Editing Software for occasional photographers

Friends of mine asked what I use for photo editing and what would I recommend. They are really vacation / special event

photographers who use their Canon D-Rebel about once a year and do not remove the Tamron 18-270mm lens from the

camera. They also shoot JPEGs exclusively and will not want to learn about color space or get their screen calibrated. I am

having a hard time recommending Lightroom given the cost and learning curve, which will likely need to be revisited annually.

They generally use whatever software that was included in their latest PC.

 

Any suggestions? Free would be nice! I came across "paint.NET" which is free and designed for occasional users. They

could of course get Canon's Digital Photo Professional, but my view of DPP is a decent RAW converter for Canon but not

very user friendly for basic photo editing. I would think they need the ability to crop, adjust exposure, white balance

correction, and some color and contrast adjustments. Thanks.

<p>If you can find a copy of Picasa (Google no longer has it available) it was a decent casual use tool.</p>

<p>Also give IrfanView (<a href="http://www.irfanview.com/">http://www.irfanview.com/</a>) and FastStone (<a href="http://faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm">http://faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm</a>) some consideration.</p>

+1 for Faststone image viewer. Freeware and relatively easy to use.

Picasa did a good job too but it is no longer supported by Google.

<p>Another vote For Faststone Image Viewer. Although my primary editing tool is Lightroom, I use Faststone to quickly sort through images, etc., and for quick edits of images that don't need a lot of work. It does a very good job of basic editing, is supported very well, and as already mentioned, is free.</p>

<p>I find <em>alternativeTo</em> useful in cases such as this. You can search for Picasa for example, and filter by platform and licence type. Here's a shortcut to free Windows alternatives:<br>

<a href="http://alternativeto.net/software/picasa/?license=free&platform=windows">

http://alternativeto.net/software/picasa/?license=free&platform=windows</a></p>

<p>It is not free, but Photoshop Elements (PSE) is a decent editor and DAM (Organizer) Unlike Picasa, it is supported. The Organizer has a backup function. If they choose to use it, it gives them a fighting chance to retrieve all those images that suddenly become "irreplaceable memories" when the disk crashes, ransom ware strikes, or the computer is stolen.</p>

<p>Around the Holidays, it usually goes on sale for a reasonable price at Amazon, B&H, Adorama, and the usual suspects.</p>

Irfanview.

<p>Elements costs under £50 here in the UK and seemingly little more than $50 in the USA and will take you from very basic to moderately extensive editing. About the price of a decent dinner. Can't really see beyond that.</p>

<p>I still use PSE 8. I like so much I bought a separate CD player just so I could load it on my new Mac.</p>

Thanks. I will give Faststone a look. With respect to PSE, I tried it about 15 years ago and it was not what I

would call user friendly. Is the current version easy to use and would not be a burden to learn for a very

occasional user?

<p>Two products from France (menus in English): XnView and PhotoFiltre. Both free to download and use.</p>

<p>Kenneth, when I was less experienced and was fumbling about with my first digital camera (a bridge camera), I used a web-based editor that was - and still is - easy to use: Here's a link: https://www.befunky.comefunky. </p>

<p>My experience is that some things are inherently complex and hard to make easy-to-remember-how-to-use. This applies to many more things than just software, but I'll talk about the software case. The problem is that while many of us want to do only a few simple things with this complex software, we each have a different set of simple things that we want to do, so it is not financially practical to create different simple versions for small groups of us.<br>

<br /> My solution is old fashioned: A notebook. I invest the time to figure out what I want to do and then write up instructions for myself so that I won't have to climb the learning curve more than once. Well, actually it's usually the second time - a year later, or whatever -- when I realize that I need to write it all down.<br>

<br /> FYI, I use a notebook rather than either sheets of loose paper or an electronic file is that for me a notebook / day-book is easier to keep track of.</p>

<p>There's the open-source freeware product, Gimp. It's actually quite powerful, but certainly works for occasional use.</p>

<p>I prefer Paint Shop Pro. It's up to version X9 now. I'm still using X7. I find it much easier to use than Photoshop or Lightroom, but it too is quite powerful. Yet its user interface is very simple on the surface, so one can be up and running with it quickly. </p>

<p>I think version X9 is available for $79. You can also find earlier editions (new and unopened) on eBay for substantially less. I've done that before.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I use Photoshop Elements 11 (as well as Lightroom) and love it, and I suppose the two modes that are not "expert", which I use, would be great for the casual user.<br>

<br />Free, there is Irfanview, very highly respected. I use it often for quick viewing though it can do a lot more.<br>

Picasa is not now available from a reputable site. There are quite a few sites that offer it but are dodgy, such as Softonic. One site looks like FileHippo, which would be safe, but when you look more closely it is a ripoff, being something like download.FileHippo, <strong>not the same !</strong></p>