I've only begun playing with the new Aperture program, and especially the Nik Software plugins for it, but have really enjoyed what I've seen so far. I still haven't installed my Photoshop program in the new computer, but that isn't because it is unneeded or unwanted. I haven't been able to just transfer it (well I need my serial number) but I've seemed to misplaced my disks etc. The Photoshop program is an old one and I really should upgrade, I just don't want to put out that sort of money right now. So for the time being I'm making do without it.
But I digress… Aperture/Nik Software. The plugins from Nik Software, while moderately expensive are well worth the money, for me. Essentially in the bundle of plug ins you get: A sharpener; Efex that mimic various filters, or photo styles; a noise reducer; a dodge and burn tool; a tool for rendering photos in different styles of B&W; and tool for manipulating photos (saturation, brightness, contrast etc) or parts of photos.
Here is a small sample of what I played with last night (when I wasn't falling asleep at the computer). On the left is an original, albeit cropped, photo of Hilary with an iceberg (you didn't think I wouldn't work in an iceberg somehow did you?) in the background. The finished product is on the right.
After cropping the photo I changed the style to a "glamour" style with the Colour Efex Pro plug in. Then with the Vivenza plug in I played with different parts of the photo, darkening the area around her feet to get attention away from there, increasing the colour saturation around the iceberg and its reflection, and lightening the area around her head. Finally back in Colour Efex I added a blur to the edges of the photo to focus the eyes on the centre.
Next month there are a couple of webinars on using Aperture with the Nik Software plugins on Landscape photos and on animal/wildlife photography. Hopefully then I'll start to learn just what these programs can do.