This Week's Sponsor:

Kolide

Ensure that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta.


Aperture 3 Meets iPhoto and Takes Photos “Further”

The long awaited 3.0 version of Aperture has been finally announced by Apple and it’s live on the Apple Store page: http://www.apple.com/aperture/

Aperture 3 is a $99 update for current 2.0 users, it comes with 200 new features, a rewritten engine to support 64 bits and some neat additions like Faces and Events, taken from iPhoto. Indeed, the new slogan of Aperture is “Pro performance with iPhoto simplicity”, meaning that - probably - Apple aims both at a professional user base and less demanding users with this 3 update.

Besides Faces and Places (I prefer the second over the first one. If you have a GPS enabled camera Places really helps a lot in connecting photos with..places) Apple introduced a major new feature called “Brushes”. From the website:

“Brushes let you paint in a wide range of effects to selectively fine-tune your photos. With precise control of the size, softness, and strength of each brush, you can adjust only the parts of the image you want, leaving the rest untouched. For example, you can burn the green of a palm leaf lying on a beach to decrease the exposure and make it darker, without touching the rest of your photo. Or you can dodge just its shadow to increase the exposure and bring out the detail of the sand. No matter how much you change an image, you can always go back to the original.”

Simple, nondestructive adjustments? Sounds good to me, we’ll see.

Aperture 3 Places

Aperture 3 Places

Aperture 3  Faces

Aperture 3 Faces

Aperture 3 Brushes

Aperture 3 Brushes

Moving on, Aperture 3 now comes with new presets and a full screen browser.

Aperture 3  Full Screen

Aperture 3 Full Screen

Judging from the screenshots (and really, I’ll leave my other opinions for a more in-depth review) it seems sexy and useful to browse your photos collection without being distracted.

Aperture 3 seems like a really big update, bringing tons of refinements and new, interesting features. Can’t wait to try it out.

Unlock More with Club MacStories

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for over six years.

In that time, members have enjoyed nearly 400 weekly and monthly newsletters packed with more of your favorite MacStories writing as well as Club-only podcasts, eBooks, discounts on apps, icons, and services. Join today, and you’ll get everything new that we publish every week, plus access to our entire archive of back issues and downloadable perks.

The Club expanded in 2021 with Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ members enjoy even more exclusive stories, a vibrant Discord community, a rotating roster of app discounts, and more. And, with Club Premier, you get everything we offer at every Club level plus an extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio.

Choose the Club plan that’s right for you:

  • Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with app collections, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, a Club-only podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
  • Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus exclusive content like Federico’s Automation Academy and John’s Macintosh Desktop Experience, a powerful web app for searching and exploring over 6 years of content and creating custom RSS feeds of Club content, an active Discord community, and a rotating collection of discounts, and more;
  • Club Premier: Everything in from our other plans and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.