Darrian629 Loc: Boston

Hello again, what do the fellow Hedgehogs recommend for a photo editing program.
Never done it so I'm looking for a comprehensive program to edit my photos.
Please advise.

Thank you as always.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

What's your budget, what do you want to get out of it and what are your photography goals ( hobby, serious hobbyists, going pro?)

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

PicMonkey.com is a website that has Photoshop like tools
Google's Picasa is a free download and very easy to use
GIMP is also a free download that mirrors Photoshop
and then of course there is Photoshop and many other programs for amateurs and professional alike.

Free or paid, easy or powerfully elegant? Personally I'd start small then move up as needed.

Bunko.T Loc: Western Australia.

I'm no pro, but I use Microsoft Office picture Manager for the cropping,Resizing [for emailing smaller]etc & Picassa for restoring, cleaning & freshening up old pic's. Both Free. [Micro Off Pic Mngr came with windows 7] Picassa free download from Google. Both easy to use.
I have PSE8 but quite complicated to use. Still learning.

ASR666 Loc: Singapore

Agree with that ... here's my ranking (easy to hard)
* Picasa (free) for editing and posting casual pics. Easy.

* Photoscape (free) similar to Picasa with better tools.

* Photoshop Elements (free trial period) - better tools and relatively easy to learn via YouTube videos and books.

* PS 5.5 or 6 (free trial) - full featured. Excellent software with huge range of add-ons. Not easy to use out of the box. You need to learn the software by taking classes (face to face is best as you can watch the expert)

* GIMP: Excellent for experts who want to tweak the program to achieve creative goals.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Darrian629: This subject is like the camp fire that Smokey the Bear puts out and keeps flaring up.. use the search at the top of this page and you will find probably 50 pages of babble on the subject!!!!
What is a " comprehensive program "??? What does that mean ...of large scope; covering or involving much....

You never stated important parameters such as $, such as PC or Mac, speed of your computer, memory etc, you level of ability programs you have...

Darrem// like do you go to the Dr. and say,, I don't feel good.. the Dr. asks no questions and just gives you pills...NO,, you give details.... But as I say you will find lots of babble about this subject already on UHH forums that go on and on.. oops left off ... and on... and on....

If I sound steamed up it is not just you,,, it is that my fellow UHH rarely focus on analysis of the subject in detail, and often go off on personal tails of what they use rather than answering specific questions asked.. and in this case you did not ask a specific quiestion, no did any one ask... next someone will ask "what is the meaning of life"... end of rant..

viscountdriver Loc: East Kent UK

Go for Serif PhotoPlus X5. Despite what some people say, it will do anything PS does and is hundreds of dollars cheaper.

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

I have just logged on to ask the exact same question.... I have Elements 2, Lightroom 3, Gimp and the bundled software that came with my Canon (20D). Too many choices and I have no idea how to use any one of these programs. Can someone advise which program would be the best for a novice to use.
I have never shot in RAW but do intend to. I am using a PC with sufficient grunt and heaps of storage. Darryl

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

Recently I download Snapseed to my Ipad and yesterday when I was bored I started playing around with the program.

It is amazing and then I download the computer version for a test trial and am recommending it my students, as it is not expensive, does lots of basic things, plus allows "tweaking" for personal vision and they have a version for PC"s and Mac's. It is a Nik product and on one of the options they also include control point function.

I also recommend Photoscape as it is very powerful and is free.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I think "Never done it" is the key. If I were in your situation, I would start with one of the free editing programs just to see how they work and what they can do. Although each program works differently, they have many operations in common, such as making an image brighter/darker, increasing contrast, cropping, adjusting color levels, etc.

I like Irfanview, a free program, but there are others. If you find a free/cheap program you like, you can use that for a while. When you need more processing power, you can download trial copies of Adobe and Corel products. Adobe is very expensive, and Corel does just about the same thing for a fraction of the price. Both programs have their fans.

As MWAC said, a lot depends on what your goals are - and how much time and money you want to put into it. There are many free tutorials for everything on youtube.

SpeedyWilson Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Why not start with a simple, free program, like Picassa, and keep working your way up to the very expensive Photoshop ... if you decide to become a professional.

Personally, GIMP is free, and almost as comprehensive (shall we say complicated) as Photoshop.

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

Thanks Jerryc41 - I have looked on Youtube for tutorials but the only ones I have seen require you to have a basic knowlege of the program....something which I don't have. I would really like to know if you have any recommendation out of Elements 2 or Lightroom 3. cheers

texased42 Loc: Houston, Texas

Lightroom and Elements

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I use LR and Elements, but I am far from being comfortable with either. Elements 2 is an old program, since they are up to Elements 10 now. LR3 is the previous version, so that's still current. From what I understand, LR is excellent for cataloging and doing some adjusting, but Elements is better for making adjustments.

If you have both, you can jump in a play with them. Or, you can download Irfanview and give that a try. I hate to say it, but it's like being put into the cockpit of a plane and teaching yourself to fly, except, of course, that editing software can't kill you.

lhdiver Loc: Midwest

Lightroom 4 is worth the upgrade, some great stuff & lots of tutorials on line to help learn to use it.