buttonkitty72 Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Hi All, I am fairly new to digital photography and was wondering what would be the easiest and most inexpensive editing software for me to start with. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zackojones Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 I would start using whatever software comes with your camera, if any is provided. I have a Canon and have found Digital Photo Professional (DPP) suits my needs quite well. I also recently bought Adobe Lightroom and am learning how to use it to do things I can't do in DPP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahockley Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 I really think that for what 90% of folks need to do, you can't beat the price/feature combination of Adobe Photoshop Elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saskphotog Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Have a look too at Paint Shop Pro for editing. It will do 99% of anything a photographer would ask of Photoshop and is very reasonable in price. It is more than most photographers need (I agree with the comment about Elements being adequate for most) but you can grow into it with your developing knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacob_brown Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 iPhoto and Preview, both free and included on your Mac, let you do basic editing, cropping and image adjustment. GraphicConverter is a great, inexpensive piece of shareware you can also use for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_tanner Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 How can no one mention the Gimp. Its freeware version of Photoshop essentially and a lot of it is basically identical. I've never used the gimp, but tell my gimp friends what Photoshop can do. Personally, that is what I would use if I weren't using Photoshop. Next would be Photoshop Elements possibly, but I haven't looked into it much. But free versus $70 is an easy decision to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sher811 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I would recommend photoshop elements as well. You can download a free 30 day trial version from adobe.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtwhite Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 It depends on your OS, but if you're on windows or linux give Picasa and Gimp a try. Both are free and stable. Picasa is pretty good for organization and most editing functions a beginner needs, Gimp can handle retouching and more in-depth editing. You might outgrow them later on, but they're a good place to start without spending a single penny. Gimp is also available on macs, but you'll need to install the X11 package first. As a side note, I'm honestly surprised (but happy!) that Google has kept Picasa free. I've been in the computer industry a long time, and I've seen software with far fewer features, much worse user interfaces and far more bugs sitting on store shelves begging for sixty bucks or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_tanner Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Agreed on picassa. I still use it to email multiple photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronald_moravec1 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Quality processing can be done easily with Photoshop Elements 5. $99 Picasa is free, has a great organiser, but the photo editing functions are VERY limited compared to Elements 5. It is super for sharing photos as you can put them up on your own webpage and the recipient can download or view. Nikon NX is easy to use and versatile. Better if you have a Nikon and shot raw, but it accepts JPEG abd TIFF from anywhere. Photo Mechanic has not been mentioned. DXO another. More I can`t remember. Nice thing about elements is if you decide to go into full photoshop ever, it basically works the same way. For home editing, Elements is all you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainer_t Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 RawConversion + Imageedition ... - DPP (if you use canon) ... free SW - Photoshop Elements 5 ... doesn't cost much Viewing ... - Irfanview (if you use windows) ... free again Noise ... - The demo-version of NeatImage ... free, (but of limited use) Lens Distortion ... - the ptlens plugin ... below 20$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjoseph7 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 You might want to try 'Picture Window Pro' for $89. It does about everything you would want to do with a picture, plus it has no problems reading RAW files. Some of the comands are kind of quirky though. Photoshop Elements ($99) version 4.0 is also pretty good and is the first step to Photoshop. I like it because it does some things easier than Photoshop, such as sending emails, color correction, red-eye removal. It is also less bulky ! There is a version 5.0 out there but I think it's overkill for somebody just starting out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltcod Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Whatever you decide on, let Picasa do the organization work for you. Its really something special. PS Elements is quite powerful and the GIMP is everybit as powerful as the full blown Photoshop if you can get past the quirky interface (I can't) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eleary Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Elements worked great for me...went through 3, 4 and 5! Now on CS3...hard to beat...and no I still don't know what I am doing!....just kidding...sorta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnclinch Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Can I second picture window pro its the only real budget option if you need: 16 bit image processing and/or full colur management tutorials here http://www.normankoren.com/PWP_intro.html The advantage of PSE5 is that you are learning an interface that will lead to CS, if funds allow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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