Apple releases Aperture 2

Apple on Tuesday introduced Aperture 2, a major upgrade to its workflow and lossless image editing software for professional photographers. Aperture 2 is now priced at $199. Owners of Aperture 1 can upgrade for $99.
Aperture 2 adds more than 100 new features, a streamlined user interface and a new image processing engine, according to Apple. New imaging tools have been added, to help photographers recover highlights, bring out color vibrancy, manage local contrast definition, do soft-edged retouching and vignetting, and fine-tune RAW images.
"The theme of this release is performance, simplicity and imaging," said Kirk Paulsen, Apple's senior director, application Product Marketing.
Aperture 2 now lets users post their image portfolios on .Mac Web galleries, or to the iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Users can switch between the Viewer and Browser modes using a single key command; an all-in-one heads up display lets users toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls using a single tabbed inspector.
There's a new All Projects view that's been modeled after iPhoto's Events view. It provides a "poster" photo for every project and the ability to quickly skim through the photos inside. An integrated iPhoto browser helps you access directly any images and events you have stored in iPhoto.