Resolutions

Yesterday, I acknowledged that upgrading my Aperture 2 environment was a necessity, not a luxury. I'm not lazy, but I don't like to spend much time editing my pictures. I think I've said this more than once. :) Aperture 3 definitely has quite a few features that will make my life easier. They are:

1) Polarizer - this one is really like applying a polarizer filter - here's an example of what I mean:



Notice how blue the skies are. This was taken mid-day, so without this filter, the sky would have been much more pale - and the highlights would have been blown out. Having the ability to recreate this look in Aperture (to an extent) will help me. Another one is:



I LOVE blue skies!

2) Dodge/Burn - LOVE this - using this enables you to lighten or darken areas selectively. You can select the brush thickness, the changes you'd like to make, and then you can go to town. This would work as a band-aid for some of my pictures.

3) Hold Highlights - a preset that allows me to make this change quickly.

4) Brighten Shadows - the opposite of 3) - this will help rescue my pictures that are too dark because of sun issues. The sun is my friend in real life, but as a photographer, I totally struggle with it.

5) White Balance - this picture was BLUE when I took it, because I used the wrong white balance setting:



I had to adjust this manually in Aperture 2, but doing this in Aperture 3 is a snap - it's a menu option. Huge timesaver.

6) Curves and Levels - another topic for another day. I'll need to master them, first. :) I've had access to these tools in the past, but never used them.

In Aperture, it's very easy to select and preview every one of these. Tomorrow, I'll discuss my experience in Lightroom. Till tomorrow!