Aperture and Curves

mercphotomercphoto Registered Users Posts: 4,550 Major grins
edited December 31, 2008 in Finishing School
I'm wanting to make sure I don't make a decision on LR versus Aperture for the wrong reason. LR lets me adjust the curves, and to save curves to apply to new images with a button click. Nice. Aperture doesn't have a curves dialog though, only levels. But do they have something equivalent that I'm missing? I usually only do a mild S-curve, but even that mild S-curve can have a big impact on the image's pop and appeal.
Bill Jurasz - Mercury Photography - Cedar Park, TX
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Comments

  • zackerzacker Registered Users Posts: 451 Major grins
    edited June 20, 2008
    Personally, id go with LR.. esp if you have Photoshop now. but then, i never tried Aperture so...
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  • gregneilgregneil Registered Users Posts: 255 Major grins
    edited June 20, 2008
    Check out this quick tutorial on quarter-tone control using Levels... You can actually get very good results from the Aperture levels adjustments. I find I don't need curves for the bulk of my work. You can save settings as a preset, and you can lift and stamp a setting on multiple images.

    http://www.apple.com/aperture/tutorials/#adjustedit-advlevels
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  • mercphotomercphoto Registered Users Posts: 4,550 Major grins
    edited June 20, 2008
    gregneil wrote:
    Check out this quick tutorial on quarter-tone control using Levels... You can actually get very good results from the Aperture levels adjustments. I find I don't need curves for the bulk of my work. You can save settings as a preset, and you can lift and stamp a setting on multiple images.

    http://www.apple.com/aperture/tutorials/#adjustedit-advlevels
    Thanks! That's what I needed to know: was there some other feature that would produce similar results. I'll go over the tutorial this weekend.
    Bill Jurasz - Mercury Photography - Cedar Park, TX
    A former sports shooter
    Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
    My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
  • CatOneCatOne Registered Users Posts: 957 Major grins
    edited June 22, 2008
    zacker wrote:
    Personally, id go with LR.. esp if you have Photoshop now. but then, i never tried Aperture so...

    Always helpful to give advice when you know nothing about one of the products ne_nau.gif
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  • WachelWachel Registered Users Posts: 448 Major grins
    edited December 31, 2008
    CatOne wrote:
    Always helpful to give advice when you know nothing about one of the products ne_nau.gif

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  • leaforteleaforte Registered Users Posts: 1,948 Major grins
    edited December 31, 2008
    CatOne wrote:
    Always helpful to give advice when you know nothing about one of the products ne_nau.gif

    But you may know something about the other one that could be helpful. :D
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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited December 31, 2008
    I started with Aperture when it was introduced by Apple, and really did not cotton to Lightroom V 1 at all.

    But Lightroom V2 really has grabbed me. LR2 lets me use the same RAW engine ( essentially Camera Raw V 4.6 to 5.2 ) that I use in Photoshop. The integration of LR2 to Photoshop is quite good now - I can pick files in LR2 and send them to PS to render a multi-frame pano, or a multiexposure HDR, and then send the files back to LR for further work.

    If you do not use the layers and masks of Photoshop, and do not need the integration for panos and HDRs, then you may like Aperture's workflow very nicely. I no longer use Aperture myself, because I need the features that are available in PS and Photomatic among other programs.
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