boxcolorRedhead
New member
What photo editing software would you recomend? I'm looking for one that is not too complicated, has many features, and is easy on the wallet.
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Best Photo Editing Software
- Thread starter boxcolorRedhead
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Rolf wrote:
Photo Brush at: http://www.mediachance.com/pbrush/index.html
Download and try it free for 30 days after that only $38.00 it is one of the finest and easiest that is made. Just download, no signing on and other hassles from this company.
Notice that most of all the opinions against this software is from people that has newer tried it and I have used it for several years, just got a free upgrade by the way, it is now better than ever.
........ Rolf
Photo Brush at: http://www.mediachance.com/pbrush/index.html
Download and try it free for 30 days after that only $38.00 it is one of the finest and easiest that is made. Just download, no signing on and other hassles from this company.
Notice that most of all the opinions against this software is from people that has newer tried it and I have used it for several years, just got a free upgrade by the way, it is now better than ever.
........ Rolf
Jeaco
Leading Member
--I am pretty amateur and purchased JASC. I find it pretty easy and it prints the sizes I need easily. For me, some other programs have some quirks that I find it hard to work with.
Jeaco
2cats
Senior Member
Your best bet is to download trial versions and see which one you're most comfortable with. Most of the better-known programs offer fully functional tryout versions.
If you don't want to spend over $100, Microsoft's Digital Image Pro is a good program. If you're morally opposed to Microsoft products, try Corel/Jasc's Paint Shop Pro (slightly more expensive at $120). It's a powerful tool with a good comfort level for a non-expert.
2cats
If you don't want to spend over $100, Microsoft's Digital Image Pro is a good program. If you're morally opposed to Microsoft products, try Corel/Jasc's Paint Shop Pro (slightly more expensive at $120). It's a powerful tool with a good comfort level for a non-expert.
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2cats
Tony Kindred
Well-known member
Thanks for the tip Rolf. Photo Brush looks really interesting. - Tony
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'In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone who are masters.' – Paul Gauguin
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'In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone who are masters.' – Paul Gauguin
lbuclk=
Senior Member
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15 years as a freelancer,(news,magazine, wedding photography) camera equip. over the years: Practica MLT, Canon A1, Minolta 9xi, 7xi, Dimage Z1(see my Z1 shots at http://www.photobucket.com ALBUM NAME: buckl the COMMUNITY album was done with the Z1, and most of the photos in the album:Other were w/the Z1)
Glen Barrington
Forum Pro
There is no best. It's really about which one is best for you and that is hard for others to determine. The most we can do is try to find out what is important to you and then offer suggestions for you to try out. Fortunately, most vendors offerfree trial downloads, if you can, take full advantage of them. It will save you money in the long run. below, Ihave listed the editors I have used extensively and a mini review.
Serif PhotoPlus 6 - FREE with no time limits! - my first editor. Moderately powerful with an interface very similar to Photoshop. It's more for the serious hobbyist and not so much for th casual user. Like Photoshop, it takes some time to learn and most PS tutorials work reasonably well for PhotoPlus. One of the nicest things about it is the company sponsored user forums on their web site. The users are friendly and very helpful. You could do worse than use this product. There are, of course upgrade versions that do more and have more wizards, but don't buy until you have tried the free version and know this is the direction you want to take.
Corel PhotoPaint - part of the Corel Graphics Suite around $500 US list but available MANY places for less than $150. You have to buy the entire suite to get PhotoPaint. This is probably the only editor that can make a reasonable claim to be Photoshop's competitor. It is EXTREMELY powerful and does everything that PS can do. Its User interface is its crown jewel, every review I have ever read of PP mentions how much better the UI is over Photoshop. It can be difficult to learn and there is only one tutorial book I know of called "Corel PhotoPaint - The Official Guide". fortunately it is a very good book. This program is really aimed at Graphic arts professionals. I own it, I like it, and occasionally use it for those BIG jobs.
Adobe Photoshop Elements - About $100 I have version 2 though now V3 is out. It's moderately powerful yet manages to provide a lot of hand holding for the casual user. For the stuff it doesn't do, you can buy add-ons to do them (look for a review of "The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements" - a book of addons on disk and instructions on using them). At first I was very impressed, but became somewhat disenchanted as it is a serious resource hog and can be very slow in operation. I bought it to satisfy my curiosity, I found it too simple for when I wanted to do serious stuff, and the interface irritating as all hell when I just wanted to to do something quick. A lot of people swear by it though and it deserves to at least be considered.
ACDSee Fotocanvas V3 - About $50 US - This is ACDSee's standalone photoeditor and not the simple editing tools found in ACDSee proper. This is the one I find myself using more and more. Though it won't do layers, it does levels, curves, all the other stuff a serious editor should do including using Photoshop Plugins. The user Interface is well designed and I think it is very intuitive. It has wizards for the novice as well, but most people will eventually opt for the regular set of controls because it is faster. It has simple color management rare in this price range which I like. It suits my photographic style very well as I don't do a lot of heavy editing. Cropping, tweaking color & exposure, along with the occasional dodging or burning of highlights or shadows is all I ever do.
Don't spend a lot of time agonizing over the editor you use. Most people I know usually go thru several editors before they settle on one or two. If you are new to photography, you probably don't even know what kind of photography you will end up doing most of the time, so you can't possibly know what kind of editor you are going to need. Have fun!
--
Stop the Insanity!
Diet and Exercise Kills!
Serif PhotoPlus 6 - FREE with no time limits! - my first editor. Moderately powerful with an interface very similar to Photoshop. It's more for the serious hobbyist and not so much for th casual user. Like Photoshop, it takes some time to learn and most PS tutorials work reasonably well for PhotoPlus. One of the nicest things about it is the company sponsored user forums on their web site. The users are friendly and very helpful. You could do worse than use this product. There are, of course upgrade versions that do more and have more wizards, but don't buy until you have tried the free version and know this is the direction you want to take.
Corel PhotoPaint - part of the Corel Graphics Suite around $500 US list but available MANY places for less than $150. You have to buy the entire suite to get PhotoPaint. This is probably the only editor that can make a reasonable claim to be Photoshop's competitor. It is EXTREMELY powerful and does everything that PS can do. Its User interface is its crown jewel, every review I have ever read of PP mentions how much better the UI is over Photoshop. It can be difficult to learn and there is only one tutorial book I know of called "Corel PhotoPaint - The Official Guide". fortunately it is a very good book. This program is really aimed at Graphic arts professionals. I own it, I like it, and occasionally use it for those BIG jobs.
Adobe Photoshop Elements - About $100 I have version 2 though now V3 is out. It's moderately powerful yet manages to provide a lot of hand holding for the casual user. For the stuff it doesn't do, you can buy add-ons to do them (look for a review of "The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements" - a book of addons on disk and instructions on using them). At first I was very impressed, but became somewhat disenchanted as it is a serious resource hog and can be very slow in operation. I bought it to satisfy my curiosity, I found it too simple for when I wanted to do serious stuff, and the interface irritating as all hell when I just wanted to to do something quick. A lot of people swear by it though and it deserves to at least be considered.
ACDSee Fotocanvas V3 - About $50 US - This is ACDSee's standalone photoeditor and not the simple editing tools found in ACDSee proper. This is the one I find myself using more and more. Though it won't do layers, it does levels, curves, all the other stuff a serious editor should do including using Photoshop Plugins. The user Interface is well designed and I think it is very intuitive. It has wizards for the novice as well, but most people will eventually opt for the regular set of controls because it is faster. It has simple color management rare in this price range which I like. It suits my photographic style very well as I don't do a lot of heavy editing. Cropping, tweaking color & exposure, along with the occasional dodging or burning of highlights or shadows is all I ever do.
Don't spend a lot of time agonizing over the editor you use. Most people I know usually go thru several editors before they settle on one or two. If you are new to photography, you probably don't even know what kind of photography you will end up doing most of the time, so you can't possibly know what kind of editor you are going to need. Have fun!
--
Stop the Insanity!
Diet and Exercise Kills!
Glen Barrington
Forum Pro
I left Gimp off of my list above.
In the past, one of the drawbacks of Open source was that lots of times you had to down load it, find a source and down load all the libraries, other things the software required. Basically do a manual install. But now, that is pretty much a thing of the past as individuals and groups have begun to create install files for the novice user. (Try http://www.OPENCD.org as a good place to start)
GIMP - FREE open source software. - People used to complain that "The GIMP" had a wierd quirky user interface that was hard to use. Well, it did. The latest version is much more consistent with conventional UI standards (though it is still a bit quirky). It's a very powerful editor and not for the novice or the nervous. It takes a while to learn and still lacks some features found in other editors. But you could do worse. While I have used it, it never caught on with me since my editing habits were set before I tried it. If you are looking for something for the casual user, this ain't it, but if you are a serious photographer, you should try it, the price is right.
Stop the Insanity!
Diet and Exercise Kills!
In the past, one of the drawbacks of Open source was that lots of times you had to down load it, find a source and down load all the libraries, other things the software required. Basically do a manual install. But now, that is pretty much a thing of the past as individuals and groups have begun to create install files for the novice user. (Try http://www.OPENCD.org as a good place to start)
GIMP - FREE open source software. - People used to complain that "The GIMP" had a wierd quirky user interface that was hard to use. Well, it did. The latest version is much more consistent with conventional UI standards (though it is still a bit quirky). It's a very powerful editor and not for the novice or the nervous. It takes a while to learn and still lacks some features found in other editors. But you could do worse. While I have used it, it never caught on with me since my editing habits were set before I tried it. If you are looking for something for the casual user, this ain't it, but if you are a serious photographer, you should try it, the price is right.
--
Stop the Insanity!
Diet and Exercise Kills!
Jeaco
Leading Member
--Also, if you want to purchase Jasc, I got it at COSTCO. It was really a good price with a rebate too. I believe in the end it was under $50.
Jeaco
Joe Fitzpatrick
Well-known member
Elements 3.0 gives you about 90% of the photo manipulation abilities of Photoshop CS for a fraction of the price. Plus it has an easy mode that is very user friendly. This gives you the best of both worlds. All the features when you need them, a simple, easy to use interface when you don't.
bill hansen
Forum Pro
It's still inexpensive, it has several valuable features which earlier versions don't have - true, the beginner won't use those features right away, but version 9 gives the beginner plenty of room to grow.
Bill
Bill
Resurrected by a spammer.
Doug
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Cheers,
Doug
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