Back To Aperture Basics

I was attacking my photo backlog and happened across some shots from 2007 in Las Vegas. I remember the trip very well, had a nice room in the Bellagio on a high floor, with excellent evening views of the strip. And several evenings gifted me with kisses of pink in the sky during the blue hour. In 2007, my photography was in infancy (and I'm say I'm a toddler now :).  I was firmed wedged in Auto on my Nikon D70s. Adventurous experimentation meant dialing in one of the "cartoon modes".

When I encountered the photo here, I almost passed it by. It's not an amazing photo - but a memory for me and the family. But out of the camera it looks...well...pretty darn bad to be polite. The pinks and blues the sky show a little promise, but the rest of the image is thoroughly depressing. Thankfully, I gave some post-processing a go. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. In the video below I walk through an Aperture session applying these adjustments.

After some very basic adjustments in Aperture, I've got an image that's not too shabby. The moral of this story...Take the shot. And don't forget a few basic adjustments can do wonders.