Photo Editing Software - Newbie

[Big Monkey]

Hi all,

Just want to get your thoughts/advice on photo editing software for a newbie. I have had a go of Photo Shop CS2 and found it very difficult to understand and use to it's full potential. What other programs are available that are user friendly? I have also had a go with Paint Shop Pro X2 and found it relatively good.

Your thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers
Big Monkey

[Marvin]

Photoshop elements 6 is a "dumbed down" version of photoshop. It pretty much has auto stuff though.

[ATJ]

What camera do you have (this can make a difference)? What specifically do you want to be able to change with your images?

There are loads of applications out there and they all have their strengths and weaknesses depends on what you specifically want to do. For example, if you have a Nikon camera, CaptureNX will do a fantastic job on the raw conversion and also let you change most things (white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, etc.) but won't let you add water marks. It also allows you to edit metadata but is pretty clunky for that purpose.

[Big Monkey]

Thanks guys

I have a D200 and sb600 atm. I will probably use it mostly for colour enhancement, adding borders, white balance, exposure, contrast and touching up.

Just looking for a program that won't break the bank, but still be usefull. Not sure about the Raw side of things, as I only shoot Jpegs atm. But this will hopefully change!

Cheers
Big Monkey

[ATJ]

If you are only shooting JPEG, PaintShopPro will do all that you want and is fairly easy to use (although I should say that versions of PSP up to 9 very pretty good and then Corel nobbled the later versions).

You should really consider shooting raw as it is much more forgiving and you have much more scope for edits. CaptureNX is the best raw processor for Nikon cameras and will do all the things you list except adding borders. Lightroom is worth a look - you can get a 30 day free trial - although it is not great for raw conversion*. There are downloadable presets for D200 which will help with the raw processing.

* Just to clarify that comment. Lightroom uses Adobe Camera Raw which is a very powerful raw processor. Its main failing is its default processing of raw images.

[Big Monkey]

Thanks for your advice!

I am downloading CaptureNX as I write this. Will also give lightroom a go as well.

Cheers
Big Monkey

[Dave-D40]

this freeware may be handy for you also,i use it to do borders and frames, it also does the other stuff you want.

Might be worth a look
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php