Aperture: Apple's new photo post production application

Apple today introduced a new photo post production application called "Aperture," appropriately named as company officials are pitching the tool as fulfillment of a gap in the image production workflow.

The software features tools designed specifically for working with images in the RAW image format -- a format which generates much larger images than JPEG or other types, but also allows much greater control over adjustment levels and other elements.

Aperture maintains native RAW formatting throughout the workflow process, and uses a nondestructive image processing engine that never alters a single pixel of original. This allows editors to create multiple versions of a single image without duplicating files.

Aperture also includes a new feature called "Stacks," which allows users to organize photos based on the time interval between exposures.

The tool also allows users to manipulate a full-screen workspace that can be extended to span multiple displays, tiling multiple images side-by-side

It sports a Loupe magnifying tool, through which portions of images can be examined in fine detail without having to zoom and pan across large files. Finally, a virtual Light Table provides a platform building simple photo layouts, allowing them to be arranged, resized and piled together in a free-form space.

Finally, Aperture features a color-managed pipeline with support for device specific ColorSync profiles and a set output tools including customizable contact sheets and local printing and color-managed online prints.

Aperture is priced at US$ 499.

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