# What complement to Aperture



## Grumbaki (Apr 5, 2013)

So I have my library on Aperture and I don't intend changing that for various reasons.

BUT, I feel that the editing tools aren't enough...

I generally do very little post on my pictures as my main style is photojournalism. It's mainly to correct flaws of a shot i couldn't repeat due to "the moment". HDR ability is cool for vacation photo but not a must.

Requirements: pretty much none. Aperture "pluginable" and not hundreds of dollars would be a plus. Hardware isn't an issue but it's OSX only. If relevant for comparison, I only shoot full RAW on a 5d3 (but anyway my library won't be held by this software so shouldn't impact much).

From my readings there is 3 options:
- Adope CS/Elements or whatever: mostly cons (not pluginable, way overkill for what I need, price for the bigger ones). Advice on which one is the best for light work would be welcome.
- DxO: price is a bit on the high side
- Photo Ninja: seems somehow less advanced.

So basicly, except if someone can sell me an adobe product, it's either get the dollars out for DxO or hope that Photo Ninja will be enough.

Any opinion welcome, other solution that I wouldn't have seen too. 

Thanks!


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## neuroanatomist (Apr 5, 2013)

I think DxO is a much better RAW converter than Aperture. I do use Aperture for library management, I just bring in the JPGs from DxO. I use CS6 for 'creative' processing.


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## Hobby Shooter (Apr 5, 2013)

Hi, I shoot RAW on my 5D3 also and I use Adobe Lightroom, a great product for both basic and more advanced processing. Plugins available for timelapse. Not for HDR as far as I know, I've heard good things about Photomatix and Luminance for that.


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## cosminelfloricel (Apr 5, 2013)

The best plugins I've used are from nik software, but if you want to have 100% freedom of making adjustments you should use photoshop. The tools there are so much better, but it requires some learning time.


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## JohnnyOntheSpot (Apr 5, 2013)

I usually never post, but...

I think Aperture 3 is a massively underrated application, especially since the OP is using a Mac. If your primary style is PJ, then there's basically nothing you can't do with Aperture that fits into that vein. 

To return to the question at hand, Noise Ninja is my most used plug-in. Besides good noise reduction, it provides much better USM (sharpening) than either of Aperture's two stand-alone options.

As a Raw converter, I find it on par with LR4; (I don't use ACR much bc it slows down my workflow).


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## bycostello (Apr 5, 2013)

one of the reasons lr4 and cs6 work so well..


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## Grumbaki (Apr 9, 2013)

Thanks for the input. I went with Nik collection and will make sure to read all the thin print to make the most of Aperture (wasn't really a power user). Should be way enough for PJ as Johnny said,


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