CalfCanuck said:
I'm sorry if my post was misunderstood - I'm not saying it is exclusive, but was rather pointing out that not everyone who has some unorganized pictures needs to spend the $500 to create order out of their chaos.
I agree. Many can buy Aperture, but not everyone will make the software "sing" and use it fully. There are quite a few alternatives, and for many, iPhoto is one of them.
And that's not to say anything derogatory about iPhoto. But I wouldn't recommend Aperture for your garden variety snapshooter. Clearly, this would be overkill!
I've been playing around with Aperture all day. Trying to get my sea legs, so to speak. So far, my VERY EARLY impressions are this:
1) Go through the DVD tutorials. The chapters are short and concise, even for those who are suffering from ADD.
2) RTFM. There is a decent "getting started" book enclosed with Aperture and you'll want to peruse it AFTER you've watched the general overview on DVD.
3) Loupe feature kicks major gluteus maximus. (I have a couple of Schneider-Kreuznach loupes on my light table....expensive and neglected in this digital age....if I weren't so Old School I'd Ebay the suckers).
4) Web publishing....eh. I still have to examine the ins and outs here and the full potential. But I'm a bit nonplussed at first examination. Where are the templates? Customization? Here's hoping that this is an area where the third party developers can jump in ala Spotlight, Widgets, etc.
5) For event photography, I think I'm gonna like it here. Aperture is much, much more than iPhoto on steroids. I also appreciate the iTunes-ian manner in which photo libraries and playlists.....err, "albums" are organized. If you know iPhoto and iTunes, you'll take like a duck to water, until.....
6) .....you realize that there is a learning curve as is the case for any well-considered software. But I don't feel overwhelmed. Kudos to Apple for keeping things (mostly) consistent and adaptive.
Conclusion? Aperture is to iPhoto what Final Cut Pro is to iMovie, more or less. I think.
You won't be removing Photoshop from your hard drive, nor will you need to forget how to edit basic HTML and CSS if you work "hands on" with your web galleries.
But I think $500 is about right. As a working photographer, I certainly do not feel as though I've been "had" with my investment in the program. I look forward to learning more about what this software can do for me, fully aware that this process will take time.
Well, I know what I'm doing for a spell.....if you are a working photographer or a supervisor of image collections or someone with too much money....good luck and have FUN!
