[Robcat]

Hello people, I was just wondering what kind of editing software you folks use. I am just getting into digital photography, and am already feeling the limitations of my Fuji finepix A-200. I am getting a lot of redeye with my animals, and I want to tweak some color values on some photos I took at Umptanem falls last week. Any advice would be great. Thanks much, R

[MCaver]

I've shot exclusively digital for over 3 years and have found Photoshop Elements serves every editing need I have. I use to use the full version of Photoshop, but that's just overkill unless you're doing some major graphics creation.

[sooperfly]

I currently have on my machine: Photoshop 7.0, Photoshop Elements ( came with my camera) Capture 1 Pro, Paintshop Pro, Paintshop Photo Album, ACDSEE, VRWorx, Panorama Factory and a couple others I don't remember. Paintshop photo album is really easy to use, does basic editing just fine. It has a stitching feature that does really well and is pretty fast. It has a "red-eye" button that works so-so. Capture 1 is a powerful program, if your camera takes "raw" files it is a great program to convert them. Super fast and easy to use. No comparison to what Canon ships with their cameras, it blows Canon away. Its a lot more than I need but I am learning. ACDSEE to me is still the quickest to surf your pics. You open a folder and use your mouse roller to go back and forth (really fast!) through your pictures in slide-show fashion. It works really well, you don't have to open each picture one at a time. That way you can roll through and dump ones if you like. It works a lot easier than it sounds. The program of late has turned into "bloatware", with a whole bunch of extra stuff I don't need. For me the easiest "power editor" to use is Paintshop Pro. It seems the most ''intuitive" to me. The interface isn't as intimidating as some programs, while still being a full blown image editor. It is also much, much cheaper than the full version of Photoshop. That said, most of the graphic stuff done on the web is done with some version or another of Adobe Photoshop. Adobe says 95 percent of the images on the web at one time or another were touched by one of their programs. You really can't go wrong with Elements, it is pretty easy to use and is quite powerful. I am learning to use Photoshop more and more. One of the neat things about using it is that there are lots of people that write custom actions for specific camera's, and give them away. You load that action and then see if you like it, or you can tweak it. Or you can get ideas and make your own. You can search photo forums, like dpreview, for your camera make and see if anybody has one. You might be surprised at whats out there. Most of these programs have "trial" periods so you can download them and check them out.

[-lol-]

[MooseAndSquirrel]

I've used Picture Window 3.1 for some time- it seems fine and has more features than I know what to do with. With any program I would get, because I just require basic photo manipulation ( lightening/darkening, unsharp mask for sharpening, cloning tool, resizing, etc.) I don't need a full-featured do-it-all program like Photoshop. Unless you are a graphic designer or really want to create crazy projects a simpler program is all ya need. Photoshop Elements is one I'll eventually try because everyone seems to be getting on the Photoshop bandwagon- it's the one that's always mentioned, the bible.

[Sore Feet]

Been using PS 6 and 7 exclusively for the last 4 years. Powershovel II for RAW conversion, Helicon Noise Filter for noise reduction.

[hikermike]

I've had photoshop and now we're up to 7.5 which is the best as it has finally included an album like file viewer for finding, wonder what took them so long. Everything that can be done to a photo can be done with photoshop, Providing you're a genius with a natural talent for intuiting computer programs and all the time in the world to learn it and process your photo. Otherwise, use Photoshop Elements. I first learned with an old Amiga 2500 and Image FX, (which is still being developed for us old amigaphiles) That and ADPro set the standards to which Photoshop is still playig catch-up to. Which makes me wonder, is there an inherant lack of capability of MSDOS or does this represent a multiple-year business strategy by Adobe as to when to bring out new features in new versions? For instance, Photoshop has Sharpen and Sharpen More, that's it and it's not very good. Image FX allows you all different degrees of sharpen, not only too which percentags, but also spread over how many pixels and which pixels etc. You will find that business-wise, Adobe is very much like Micro$ and SELDOM is there anything free. Bugfixes are scarce and updates $200-290. The newest version is Photoshop CS. They have now dropped the numbers, probably becuz Paintshop has higher numbers, which is just a sales gimmick. Most of the other programs aren't worth paying for. Don't forget to look at the scanner programs if you're about to get a scanner, one of the companies makes a really good program but I can't remember which. My daughter is at the USC Film school and though she uses Photoshop, she prefers Paintshop Pro, which is cheaper. If you decide on one of the more expensive programs, don't forget the student purchase option, either on-line or thru the UW Bookstore. If you have kids in college or high school, this is one small benefit you can get back. The savings are tremendous. Almost all the programs have on-line trial versions.

[Sore Feet]

[Kidneykenneth Toweltoast]

I agree, the best way to get marble-sharp photos. KT

[hikermike]

Photoshop unsharp mask still doesn't match Image Fx or old ADPro. I'm not advocating those two ancient programs, just asking why the majors are doing such a poor job of developing. As I said, I think they must have a master update plan and only release so many improvements so as to keep selling us updates. They also do what microsoft does, stop supporting old versions. I.e., next year they will stop supporting win2000 which means we'll have to pay $300 for the next version. They stop supporting each version of PS when the new version comes out. Back to Win2k, you may say "so what, I'll just keep 2k on my computer. Not so simple, as they will not liscence it to those making applications so each new program, such as an update to PS, will require you to have updated to the new op system.

[Newt]

Just fine. So we get to upgrade to a new OS and find all their security holes they left behind in the rush to get it out. Dang Mr. Bill, try to get it right the first time would ya. Newt

[C Dog]