newbie-what is a good editing software

i just recently purchased the canon 20d, and im thrilled! I think i've been up for 3 days straight reading through all of the threads . I've read where the pics need editing. what is good editing software? I have a few but they not that great in my opinion. I mostly due portrait, weddings, people shots .

thanks for you help

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 comes with your Canon 20D purchase. It's an excellent image editing application. You may eventually want to upgrade to the full blown version of Photoshop (CS) or to Elements 3.0 which permits RAW image processing. Get started with Elements 2.0 - there's a lot to learn.

I have Roxio Photosuite 5 that I highly recommend. Photoshop elements is for rather advanced work and a lot of effort is needed to get the quick results that Photosuite gives you within seconds.

maderito wrote:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 comes with your Canon 20D purchase. It's an excellent image editing application. You may eventually want to upgrade to the full blown version of Photoshop (CS) or to Elements 3.0 which permits RAW image processing. Get started with Elements 2.0 - there's a lot to learn.

I'll echo every word that Woody wrote. Elements will do just about anything you'll probably want to do when getting started with photo editing. But another good thing with it is that you're also getting a head start in learning Photoshop since most of the interfaces are the same or very similar in both. With any other editing program, switching to PS means you'll have to learn it from the ground up when you make the switch.

I'll echo every word that Woody and Leo said.

Plus, since Elements came with the camera it's free.


I don't necessarily agree with Hellashot. I've proven many times (see my tutorial Camera to JPG, Quickly) that PS can be quite fast. It's a very powerful tool - you don't *need* to use all that power.

However, I can't argue if someone says that PS is more difficult to learn than many other packages. But again, most of that is the power that isn't always needed.

I have PS Elements 2.0, and plan to upgrade to CS soon. My experience with this software, is that it's not easy. It took me a long time to understand some key functions, and only after reading other books about it. But once you start "thinking" like the software, it is an AWESOME tool!

Good advice! PS is the industry standard & you will never go wronk if you learn it.

If you don't have PS or Elements, try GIMP.org for a free & excellent software pgm. It has layers, lots of .doc, tutorials, & forum help, too.

Lets not completely rule out Paint Shop Pro 9 from jasc. May not be as powerful as adobe photoshop. but does have a lot of the features and at a 1/3 of the cost, I've used PSP for years and love it, I never could justify the cost of photoshop.

here is a link to both to compare

jasc http://www.jasc.com/pr​oducts/? about $129

adobe
http://www.adobe.com/p​roducts/photoshop/main​.html About $640

you decide..

Lets not completely rule out Paint Shop Pro 9 from jasc. May not be as powerful as adobe photoshop. but does have a lot of the features and at a 1/3 of the cost, I've used PSP for years and love it, I never could justify the cost of photoshop.

here is a link to both to compare

jasc http://www.jasc.com/pr​oducts/? about $129

adobe
http://www.adobe.com/p​roducts/photoshop/main​.html About $640

you decide..