good photo editing software/programs for amateur?

WesternGuy · Aug 28, 2011

mommyfran said:
I'm just starting my journey photography. So I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice in what the best editing program would be for me to start with? It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

You can download any Adobe product, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, etc., and use it free for 30 days here: Adobe - Downloads , so if you are interested in trying either or both then you might want to think about the free (for 30 days) downloads. If you decide to go with either product, then I would buy a good book and work through the examples in the book. Most "good" books will have a web site where you can download a lot of the images in the book for your convenience, to work with as you read through the book itself. Not only that, but there are a number of sites on the web which have tutorials and such for you to follow through as well as a number of discussion forums for each relevant product. For example, a good one for Photoshop Elements can be found here: Elements Village - Powered by vBulletin and for Lightroom, you can find one here: Lightroom Forums There are, of course others, as well as many "learning sites" as I have indicated.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

PerfectShotPhoto · Sep 21, 2011

Great tip from WesternGuy. I agree. Trying them out is the best way. Do keep in mind that certain programs have higher learning curves than others so you'll have to be patient. Youtube is also a great place to find tutorials on software.

trizzo · Sep 21, 2011

If you shoot with Nikon take a look at Nikon View NX2. It has a lot of options how to edit your shots.

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dec11ad · Sep 24, 2011

or google "gimp" and give that a shot.

it's free....

shootermcgavin · Sep 24, 2011

Photoshop elements 9 has tons of features, I can't really see needing more than that for editing photos... Unless you're looking to make them fake and have lazer beams shooting out of eyes and stuff like that. I'd say it'd take about 40hours on youtube to learn elements 9 and feel comfortable

BuS_RiDeR · Sep 24, 2011

480sparky said:
GIMP if you're poor, PhotoShop if you're rich.

I use GIMP almost exclusively for all my PP needs from simple cropping, converting to B&W or Sepia, or more advanced stuff like changing a background or fixing blemishes....

Its FREE and very powerful. Also there are MANY YouTube tutorials for GIMP.

I am definitely a poor man and I love it.

WWW.GIMP.ORG

KmH · Sep 25, 2011

Compared to Photoshop CS, GIMP has some serious limitations.

No Raw converter, though there are plug-ins
No image browser, organizer
Limited bit-depth editing capablility

480sparky · Sep 25, 2011

FWIW, I'd rather spend money today on gear than software. Getting good images now is more important than having fancy software. When I can afford PhotoShop and it's entourage of plug-ins, my archives will still be there.

mwdoher · Sep 29, 2011

Can I ask what the general consensus is on Apple's Aperture 3? It's only $80 and I've got a gift card... Just trying to get set up and get started with something entry level. I have a copy of PS CS4 that I have from work. I "get it" that I should just use that, but Aperture - while I get started and learn the ropes - just seems to be pretty user friendly. PS just looks kind of daunting. Thoughts?

KmH · Sep 29, 2011

You have in PS CS4 Camera Raw (ACR 5), the parametric image editing equivelent both Aperture 2 and it's Adobe counterpart - the Develope module of Lightroom 2, have.
PS CS4 Bridge allows many of the file management workflow features both Aperture and Lightroom offer, like rating and keywording.

PS CS4 is pretty user friendly, but it offers features, functions, and capabilities well beyond what Aperture and Lightroom have available, making the PS CS4 learning curve longer.

PS CS4 may be more approachable as 3 separate applications Bridge, Camera Raw, and Photoshop.

Certainly any application will have a learning curve and having some guidance is always helpful:
Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4

mwdoher · Sep 29, 2011

Love the way that book is laid out (thank you Amazon.com preview feature). I'm not a PS rookie, but I am when it comes to photography editing. Consider the book purchased. I'll make the effort to use the Adobe suite as it was intended, and I'll use my gift card @ apple to buy a memory card and a reader.

Matt

Oh, and TY for the reply, KmH

BuS_RiDeR · Sep 29, 2011

KmH said:
Compared to Photoshop CS, GIMP has some serious limitations.

No Raw converter, though there are plug-ins

No image browser, organizer

Limited bit-depth editing capablility

But Gimp is free... And the limitations you mentioned aren't that big of a deal for the average beginer or amateur photographer.