The Cupertino, Calif.-based company launched Aperture 2 with more than 100 additional features, a streamlined user interface, a new image processing engine and several new imaging tools that include highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning capabilities.

The software, available from both the company and its resellers, retails for $199.

"Many of the most respected photographers on assignment all over the world trust Aperture to organize, edit and deliver their images," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Product Marketing, in a statement. "With its simpler interface and lower price, anyone can take full advantage of Aperture's power."

Included in Aperture 2's interface improvements are single-touch navigation between viewer and browser modes and the ability to toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls in a single tabbed inspector.

Performance enhancements, useful to digital photographers on the go like sports photographers, allow photographers to browse RAW imagines without having to wait for files to load and also allow them to caption, keyword and rate images as they're being imported.

Aperture 2 runs on Mac OS X.