photographers.

The new program also offers basic image editing features like color correction, brightness, saturation, levels and and contrast controls.

These changes are stored separately from the image itself, meaning no information in the original file is lost. It also means that the original version can be retrieved at will and that photographers can create several versions of the image without reproducing the original file each time, saving a lot of computer memory.

"It's better than 'undo,'" said Product Marketing Manager Joe Schorr. "It's 'never did.'"

Apple Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing David Moody introduced two new PowerBook portable computers with increased screen resolution and longer battery life. He also announced updated Power Mac G5s with two processors on a single enhanced chip.

The new 15-inch PowerBook screen supports 26 percent more pixels while the new 17-inch PowerBook screen supports 36 percent more pixels.

The so-called "dual core" systems will come in 2.0 GHz and 2.3 GHz versions selling for $1,999 and $2,499 respectively. A decked-out dual processor, dual core, system called the "Quad" will sell for $3,299. The Quad includes a new graphics card from Nvidia Corp that supports two 30-inch monitors.

 

Apple's web site is at: http://www.apple.com