Apple introduced Friday a plug-in architecture for its Aperture photo application. The plug-ins will let photographers utilize third-party imaging tools within Aperture, whose 2.1 version is now available as a free update to Aperture 2.0 owners. The update comes only about six weeks after the release of 2.0.
Dodge & Burn
One Apple-developed plug-in is available now. Called Dodge & Burn, it provides brush-based tools for dodging or lightening, burning or darkening, contrast, saturation, sharpen and blur.
Apple Vice President Rob Schoeben said Aperture 2 has won over the most demanding photographers because of its image quality. He added that the new open plug-in architecture will let users “access an entire industry’s worth of imaging expertise without ever leaving Aperture.” According to news reports, a full software development kit for third-party developers will be released.
As an example of how Aperture is now all a photographer will need as a software tool, Apple pointed to John Stanmeyer, a contributing photographer for Time and National Geographic. He said in a statement that he “can’t imagine when I’ll have to open any other application to tone my images.”
The installed plug-ins can be summoned by clicking on one or more images within Aperture and choosing from a menu that allows the plug-in to be applied to either TIFF or RAW images.
Viveza, Power Stroke, Others
Apple noted that a variety of third-party companies are developing plug-ins, including the Viveza plug-in from Nik Software, which allows for precise control of color and light in an image. Picture Code’s Noise Ninja is for advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction.
A plug-in coming from Digital Film Tools, called the Power Stroke, offers a stroke-based interface for quick masking and other targeted adjustments. The dpMatte from dvGarage provides what Apple described as “a high-performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites.”…