Aperture

Go from iPhoto to Aperture.

You’ve done some great things with iPhoto, and now you’re ready to do more. Aperture 3 is designed to make the move from iPhoto easy and seamless.

You’ll notice that the things you’ve done in iPhoto can be done in Aperture 3 — with more exact and impressive results. All your iPhoto data and adjustments transfer. And your knowledge of iPhoto makes Aperture easy to master. Watch the video or read on for even more reasons to move.

  1. More selective retouching.

    iPhoto gives you great tools for adjusting an entire image. Brushes in Aperture let you paint in the changes you want exactly where you want them, and give you complete control over brush size, softness, and intensity. Want to darken the sky without darkening the water? No problem. Aperture can detect the edges of objects to help you edit with precision. You also get 15 Quick Brushes for common effects, such as Sharpen and Saturation, that are ready for action.

    Image adjustments in iPhoto

    Selective retouching in Aperture 3

  2. Photo looks and effects.

    In iPhoto, it’s easy to apply basic photo effects such as Black & White, Sepia, or Edge Blur. It’s just as easy in Aperture, but you can also work with dozens of adjustment presets, then customize them for a look that’s all your own. Say you want to make a color photo black and white. Aperture has nine different color filters, giving you precise control over effects. An on-the-fly preview window helps you find the look you’re after. Once you find it, you can even apply it to an entire album.

    Effects in iPhoto

    Live preview of adjustment presets in Aperture 3

  3. Advanced slideshows.

    iPhoto lets you create great click-and-play slideshows. Aperture lets you do more than ever to customize them. Add a personalized soundtrack. Place titles where you want them and use any font, size, and color you’d like. Set the timing for each slide. And crop photos right in your slideshow. You can also change the look of themes, add HD video, and precisely control fades and transitions. With Aperture, your slideshows get a professional-quality look and feel.

    Slideshows in iPhoto

    Slideshows in Aperture 3

  4. Multiple versions of a photo. Minimal hard drive space.

    When you want to create an alternate version of a photo, iPhoto duplicates the photo. Aperture stores as many variations as you want in a single image file. That’s big news, because it eats up far less hard drive space than storing duplicate photos. Aperture makes it easy to keep track of all those versions, too, so you can use different ones for different projects.

    Each version is a new copy in iPhoto.

    A single copy can have multiple versions in Aperture 3.

  5. Do more with Places and Faces.

    The familiar iPhoto ’09 Faces and Places are even more powerful on Aperture 3. Use the Faces corkboard to see all the people in a single project – or across an entire library. And it’s easier than ever to find detected faces and add names. Places pushes the boundaries of geotagging to organise and explore your library by location. Import location data using GPS tracking devices or your iPhone. If you don’t use a GPS device, embed the location by simply dragging the photos to a spot on the Places interactive map.

    iPhoto displays the faces you've named

    Aperture 3 shows unnamed faces, so it’s easier to add names

  6. All the tools to manage a giant library.

    When your photos number in the thousands, you need easier ways to find what you’re looking for. Aperture gives you a head start by automatically grouping your events by year. Within each year, you can create folders that go as deep as you want. And get ready for superfast searches that sort your photos on the fly. Enter a file type, such as RAW or JPEG, then add a face, place, or keyword like “vacations” and the relevant photos will be served up by year. You can even search by details like the camera or lens you used. The more criteria you add, the faster you can find what you’re looking for. You can also add color labels, ratings, and flags.

    Searching in iPhoto

    Searching in Aperture 3

  7. Merge, sync, and split multiple libraries.

    While iPhoto is designed to work with one library at a time, Aperture lets you set up as many libraries as you want and switch between them instantly. And you can export a project — and all the related photos — as a new library. That makes it easy to do things like take a slideshow from your work computer to your home computer to finish it. Since the slideshow is a separate file, you can work with it directly — no need to import it into one of your home libraries. When you bring it back to your work computer, all the edits you made sync automatically.

    Export and merge libraries in Aperture 3

  8. Create custom books.

    With iPhoto, you can create fun photo books to share with family and friends. With Aperture, you can get even more creative with fully customizable book layouts. Add, move, resize, rotate, or delete photo and text boxes. Place titles exactly where you want them — on any page or even over a photo — and use any font, size, and color you like. Tell a story with multicolumn text. Create two-page, full-bleed spreads. Design wraparound covers. Include travel maps showing where your photos were taken. And add photo borders the width and color you choose. Aperture makes it easy to create photo books as unique as your photos.

    Extra-large hardcover book with two-page spread in Aperture 3

  9. Gallery-quality printing.

    iPhoto features ready-to-use templates to help you get a great print. With Aperture, you can customize your output and manage color to get the best print possible on your particular printer. The Print dialog in Aperture is live, so you can proof your color adjustments onscreen, then add margins, borders, watermarks, and even metadata to include on your print. (None of the changes you make in Print mode affect your original photo.) You can also create amazing contact sheets. Set the size of your photos and number of columns by using a slider, and add a logo or any metadata you want to each sheet.

    Printing with a custom border and title in Aperture 3

  10. Never run out of hard drive space.

    As your iPhoto library grows, it may become too big to store on your computer’s hard drive. Aperture lets you set up as many external drives as you want and specify where to store each of your photos — without changing anything in your Aperture library. You can access and edit your photos the way you usually do, no matter where the originals are stored. This feature also allows you to add hard drives one at a time, whenever you need them. So your setup can grow along with your library.

    Storing in iPhoto

    Storing across multiple drives in Aperture 3

See how to move to Aperture 3