Editing

[JustJessie]

What editing program/software would you suggest. I am not familiar with any of these---all of them sound "the best" but then again that is the point of marketing. Any suggestions?

 

[Trever1t]

Gimp is free and has a decent reputation. I use Adobe CS5 and struggle with it but it offers the most comprehensive editing features.

 

[Big Mike]

What is your experience level? What are your expectations (what do you want it to do)? And what is your budget?

Photoshop is THE best and it does just about anything you could want or need...but it's really expensive.
Photoshop Elements is a much cheaper 'Lite' version that is still pretty good.
Paintshop is a program that many people like.
GIMP is a free photo editing program that is said to be very good (for a free program).

My favorite and most used photo software is Adobe Lightroom. It's not strictly a photo editing program, it's more of a 'workflow' and organization program. It's not a replacement for an editing program like Photoshop, but I use Photoshop much less since getting Lightroom.

 

[vivalaveritas]

Lightroom and Photoshop Elements will get you by unless your doing some heavy editing. Then you would probably need to step it up to a Creative Suite.

 

[KmH]

As far a professional level software goes, Photoshop CS5, or even CS5 Extended is actually pretty inexpensive.

Obviously, someone new to image editing won't need professional level software. However, without knowing what the OP wants to use it for, makes making recommendations a shot in the dark.

Starting with free, open source applications, like GIMP, Raw Therapee, Photoscape, UFRaw, Picasa, and all the rest sure won't hurt.

 

[bigtwinky]

For full complete editing, Photoshop CS5 is king.

However, I do 85% of my processing in Abode Lightroom, with only minor trips for cloning and detail stuff in Photoshop.
You can also look at Aperture for the Mac

 

[JustJessie]

Cool. Thanks everyone Very helpful.

 

[er111a]

Cs5 is what I use

 

[TwoRails]

If you have the money, and the time for a long learning curve, then yes, Cs5. I don't use it, but have been using Paint Shop Pro for many years and find it much more functional than Elements. I have both but mostly never use Elements. I'm still using PSP X2, but here's a link to their newest release:

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 - Photo Editing Software

It's work a check out.