This was going to be a report on the Apple Pro Series seminar in London last Wednesday and the epic journey involved in getting there (let’s just say the rail network and the Tube weren’t playing nicely), but then Aperture 2.1 came out... I’m going to talk about a couple of items of interest to me - the new AppleScript functions in 2.1 (and their connotations) and the speed of Aperture updates since February.

Apple has opened the door to third party image editing tools for Aperture 2.1 by launching "Edit API." And to show you how powerful this feature is, they've included the first plug-in, "Dodge and Burn," with the version 2.1 download - for free. And there's lots more to come, and soon.

The ability to create your own set of default bricks in the Adjust tab has been one of Aperture's most requested features. Apple has answered the call in version 2.1 by allowing you to decide which bricks load by default...

I probably don't have to spend much time on this, but thought I should mention it anyway. If you've already used up your 30-day trial period with Aperture 2.0, you won't be able to test drive version 2.1. Apple considers...

If you haven’t already noticed, Aperture 2.1 has just shipped and is available for download via Software Update. Aperture 2.1 has some really important updates and added features. This isn’t a minor bug fix but a major update to Aperture....

Apple Senior Product Manager, Joe Schorr, posted this note on the Apple forums today: "As many of you know, last week's Security Update caused printing problems for users of Aperture 2 on Leopard. A new version of this Security Update...

Recently back from Africa and the one new control that I’m really liking to finesse my images is the Vibrancy slider, in the Enhance Set of adjustments. We used to have just Saturation which meant punching up or taking away...

To update a security software package that was distributed in mid-March, Apple released a new one overriding it. The new release, Security Update 2008-002 1.1, is for Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. This update solves the reported issue with Printer...

A number of people, myself included, have been grumbling about how Aperture does not have the ability to label images a certain color. For instance, I might label an image blue if I want to upload it to my website,...

To address a backward compatibility issue, Apple released PluginManager 1.7.3. PluginManager handles Apple and third-party filters used by Aperture as well as Final Cut Pro, Motion, Logic Studio. It also controls the filters of SDKs for Aperture and FCP. From...

Aperture is a comparatively ‘deep’ program - there are lots of things you can do in it, and there are often multiple ways of achieving an objective. This means that it can take some time to get to grips with Aperture, especially combined with the virtual organisational structure and virtual images. Anyway, to get to the point, that means there are often a lot of little functions (especially keyboard shortcuts, I love keyboard shortcuts...) that people aren’t aware of, a few of which I’ll list here.

There has been so much going on in the Aperture plugin world that I have been swamped trying to keep up with it all over at AperturePluggedIn.com. I have finally got a number of update posts up there, but there...

Apple announced its support for more RAW files. The Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.0 is now available. You can get it through the software update of your computer's system preferences or download it directly from Apple's website. The new...

I know photographers who delete in the field, trimming down the images on their card by reviewing what they shot on the back of the camera and getting rid of what they don’t like. I probably have the opposite philosophy...

Recently I’ve had several emails from people who were puzzled as to why they suddenly were unable to make adjustments to their images in Aperture. A little questioning revealed that in all cases the “problematic” images had either yellow or...

Before upgrading to Aperture 2.0, I used to experience application crashes. Aperture would crash or quit unexpectedly whenever I open the preferences pane to change library. It would also crash whenever I execute any of the 3rd-party export plug-in commands....

Like many photographers, I share my post-processing work between a portable and a desktop computer. This is all well and good, until it comes to sharing work and edits between two copies of Aperture...

One feature that seams to be missing in Aperture 2.0 is the ability to automatically create album picks when creating a new album from a selection. Ok, let me explain. Lets say you have a Project full of images, many...

If you've read my posts before, you know that I really like Aperture's full screen mode. Being able to hide everything else and just focus on my images is quite appealing! In Aperture 1.X, unfortunately you had to exit full...

We all love the new Aperture 2.0 interface. Compared to the previous version, the new streamlined look is amazingly sleek. The engineers at Apple certainly did an "insanely great" job in updating it to its present modern iteration. But beyond...

Just in case you haven't seen this yet, Sal Sogholan's Aperture-InDesign Integration Demo is a thing of beauty. I'm in the process of tracking Sal down now so we can sit down and discuss the Aperture/AppleScript story these days. From what I can tell, it has a happy ending

Okay, it really works. I needed to quickly go through 11,232 RAW images to pick out some personal photos I promised to print for people before my Friday trip to Kigali. In Aperture 2.0 using Quick View, I was able...

I’m finding that Aperture 2 gives a slightly different colorcast to many of my images if I convert them to the 2.0 decode. Often I want to recreate the look they originally had and so I’ve frequently been reaching for...

In Aperture, you can create and maintain as many separate and independent photo libraries as you wish. You can house and access these autonomous libraries from any location in your computer. These individual libraries can also be wedged in any...

Through Software Update or on the Aperture Downloads page, you will find an update to Aperture 2.0 that Apple recommends for all Aperture users. “Aperture 2.0.1 addresses issues related to the performance and overall stability of Aperture 2. The update...

Raw conversion quality is a very subjective topic, and different people have different ideas about what they like in a raw conversion. If you decide you prefer Aperture's 1.1 converter to the new 2.0 converter, you can easily change the program to default to the older version.