Apple Photos has almost the same set of tools as the Aperture. Apple Aperture comes with a variety of editing tools for enhancing photographs quickly and easily. Users can adjust the white balance, saturation, and overall color of an image, as well as convert any photo to black and white and correct unwanted lens vignettes.
If you are a serious photographer, and use a mac computer for your photo editing needs, chances are that you are familiar with Apple’s Aperture photo editor. This was Apple’s professional grade RAW photo editor that was discontinued back in 2014. This was sad news for many mac users, as they relied on Aperture’s excellent feature set and photo organization prowess for their day to day photo editing.
However, there are very good alternatives to Apple’s Aperture that can be used on mac systems. Some of these are even better than Aperture, providing ease of use and advanced photo editing tools at a very low price.
1. Luminar
If you don’t want to pay the monthly subscription fee for Lightroom, the affordable Luminar is a great choice. It comes in a very easy to use package, bringing advanced editing tools to mac users. You can adjust the white balance, colors, exposure, and many more aspects of your image in a very short amount of time. It also lets you make selective adjustments so you can tweak specific portions of your photo to your liking.
Other than these editing tools, Luminar also has many presets that are easy to use and alter. You can work in layers as well, so using multiple presets and textures to get a unique look for your photos is a breeze.
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2. Apple Photos
When Aperture and iPhoto were discontinued, Apple created a new software by the name of Photos. This contains features of both Aperture and iPhoto, but still cannot compete with the programs mentioned above. However, for people who used Aperture for basic photo editing and RAW conversions, then Photos should not be underestimated. It has an intuitive design, and can fulfill the needs of beginner and advanced photographers alike. It has RAW editing capabilities as well, so it might be a good replacement for mac users who want something free.
3. Adobe Lightroom
Let’s get the obvious alternative out of the way first. Adobe Lightoom has been on the RAW photo editing scene for a very long time, and for good reason. It is one of the best RAW processors available that is both easy to use and fairly intuitive. Upon opening the program, you are greeted with a series of sliders that can be adjusted to tweak your photo’s exposure, contrast, highlights, noise, sharpening, white balance, and much more. You can use the selective adjustment tools to make changes to certain parts of the image too. Overall, Lightroom is definitely one of the easiest programs to recommend as a direct alternative to Aperture.
4. Capture One Pro
If Lightroom isn’t your thing, then Capture One Pro might just be. It is a direct competitor to Adobe’s software and can be bought for a one-time fee which makes it a better choice for many users. Capture One is known for its great jpeg compression, and many users report that an image imported directly into Capture One showcases better quality than when imported into Lightroom.
Capture One lets you do everything Lightroom does, so it is a matter of personal preference which of these you want to use more.
5. CyberLink PhotoDirector Suite
Another good alternative to Apple’s Aperture is CyberLink’s PhotoDirector 365. It’s a powerful photo editor that includes a RAW processor, optimized portrait retouching features, basic image editing tools, and AI-based tools for automatic adjustments and creative effects. PhotoDirector 365 works with layers, allows you to add text and overlay images, and comes with many built-in presets for quick styling.
Like Apple’s Aperture, PhotoDirector provides photo management with face recognition, photo animation and a few video editing tools, frames and design elements, and a lot of third-party plugins to enhance your creativity. You can use it to apply brushstrokes effects, create slideshows with background music, edit 360-degree pictures, and extract photos from video clips.
6. Picktorial
Picktorial is a complete photo editor for Mac and, as a result, a good alternative for Aperture. It includes digital asset management, RAW processing with a proprietary engine, support for over 500 camera models, and accurate color management, and many photo editing functionalities. Picktorial provides a neat workflow, with all the tools at hand and all your images well-organized. It offers batch processing, comparable editing, and history. Like with Aperture, image organizing features are intuitive and smart. You can rate your images and organize them in albums, edit metadata, and use keywords and saved searches to quickly find what you need.
Among its best photo editing features are selective adjustments using masks, skin smoothing, complex color tools such as color mask, curves, and selective hue, saturation, and luminosity adjustments, object removal, and built-in presets for quick retouches and styling. Adjustments are non-destructive because Picktorial works with layers.
7. Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is an awarded photo editing solution that can replace Aperture in no time. It’s available for macOS and iOS. Although it doesn’t provide digital asset management, Affinity Photo fully covers all the photo editing aspects from RAW processing to HDR editing, complex selection tools, and a huge library of brushes. It allows you to make subtle adjustments and retouch your photos but also to create artworks using artistic effects and brushwork, get perfect panoramas, and work with hundreds of layers.
All adjustments are non-destructive and you can preview the result at each step. You have tools for finesse adjustments such as skin retouching, blemish removal, sculpting features, and remove unwanted objects. Moreover, Affinity Photo support images larger than 100 Megapixels, offers pan and zoom at 60fps, opens and edits PSD files, and delivers ready-for-print images. It offers so much more than Aperture on the photo editing part.
8. On1 Photo Raw
If you’re looking to replace Aperture with a professional photo editor, ON1 Photo RAW 2020 is a complete solution you can trust. It provides everything you need, from image organizing features to RAW processing, AI-powered features for smart automatic adjustments, special effects, and SmugMug integration. ON1 Photo RAW 2020 isn’t a cheap investment but it delivers professional high-quality images, ready for print.
While it may seem too complex for beginners, ON1 Photo RAW 2020 also includes basic photo editing features such as color and tone adjustments and tools for fixing exposure, white balance, and contrast. In addition, it comes with hundreds of built-in presets, the AI Quick Mask Tool that automatically creates a mask for your subject, an edge detecting brush, and the AI Auto Tone that automatically adjust color and tone. So you have tools for fast, auto edits, and tools for finesse photo retouching and creative edits.
9. Raw Power
RAW Power 3.0 is a photo editor designed for macOS and iOS. It’s easy, fun, and completely dedicated to Apple users. As a result, you should consider it an Aperture alternative. RAW Power 3.0 offers exquisite image organizing functionality. Like Aperture, RAW Power allows you to keep your photos at hand and find what you need in seconds. It works with Photos library, supports iCloud Photos, and allows you to rate photos and work with multiple folders at the same time.
In terms of image editing features, RAW Power follows Aperture’s steps: RAW processing using Apple RAW, automatic enhancements for quick edits, tools for basic adjustments and tools for advanced edits, batch processing, and presets.
10. Core Image
Core Image is designed for real-time processing of images and videos. It isn’t an editor per se but an API that allows you to develop your own image editor. It provides hundreds of built-in filters, face detection, automatic image enhancement, and effects and you can mix them and create custom filters and tools. It runs on macOS and iOS and requires programming knowledge. Core Image is an alternative for Aperture only if you want something impossible to find in other editors and decide to develop it yourself.
When it comes to photo editing software that can enhance the images you capture with your digital camera, Apple Aperture and Photoshop are the top-of-the-line options that most professionals use. If you can’t manage to get the perfect shot in-camera, whether your lighting or exposure was off or there are objects in the background you need to remove, these creative programs will give you the ability to tweak the images until they are perfect.
Learning these intricate programs, however, takes time and dedication. Thankfully, there are many educational programs available online to teach you everything you need to know. For example, if you are a beginner, this course will teach you the basics of Photoshop, while this course is available for those who decide to work with Aperture instead.
Choosing the Program That is Right for You
Both Apple Aperture and Adobe Photoshop have plenty to offer to those who work in photography in any capacity, whether you are a photo editor or the person behind the camera. But while these programs are highly regarded for all the features they have to offer, what you will probably find is that one of them is better suited to your needs. Below are the main features of each so you can decide which one is right for you and worth your time and investment.
Before diving into a photo editing program, check out this helpful blog post on taking great shots with your DSLR camera if you’re a beginner.
Apple Aperture: An Easy to Use Photo Management and Editing Program
One of the best things about Apple Aperture is its easy-to-use interface. Every tool that is found within the program has a label, so even beginners can get to know the program fairly quickly without having to guess at what they are clicking on. The interface is also customizable so you can choose how to sort your images and how to view them.
Apple Aperture comes with a variety of editing tools for enhancing photographs quickly and easily. Users can adjust the white balance, saturation, and overall color of an image, as well as convert any photo to black and white and correct unwanted lens vignettes. Stacking photos that are very similar makes it easy to keep track of them and make edits to all of them at once, saving time. This is one of the reasons why, if you are a beginner when it comes to editing images, Aperture is a great choice.
This program is also one of the best for managing images, as it makes it simple to rate each photo and label it accordingly. You can sort the photos into albums and label them with a particular color code and keywords that will make it easy to locate them in the future. On top of that, Aperture allows users to identify faces in the photos, tag the location of an image, and add copyright notices.
Aperture will automatically save all of your RAW files so you will always have access to the original photos, as well as the edited versions. Original camera settings are also found easily in each photo’s metadata.
Apple Aperture will only operate on a Mac platform. If you already prefer working on a Mac, a course in Aperture 3 will give you all the information you need to start using this program.
Photoshop: A Photo Editing Software That Goes Above and Beyond
Adobe Photoshop, which is available on both Mac and PC platforms, gives you all of the tools that professionals from a variety of creative fields use every day to make their work truly stand out. Beginners can experiment, but it is advisable to take a course in Photoshop for beginners if you are interested in using the more complex editing features within the program.
Aperture Or Photoshop For Mac Os
Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CC are the latest versions of the software. CC provides everything that CS6 does, plus added features, including blur correction, camera shake reduction, and image upscaling. Photoshop is the program you want to have at your fingertips if you are serious about photography and you want to publish only the most crisp and vibrant photos.
Photoshop allows users to completely alter their images, whether they work with RAW files or JPEGs. By using layers, users can add special filters and effects to their images and remove them easily without affecting the rest of the photo. With the right filters, you can change an ordinary photograph into one that looks like an authentic painting or sketch, or you can enhance certain areas of the image while making other areas subtler. Colors can easily be enhanced or subdued as well, and images can be converted to black and white, sepia, and more.
Aperture Or Photoshop For Mac Pro
Smoothing out edges and imperfections throughout a photograph is also easy with Photoshop, which allows you to do everything from clear blemishes from a model’s face to enhance the color of her eyes. And, of course, there is the option of altering the lighting and exposure if you did not get it right in-camera. The program goes far beyond simple editing features, though, and gives you plenty of custom shapes and brushes as well, which can all be used to turn your photographs into works of art, literally transforming what was in the original image.
In order to ensure you never lose your original files or your edited work, simply use the background save and auto recovery features already built into Photoshop.
Which Will You Choose?
When choosing between Apple Aperture and Adobe Photoshop, consider what you will primarily be using the program for and how much time you have to devote to it. If you are looking for a photo management system with easy editing capabilities, Aperture should suffice, but if you are a professional looking for more features, Photoshop is sure to give you everything you need. If you are still unsure, this course in Photoshop for photographers will help you see the potential in this program and help you determine whether or not you really need it or if you would prefer something simpler.