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"The shoe has finally dropped. Apple confirmed today that it\u2019s ditching Aperture, its photo management tool, and iPhoto, its consumer photo editing app, in favor of Photos, a brand new desktop and iOS duo slated for debut in 2015.\r\nIt all makes sense. While Aperture has undergone some fairly high profile updates in recent years, iPhoto had stagnated badly. When the back-end databases of both apps were hitched together last year, it was a warning that something was on the horizon. But when?\r\nApple works on its own timetable and was not in a hurry to move things forward publicly. But in the background, as development of the new Yosemite operating system, announced at the WWDC conference, took shape the time to acknowledge a change in direction\u00A0had finally come.\r\nNot that there's an urgent need to take action right away. The apps will be fully\u00A0operational for quite awhile. And even after Yosemite is introduced later in the year, Apple has said it will support both iPhoto and Aperture in the transition.\r\n\r\n\r\nGood news for whom?\r\nA new photo app, indeed photo system that combines\u00A0Mac desktop, mobile and iCloud, is bound to be welcome news for the consumer iPhoto crowd. And it\u2019s sure to make some folks at Adobe smile, too. Even pro level-photographers and advanced enthusiasts who settled into the Aperture groove, while perhaps shaking their heads in dismay, seem to accept the inevitable.\r\n\u00A0\u201CI have to admit, on one level I'm a bit relieved that we finally know what's happening with Aperture, instead of the limbo it's been in for the last few years, &amp;quot; said Jeff Carlson, a professional photographer and author in Seattle. &amp;quot;I think the timing is a little odd, since anyone still using Aperture will no doubt start looking seriously at Lightroom to prepare for what's to come.&amp;quot;\r\nSaid Derrick Story, a pro photographer in Northern California, &amp;quot;My feeling is that Apple had to build a new app that incorporates Mac OS X, iCloud, and iOS. Trying to patch the existing software just feels clunky at some point.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nEveryone's a\u00A0photographer\r\nThis move by Apple acknowledges changing times.\u00A0Now that nearly everyone has a camera in their pocket -- literally -- we are all, in a sense, photographers. Since\u00A02005, when Aperture came on the scene, followed the next year by competitor Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a huge shakeout has\u00A0taken place in the photo industry.\r\nNot only have smartphones like the iPhone slaughtered sales of low-end point-and-shoot cameras on the\u00A0consumer end, the DSLR market also took a hit\u00A0from smaller, lighter, but powerful prosumer-level\u00A0compact mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, all catering to aspiring photo enthusiasts. The market was converging and the direction was toward the middle.\r\nSays Texas photographer Will Porter, &amp;quot;At one time, Aperture was the top dog in the world of raw workflow apps. I had some hope that they'd roll it off into a wholly owned subsidiary like FileMaker Pro, with the idea that the new independent company would release a Windows version of Aperture. Instead, it seems that Apple has decided that the future of photography lies in the iPhone.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n\r\nPro apps\r\nConvergence took place on the software end too. When it was introduced nine years ago, Aperture was a pro-level photo management tool with a pro-level price tag. Over time, however, the price dropped and numerous updates made it easier to use and more accessible\u00A0to a wider range of photo enthusiasts.\r\nSimilarly, Adobe\u2019s Lightroom, entering the scene as a direct competitor, wound up following roughly the same path. Now,\u00A0only one will be left standing.\r\nThe Photos app, which will be released next year, will offer a streamlined connection between Apple\u2019s desktop and iOS photo apps, one that Apple has been striving for ever since the introduction of iPhoto for iOS in 2012, in addition to\u00A0its enhanced concentration on the cloud.\r\n\r\n\r\nWaiting in the wings\r\nWhat choices will users have after Aperture is finished and iPhoto users move to the new Photos app? Adobe is awaiting what well may turn into a flood of new customers for\u00A0its new\u00A0Creative Cloud Photography program, according to a blog post by its Vice President of Digital Imaging,\u00A0Winston Hendrickson.\r\nAnother\u00A0viable alternative to Aperture is Corel\u2019s AfterShot Pro, for those who don\u2019t want to get involved in a subscription.\u00A0\r\nSaid Greg Wood, Corel's product manager, &amp;quot;We're getting ready for Yosemite now and unlike Lightroom, AfterShot Pro already supports the use of the file system to manage your photos -- like Aperture does. In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll be looking for more ways we can make the transition easy for Aperture users and you can expect to see more from us with AfterShot on the Mac in the near future.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n\r\nPro photo appeal?\r\nThe larger question for photographer Carlson, though is\u00A0how much the new Photos app will appeal to the pro crowd. \u201CWill Photos for OS X include any pro-level features? Will there be an upgrade path? I suspect that a brand-new app will start basic and move up over time.&amp;quot;\r\nStory believes, that as with the evolution of Final Cut Pro X, Apple will start at a basic level\u00A0and gradually gain ground to appeal to the most advanced users, adding more and more pro level features.\r\n&amp;quot;Personally, I'm going to sit tight and wait and see how my Aperture libraries migrate to Photos,&amp;quot; Story said. &amp;quot;I can always keep a legacy machine running Aperture during the transition period. Because I like the Apple ecosystem, I'm willing to wait and see how this pans out. If I can integrate my iPad and iPhone into my overall photography workflow, then I see that as a move forward.&amp;quot;\r\n\u27A4 Aperture\r\nAlso see: Apple will phase out Aperture and iPhoto, replacing them with the the Photos app"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/creativity/2014/06/27/demise-apples-aperture-iphoto-mean/>