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Editor's note -- In this first of two parts, Ellen Anon (Aperture Exposed and Inside Aperture) takes you through the top half of the Adjustment palette brick by brick. In Part 2, she'll finish the work she's started here. This article is a terrific reference piece that I hope you use many times over.
Aperture 2.0 has expanded on the already impressive adjustment tools that were available in Aperture 1.x. I'll walk you step by step through each of the new tools and discuss how to use them most effectively with your images. Aperture groups the tools together in units called "bricks." Each brick contains tools controlled via sliders.
The raw conversion engine has been revamped in Aperture 2.0 to provide even better conversions. Although the conversion is customized for each camera model, it's quite conceivable that your individual camera body may differ slightly from the one Apple used as a prototype. If so, you may benefit from tweaking the RFT tools. I used to think that it was best to set these tools once for each camera and then leave them alone. And you can do that for many images. But you may also want to customize the settings for specific types of images, such as those that include extremely saturated colors, especially oranges and yellows, shots taken using long exposures, or high ISOs, etc. You can save various settings as Presets.
New raw files that you import will be decoded using Aperture 2.0 algorithms, however files from your older libraries will have the option to continue with the 1.0 or 1.1 decoding. If you've previously adjusted an image and are happy with it, leave it alone. However keep it in mind Apple feels the new decoding is more accurate, and the 2.0 conversion will give you access to different controls. To change to the 2.0 engine, choose 2.0 from the popup menu. In addition Apple is providing DNG support -- even for cameras that don't have full raw support. So you might opt for 2.0 DNG when you get a new camera that's not yet supported and then migrate to the 2.0 version when the camera is fully supported. You won't see the DNG option if the file is not a DNG format. (That means no more having to use a different program if you get a new camera before Apple releases full support for it!)
Within the 2.0 RFT brick, there are three groups of sliders. Boost will increase or decrease the contrast curve for the image. If you have an image that's quite contrasty, try decreasing the Boost. Hue Boost makes very subtle changes to colors, often nearly imperceptible, but it enables you to control the degree to which hues are preserved independently of the contrast boost. It seems most useful in images with highly saturated orange and yellow areas that are prone to banding, such as sunsets and sunrises that include the sun. Decreasing the Hue Boost can increase the detail and alter the color in those brightly saturated areas. Look at the following examples to see these effects.
Default settings for Boost and Hue Boost
Hue Boost increased to 1.00. Note the change in the yellows at the bottom.
Hue Boost reduced to 0
Boost reduced to 0, Hue Boost at Default
The Sharpening slider controls the amount of sharpening applied during the decoding to compensate for the slight softening that happens in the digital process. Use the Sharpening slider to control the amount of sharpening, and use the Edges slider to control what areas are affected by the sharpening. Dragging the sliders to the right will intensify the effect and dragging to the left will minimize it. If you have an image with a lot of noise, you may want to decrease the sharpening.
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