What software to get

I need something to help me adjust colors and light to my digital photos. I don't shoot raw and am really a rookie just needing to know what the biggest bang for the buck for a guy learning to edit his own photos.

I'm currently testing Lightroom on there free trial but I understand it's for those who use Raw. I also have Corel but it don't have many options to work with. Same with software that came with my xti.

Thanks in advance.

How about Photoshop Elements? Nice and cheap and will do everything you need for your pictures.

Gliderparentntn wrote in post #3177305
I need something to help me adjust colors and light to my digital photos. I don't shoot raw and am really a rookie just needing to know what the biggest bang for the buck for a guy learning to edit his own photos.

I'm currently testing Lightroom on there free trial but I understand it's for those who use Raw. I also have Corel but it don't have many options to work with. Same with software that came with my xti.

Thanks in advance.

Not true. While Lightroom is an excellent RAW processor you can also do non-destructive work on JPEG, TIFF, and PSD files. You don't have to use RAW files, but RAW offeres more flexibility in recovery of highlights and shadows than JPEG as well as better WB adjustments.

As mentioned above Elements is also a great program (and a trial version is available as well).

I would vote for Elements as well. I have used Corel Paint Shop Pro and while it's a very good product, the standard within the photography community tends to be Adobe and Elements will give you a very good tool to learn and grow with. I have just recently ordered CS3 because of the need to produce higher end products.

Thanks for the plug on Elements. I'll purchase this and work with it and as I learn I'll move up to more advance software and maybe by then I'll some what have all this mastered.

Gliderparentntn wrote in post #3177532
Thanks for the plug on Elements. I'll purchase this and work with it and as I learn I'll move up to more advance software and maybe by then I'll some what have all this mastered.

Don't forget what In2Photos said and try the free trial version first to see if you like it:

I'm presuming you're on Windows (not sure if the MAC version has a trial, I'm sure someone will correct me): http://www.adobe.com …hotoshopelwin/t​ryout.html

Thanks, I'm in process of downloading the free trial version of Elements and take advantage of both elements and lightroom side by side.

I am running windows both xp pro and vista with a dual boot option.

For anyone who is interested (or cares ) , the Mac version of PS Elements has been stuck at 4. iPhoto & Preview (both bundled w/new machines) have basic image editing capabilities (brightness/contrast, saturation, tint, sharpness, exposure, etc).