Which Photo Editing Software?

[Canon Soldier]

Hey guys, i need a real good photo editing software, because im tired of zoombrowser editing and photobucket's free editing. I wan't one that actually helps. I wouldn't like to spend mroe than 100 bucks. I NEED it to be user friendly, not some super complex system that takes years to master. I jsut read that Lightroom 2.0 is only 99 bucks, so since it fits my budget is it a good idea. I've heard some about Elements 6.0, is this a good choice. Help?

[ed rader]

Hey guys, i need a real good photo editing software, because im tired of zoombrowser editing and photobucket's free editing. I wan't one that actually helps. I wouldn't like to spend mroe than 100 bucks. I NEED it to be user friendly, not some super complex system that takes years to master. I jsut read that Lightroom 2.0 is only 99 bucks, so since it fits my budget is it a good idea. I've heard some about Elements 6.0, is this a good choice. Help?


i use lightroom for most of my editing. i use CS3 for resizing and sharpening. LR is amazing and it will be improved as time goes on.

ed rader

[jhom]

Ditto on LR and CS3. LR is great for most editing. CS3 for more detailed work.

[Eagle]

PSE 6.0 will serve you well. I like it better than the trial I had of Lightroom.

[ELT_Photo]

Sorry, Soldier, but LR is still $299 and LR2.0 is still in beta.
Try PS Elements 6 - lots of good features at a reasonable price -
then decide if you need LR and/or PS3

[Mike R]

Elements 6 is a good basic editor that should serve you well. It also has a very basic RAW editor. As you get more advanced you may want to consider Lightroom to go along with it. I Shoot in RAW and start in Lightroom, then export into Elements for the things that LR cannot do.

[Grentz]

My setup is lightroom with CS3, the two work great with each other, but it is expensive. Lightroom is very good for all your color adjustments, sharpening, cropping, etc.

It does not do any of the more advanced stuff though (selective coloring, touchup brushes, airbrush, smoothing, etc.). You need Photoshop for that.

[Canon Soldier]

no, i just read on the sigma 10-20 archive that with a student discout lightroom is 99 bucks from this one site. Looks like PSE6 is a good choice, but how does it compare to lightroom 2.0? CS3 is waaaay outa my leage, to complicated and costly. Thanx for all the rapid responses!

[Grentz]

Lightroom is a professional application, elements is more amateur based. Both work very well though.

Elements can do a bit more than just adjustments and cropping (from what I remember..its been awhile), while lightroom really can only do cropping and adjustments to the whole picture.

Lightroom 2.0 is not released yet, it is in beta. Currently the newest version is 1.4.

[Mike R]

Lightroom is a professional application, elements is more amateur based. Both work very well though.

Elements can do a bit more than just adjustments and cropping (from what I remember..its been awhile), while lightroom really can only do cropping and adjustments to the whole picture.

Lightroom 2.0 is not released yet, it is in beta. Currently the newest version is 1.4.

You would be surprised how far Elements has come (ver.6) although it is more amateur based as you said. I find it to be a great complement to LR

[Bill Pham]

gonna stick my neck out here and say paint shop pro X2. pretty cheap and works well for what i do. since i'm still learning to photoshop.

Bill

[LotsToLearn]

Another nod for Elements within that price range. It's quite good.

[Mark1]

I have Lightroom, Elements, GIMP, and Irfanview. They all are great for what they do.

I always suggest downloading GIMP, as it is free. If you don't like it you are not out the $60 like with elements. However I find myself using it more than elements as it does a lot more. A lot of people down it, but in fact it is a very powerful program.... for free!

[JohnJos]

I'm no expert photographer, just a novice in fact, but I find Paint Shop Pro an excellent alternative to PhotoShop. I have been using it for years, way before Corel acquired the product.

I also use The Gimp, mainly on my Linux PC but also on my Windows laptop. It does take some getting used to but it is a powerful image editing program.

I also second the recommendation for Irfanview which I also have been using for many years.

[echo]

Lightroom and PSE 6 works great for me.

[ed rader]

I'm no expert photographer, just a novice in fact, but I find Paint Shop Pro an excellent alternative to PhotoShop. I have been using it for years, way before Corel acquired the product.

I also use The Gimp, mainly on my Linux PC but also on my Windows laptop. It does take some getting used to but it is a powerful image editing program.

I also second the recommendation for Irfanview which I also have been using for many years.


i've been using irfanview for years too and love it. i view all my cards on irfanview before downloading (great Raw viewer).

i also use irfanview for fast editing like, say, for ebay pictures.

ed rader

[Mark1]

i also use irfanview for fast editing like, say, for ebay pictures.

ed rader

Exactly! Irfanview is a great fast and dirty editor. It is not ment to compete with the big boys. But for non esential stuff, Irfanview is perfect. There are even shell extentions you can use without even opening the program. You use them fron the right-click menu.

[trailblazer]

You can trying GIMP for Windows which has about 80% of the features of PS minus the plugins for PS which won't work in GIMP (It has its own plugins that work just as well).

If you want the GIMP to look like PS, there is a frequently maintained and updated hack/modification of it called GIMPSHOP, which pretty much looks just like PS (really!).

If you are interested, you can find it here:
http://plasticbugs.com/?p=300

Best of all, it is FREE!

[curiousgeorge]

gonna stick my neck out here and say paint shop pro X2. pretty cheap and works well for what i do. since i'm still learning to photoshop.

Bill

I'm no expert photographer, just a novice in fact, but I find Paint Shop Pro an excellent alternative to PhotoShop. I have been using it for years, way before Corel acquired the product.

I agree, I think Paint Shop Pro is a great tool at a fraction of the price.

[350D_Noob]

I also use Lightroom and CS3.

[rooeey]

PSE6 and a good book on how to use it .....

[Hland]

i use paint shop pro XI i tried photoshop and it was confusing to me psp just seemed more user friendly.

[Ade H]

Another vote for Corel PSP here.

It offers more than PSE6 and does so at less cost (in the UK at best online prices). On the rare occasion that I'm not using PSP, I use PhotoImpact, which is another highly specced bargain, but has limited availability now. Good for web graphics, which is why I have kept it.

But trial versions are there for this reason, so try them all at least once.

[ashleynaugust]

I have PSP9, PSElements 4, &PS7.

Of the three, PSP9 was the easiest for me to learn myself-but I'm trying to stick to PS because it is the industry standard and I don't want to try to simulate methods I see others using in a completely different program. Just a thought-I like PSP, but don't like that most photographer tuts seem to be in PS.

[Ade H]

Most of what they advise is quite directly comparable and replicable in PSP. I find that it doesn't usually take much "translation" to adjust the advice/instructions for PSP. Little things like sharpening values will be different, of course.

[thomaso.mirodin]

My recommendations are; Paint.net and GIMP. Both are free, and both give you a bit more power than you may be looking for; however they are great programs. They were my stepping stones before i went to Photoshop

[newbie builder]

I love Lightroom. I use it for 99% of my stuff, then CS3 for heavier edits (I should use CS3 more, but I'm just lazy).
Very easy to work with the programs together too.