Photo editing software ?

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bx338

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Name
john
Edit My Images
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Hi, im new to photography and the forum, i am using a Panasonic Lumix FZ100,
and so far im happy with it as a starter camera.

I didnt realise just how people edit their photos in some way, this is where i need some help as there is a lot of choice out there for image editing.

What would be the best software to get me started, and not cost a fortune ??
any pointers in the right direction will be helpful.
john.
 
I downloaded Adobe Lightroom yesterday on their 30 day free trial, im struggling at the moment but it looks good.
 
Try some of the free photoeditors

I use Photoscape and GIMP

Photoscape - has a limited range of feature (but I find they are often all I need) and it is very easy to use.

GIMP - does just about everything you are likely to want but more complicated


There are lots of others, eg

Paint.net, Irfanview, Faststone

Dave
 
Photoshop Elements will do more or less anything, but if you need to edit large numbers of pictures I'd suggest lightroom.
 
ok thanks, thats given me plenty to get me started.:thumbs:
 
Adobe is currently offering 40% off some of their software. Lightroom 3 is now £142.56 and I think Photoshop Elements 10 is included in the offer (I already have it so I didn't check), and Elements does almost everything you'd want from the full Photoshop while Lightroom is the quickest way to edit photos as well as manage your collection.
 
garryknight said:
Adobe is currently offering 40% off some of their software. Lightroom 3 is now £142.56 and I think Photoshop Elements 10 is included in the offer (I already have it so I didn't check), and Elements does almost everything you'd want from the full Photoshop while Lightroom is the quickest way to edit photos as well as manage your collection.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I am in a similar situation to the OP and have recently started a photography course. Up to now I have used Google Picasa which I have found easy to use but is a bit limited. I am being encouraged to get a better photo editing suite.

I have tried Gimp but did not get on with it.

I have downloaded the trial version of Elements 10 and found the editing features to be very good. However, I am finding the interface with Elements Organizer a bit frustrating, especially after Picasa which was very straight forward.

I have no experience of Lightroom or "Full" Photoshop but I am getting the vibe that Lightroom might suit me better.....good integrated way or managing and editing photos? Any comments?
 
I've given up using Elements Organizer as a) it's dog slow on my PC with just 2 GB of RAM, b) it doesn't automatically write metadata back to the file (e.g. tags), c) the method of tagging is tedious, and d) Lightroom makes everything much easier. It was built for managing large collections of photos and processing them quickly.

And if I want to edit a photo in Elements, in Lightroom I just select the photo and press Ctrl+E and it loads in the Elements Editor in a few seconds. I do my changes, press Ctrl+S to save the result, Ctrl+Q to quit, and I'm back in Lightroom with the updated edited results.

Very simple, very easy, very fast. Well, as fast as my limited memory allows...
 
Im just an amateur holiday snapper and i dont like to alter my photos much, so i think Photoscape is good for me. Cropping and levelling of horizons etc all available, all from free download. I dont like free trials, you tend to get pestered if you dont buy afterwards, or cannot delete it i find.
 
For photo editing, Photoshop Elements or if your on a Mac Pixelmator, you certainly don't need to spend a load of money.
 
I use LR3 for most of my editing, Elements 10 if needed.
Lightroom 3 is great for cataloguing and most editing jobs.
I also have Photoshop CS3, which rarely gets used.
 
One that isn't used very much as an editor but more of a viewer is the faststone programme.

For a beginner the editing capabilities are more than adequate and very, very easy to learn plus it is also free.

They do ask for a donation, so well worth a fiver or so through PayPal though it's not obligatory.

The link is here
 
I am very new to editing just bought elements 10 it's really
Good can pretty much do any thing on to and it's got a guided
Section that is very good shows you how to do things step
By step in a really easy and understandably way. Not silly money to buy too
 
I use iphoto/aperture with Nik software plugins.

Very good for me.
 
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