Editing Programs

[ereid]

I am an extreme beginner and am looking to start playing with editing my photos. Just wondering what programs you recommend i use. Are some easier to understand for beginners? are there any online courses for certain programs?

thanks for any suggestions

 

[usayit]

I like photoshop elements. Also makes for an easy transition to their more powerful (but same interface) photoshop CS3 (or whatever is the latest).

 

[Sideburns]

Use Lightroom.
Most noob AND professional friendly program around.
I know how to do a lot of things in photoshop, but do I want to? Not really...

Lightroom puts it all at your fingertips, and lets you do only the things photographers would want to do...with a simple one click operation.

It's very powerful, but simplified so even a "dummie" can do it.

It's called "adobe photoshop lightroom" in stores.

 

[dtlasky]

I agree, I would say go with lightroom, or if your using a mac, Aperture.

OR both like i have along with the cs3 suite

 

[Kanikula]

Definatley go for Lightroom. Iv had my copy for a few weeks now, and i really dont know how iv managed without it!

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

That is what this is all about...
Everyone says LIGHTROOM. and it's great. But I prefer CS3... (personal choice). Both together is how they were envisaged, and works well (Photoshop for editing, and light room for work flow) .

I'm not too sure I understand what sideburns means when he states that lightroom allows you to do "only the things photographers would want to do". But then we all have our own views on things.

As a beginner Elements is fabulous. does most things and is quite cheap. Could do a lot worse than elements.

 

[seafoxfla]

I use CS3, and NX (Nikon). I also use Paint Shop Pro X2. it's a pretty good program and not very expensive about $60.00 and is very good and easy to use for someone who is just starting out. I would download a trail version on most of these and check them out.

 

[elsaspet]

Lightroom, though I love it, is a bit expensive on a beginner level. I vote for Elements. It's under a hundred bucks, and really all you need for now.

 

[Keagle]

I too vote for Lightroom. If you can pair it with CS3...your sorted. But Elements is supposed to be great, and it's cheapish.

 

[Isaiah527]

my university provides all students with elements, and students that are in design majors with photoshop. Elements is a great tool.

 

[Heck]

If your looking for something free to try, I use picasa2, Paint.net, gimp 2.

 

[JerryPH]

I am surprised at all the pro Lightroom votes. I have the following software so far:

- Capture NX
- Elements 5
- DxO
- Lightroom
- Bibble

Of this bunch, CaptureNX gives me the nicest results if just basic post-processing is wanted. DXO and Bibble come in together at second and Elements and Lightroom come in dead last in terms of picture quality, but they have other features like Lightroom's cataloging capabilities (big deal, I can catalog my own pics, thanks... lol).

Depends on what you want. Quality pics or ok pics with features to do other things that NX cannot. NX is a bit CPU and RAM hungry, though.

 

[Lars Leber]

For a beginner Adobe Photoshop Elements is great.

I use Photoshop CS3 and for some photos also Dynamic-Photo HDR.

 

[ricepudding]

What does Raw hungry mean?

 

[JerryPH]

Not sure what RAW hungry is... but RAM hungry is pretty self explanatory.