PhotoGrow.com

Apple pitched the photo software, called Aperture, as a way for professional photographers to regain tools lost in the move from film cameras to digital technology. The application allows photographers to work easily with thousands of digital files and edit the photos using a digital equivalent of a light table for sorting and a loupe for magnification.

Another key feature is what Apple calls "nondestructive image processing," in which a master file is preserved and any edits stored merely as a list of changes. That saves file space and protects the original.

The new software appears to be positioned to compete with Photoshop software from longtime Apple partner Adobe Systems Inc., but a product manager at San Jose's Adobe said the well-known Adobe product has broader capabilities than Apple's new offering.

"There is overlap here in what this product does and what Photoshop does," said Kevin Connor, Adobe's director of product management for digital imaging. "But there's no way it could eliminate Photoshop."

Aperture will go on sale in November for $499.