Editing Exposure and Color in Aperture 2

I have officially started learning how to use my fancy camera and my new fancy photo editing software.  I am a dedicated Mac user and therefore, I have decided to use their photo editing software Aperture 2 to edit my photos.  It is instinctive for me.  I have tried using Photoshop, but it doesn’t seem to flow in the way that my mind works.

I recently went to the Utah State Capital Building at night and took some photos. Here is the original.

Now, I tried to get the right exposure and shutter speed right, but I could still tell when I got home that the tree is “lost” and the capital looks a little alien against the black sky.  I also didn’t like the colors.  I wanted more of the yellow from the tree to come through.

Well Aperture 2 make it really easy to make changes in exposure and color.  You click on the adjustments tab and slide the dot along the lines and it immediately shows you the changes to the picture.  You get instant results.  And if you don’t like what you did, there is a reset button.

This is the settings before I meddled with them.

Here they are after.  As you can see, I increased the exposure and changed the colors ever so slightly.

And here is the finished product after I cropped it.

It doesn’t really look like the same picture.  I like that you can now see the entire tree.  I like that the capital looks like it is glowing in the moonlight, and I like the warm colors of the tree, but it hasn’t affected the white of the capital.

Here is a side by side comparison.

I really think that Aperture 2 is easy to use and you don’t need to be an expert on exposure, white balance, lighting, color, or anything else.  You simply slide it along, watch the changes, and stop when you like what you see.

And they have great tutorials, videos, downloadable documents, and lots of external sites to help you out.  And it is only $200 – plus you can get a free 30 day trial to see if you really like it before you buy it.  I have 9 days left on my free trial and I completely plan on buying the program.