An advice on a simple photo editor for a not-very-experienced photographer: For years I have been using the simple editor my PCs came with. Now it may be time to graduate to something...

Chris63 Loc: Central WI

For years I have been using the simple editor my PCs came with.
Now it may be time to graduate to something more powerful.

With the multipicity of various softwares, what would be a good place to start?

I am looking for general sharpening, perhaps changing from color to sepia, B&W, etc.; changing the perspective in architecture, replacing skies, darkening, brightening, removing undesirable objects, changing contrast, etc.

Thanks

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Photoshop Elements has a 30-day free trial:
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/free-trial.html

Of particular interest may be the three separate layouts and sets of tools:
Quick, Guided, Advanced

dwermske

You might want to look at Luminar Neo or Affinity 2.0. I have found both to be easy to use and produce very good results. They are both similarly priced and have similar punching plans.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Linda From Maine wrote:

Photoshop Elements has a 30-day free trial:
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/free-trial.html

Of particular interest may be the three separate layouts and sets of tools:
Quick, Guided, Advanced

That's how I started 20+ years ago. Excellent suggestion Linda with 30 day free trial. Can't beat that!
Mark

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Chris63 wrote:

For years I have been using the simple editor my PCs came with.
Now it may be time to graduate to something more powerful.

With the multipicity of various softwares, what would be a good place to start?

I am looking for general sharpening, perhaps changing from color to sepia, B&W, etc.; changing the perspective in architecture, replacing skies, darkening, brightening, removing undesirable objects, changing contrast, etc.

Thanks

Alas, some of your proposed edits are not so 'simple'; and therefore, you'll be looking at more complex titles. If you shoot RAW, get a tool that maintains the full bit-depth of the RAW file. This excludes PSElements. If you shoot JPEG, any title is fine as they all will edit JPEGs.

Consider getting a list of possible titles. Maintain your own list of what you find about each title: the original price, the price annual update / grades, the duration of the trial period.

Then, generate a 'test case' of your real images to be investigated within each title, say 10 various images, at least one for each of your candidate edits.

Investigate each candidate title, one by one, for the duration of each trial period. That is, don't lose 'trail time' on multiple concurrent titles. Update your notes on each title with ease of use, effectiveness, amount of training support, both from the vendor and freely on u-tube. Keep editing the same test-case of images so you're doing apples to apples comparisons. Then, pick the title that best fits your needs.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Just be aware that most any advanced editor has a significant learning curve.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

The Adobe Photographer's plan is a subscription at $10 a month. If you hate that, skip this post and follow Linda's one time $100 dollar suggestion.

With the Photographer's plan, you get a system that includes a very simple workflow. It also includes everything else that you might ever want to do with photography that you can learn as you want or ignore forever.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

PHRubin wrote:

Just be aware that most any advanced editor has a significant learning curve.

Someday I'm going to make a video of the ever so simple workflow of a single image through one of the Adobe photo programs. The only part of the learning curve that becomes significant is if you elect to do something complicated.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

Chris63 wrote:

For years I have been using the simple editor my PCs came with.
Now it may be time to graduate to something more powerful.

With the multipicity of various softwares, what would be a good place to start?

I am looking for general sharpening, perhaps changing from color to sepia, B&W, etc.; changing the perspective in architecture, replacing skies, darkening, brightening, removing undesirable objects, changing contrast, etc.

Thanks

Elements will do all that, and you pay for it ONCE.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Linda From Maine wrote:

Photoshop Elements has a 30-day free trial:
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/free-trial.html

Of particular interest may be the three separate layouts and sets of tools:
Quick, Guided, Advanced

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Try Faststone. It's free and will do most of what you want. Then you can decide if you wish to move on to something better. I use ON1.

mffox Loc: Avon, CT

Photoshop Elements is my recommendation.

polyman6 Loc: Chatham Ontario

Chris63 wrote:

For years I have been using the simple editor my PCs came with.
Now it may be time to graduate to something more powerful.

With the multipicity of various softwares, what would be a good place to start?

I am looking for general sharpening, perhaps changing from color to sepia, B&W, etc.; changing the perspective in architecture, replacing skies, darkening, brightening, removing undesirable objects, changing contrast, etc.

Thanks

I use Faststone its a free download works very nice for a simple editor.

Bill_de Loc: US

Linda From Maine wrote:

Photoshop Elements has a 30-day free trial:
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/free-trial.html

Of particular interest may be the three separate layouts and sets of tools:
Quick, Guided, Advanced

This is a very capable program. After spending a lot of money on many different programs over the years, including PhotoShop, I realized that PhotoShop Elements does everything I want/need. I used to spend a lot of time learning new software. It was fun, and I learned how to do a whole lot of things that I would never use again.

One big advantage of Elements is that if/when you want to do more, moving up to the PhotoShop subscription should be a smooth transition.

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Harry02 Loc: Gardena, CA

Linda From Maine wrote:

Photoshop Elements has a 30-day free trial:
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/free-trial.html

Of particular interest may be the three separate layouts and sets of tools:
Quick, Guided, Advanced

A LOT of folk here start here, then go full Adobe.
PS Elements is a great program. And kinda easy to learn. Similar to Photoshop
Learn it, and then full boat Photoshop and Lightroom will be easier.
I also prefer Elements. Both packages. Do what I want to do. Bigger apps do a lot- that I don't.
AND by the way, glorious discounts from Black Friday to the New Year.
I can buy both for @ 2/3 the cheapest one year subscription price for Big Brother.
And I do this- every other year. Not missing anything except the monthly bill.
You tube has a huuge amount of tutorials, also. Buy now, learn now, be a hero by Xmas.