Aperture is Apple's photo management and editing software for professionals or users who just want more power than Apple's iPhoto can offer. In many ways, you could call Aperture iPhoto Pro -- and that looks like it's an even more apt description in the latest version.
The software -- which is $199 for new users and $99 to upgrade from a previous version of Aperture -- lets you organize, edit and export or print all of your photographs.
Aperture 3 adds a bunch of new features, including the Faces and Places features first introduced in iPhoto '09. This feature will automatically detect people in your photographs, allowing you to add tags and identify people -- which makes exports to Facebook and Flickr pretty simple. The Places feature uses GPS data embedded in your photographs to add location-related data to the photo. This is really cool if you're on a trip and want to create a supplementary map of all the places you visited and took pictures.
The other big new feature with Aperture 3: It supports video. Photos are still the main focus, but as more and more digital cameras start to feature video and HD video, it makes sense to be able to import all the same data alongside your photographs. You can create a JPEG from a frame, create multimedia slideshows and edit clips. I just got my fiance a Panasonic GF1 micro four-thirds camera that shoots AVCHD Lite. Not having to use different programs to import footage from the card will be a great time-saver.
Even my favorite feature of Aperture -- Photo Books -- got an upgrade. You can now order extra-large 13x10 books, and Apple added some new book themes. I don't think I've ever given my parents a better gift than the Photo Book that I created with Aperture for Mother's Day 2008. The print quality was astounding and my parents still keep the book on the coffee table.