Tea8 Loc: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

I was going to suggest this as well. It's what I use all the time. I recently went from Elements 12 to Elements 21 here a few months ago and bought a book to go with it. They're not terribly different in the long run, but the newer one does run a bit better on my computer. There is definitely a learning curve, but having the book helps quite a bit to figure out things I can and want to do with the software. I went to NOLA a month ago as a Birthday trip and I've just now had time to sit down and start editing. I have been quite please at some of the edits I've been able to do with Elements. Plus for about $50 it's a one time buy and you can keep it and learn on it for years. Then if you decide you want to go cloud based with Lightroom or full Photoshop you can.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Don't ignore AFFINITY. 50 bucks, that's it. I think they have a 30 day free trial. They had a discount sale. I bought it for $40. If yoy cant afford $40 give up photography. I spend more than that on a 2 year supply of lens wipes

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

If you’re using Canon’s DPP, that’s a good start. Check often because it’s upgraded often. I think version 4.12.x now and there are good online tutorials available. Also, Nina Bailey’s ebooks are excellent. They can be found on the UK EOS magazine website. Add to that Adobe’s Photoshop Elements for $80 when on sale and the free FastStone Image Viewer, and you’ve got a nice combination. For minor changes, often, the FastStone viewer is all I use.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

Jerry and Paul have offered you some excellent suggestions. They always do.

As a 15+ year experienced Photoshop user, I'm here to suggest you give Affinity Photo a close look. An unfortunate glitch has prevented me from printing when using PSCS5, so that is when I switched to Affinity Photo and haven't looked back. I've been able to transfer so much of my knowledge from Photo Shop over to Affinity Photo, and enjoy seeing new tools that I find amazing. And to top it off, it's very easy for someone new to either (PS or AP) get off to a quick start.

As Paul says, test drive the trial period. And for $50, the purchase is all you pay. To top that off, upgrades are free.

MDI Mainer

A great suggestion. I sort of forgot about Elements, and as you point out it introduces the user to Adobe products, which are and likely will remain the industry standard. On eBay you can pick up an older but recent and very usable version for a song, just be sure it comes with a valid registration key.

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

rglenn, if it's Photoshop you're leaning toward, might I suggest you buy Photoshop Elements and give it a try?
There is no periodic payment with it - you buy it and use it. Should you become proficient with it to the stage of 'wanting more'... then you may consider moving into the full blown Photoshop but I've used both and find that Elements is terrific and does all I need these days. Each person's needs/demands are different but it's a good one to grow into and learn much about Photoshope methods.
I think Elements can be bought on sale now for around $69.00. It's normally around $99.99.
Good Luck, and let us know the direction you've chosen.
God Bless,
Papa Joe

kcooke Loc: Alabama

Many good suggestions here. I recently went back to a Windows based system for travel (Dell XPS 13). At home the Desktop and wife's laptop are Macs. We are on the Adobe Platform Subscription which works well for us but only allows two computers registered.

After reading many posts here on the subject, I've adopted a new strategy for photo processing workflow. I use Faststone (its free) to view and cull photographs on my Windows laptop. It also allows editing but i just use it for viewing/culling. It is lightning fast when viewing raw files off the sd card. No lag time generating views. After deleting files off sd card I then upload the sd card to Lightroom on Mac Pro desk top for editing. Then reformat sd card in camera and ready to go again. This works well for me but that's just me.
.
I occasionally use DPP4 to view all the exif data in an image especially when posting jpegs here for needed help. Lightroom seems to remove some of the exif data. It is also great for basic editing too and its free if you use a Canon. Another good free program is Darktable. The learning curve is similar to Lightroom. If you get into plugins you can still download the old NIK plugins for free. Good luck deciding which way to go.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

It's pretty hard to beat Photoshop, and the learning curve for ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) is not nearly as hard as you might imagine.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I would recommend Adobe Elements 2021. It's a fairly full-featured editing and organizing program and would be a definite step up from the Canon software that came with your camera.

Unfortunately, a recent sale on Elements ended May 31... it was offered for $70. It's now back up to it's regular $100 selling price. Still, that's pretty good because it's a one-time purchase (not a subscription).

A nice thing about Elements is it's pretty easy to learn. It has built-in "beginner" assist mode, a less guided middle ground and a more advanced mode. You can choose which to use and can change back and forth as you see fit. This allows you to more gradually ease into using Elements. This isn't the case with Lightroom and Photoshop (subscription only). Lightroom is relatively intuitive and can be learned fairly easily... But Photoshop is far more complex and involves a much longer, steeper learning curve. I always recommend getting a "how to" book for Elements or LR. To really get to know and use PS more fully, you may need a small stack of books and to take some hands-on classes. It's a highly complex program that many users never fully learn (I know I still learn new tricks occasionally... and I've been using PS since version 4.0, twenty five years ago!)

Elements is also an "all in one" software... both an editor and an organizer. This also isn't the case with Lightroom and Photoshop. LR is predominantly an organizer with some limiting editing capabilities. PS is the "Mac Daddy" of all image editing software, with minimal organizing tools. You don't need to install both, but neither LR and PS is truly complete without the other, complementary software installed and used alongside it.

Elements also has a lot of third party support, much like LR and PS do. There are books and online tutorials, as well as plug ins and enhancements available for all three programs. There are probably more for LR and PS, but the support for Elements is pretty robust, too. If I were using Elements, I'd look into Elements + (http://elementsplus.net/) which adds quite a bit of functionality to Elements for the ridiculously low price of $12.

One advantage to the subscription software is regular updates. By default LR and PS are kept up to date. This is mostly good, but sometimes a bad thing. It's great that new features and refinements are sometimes added. But the updates also occasionally reset any customization you've made for your particular uses... and every once in a while there's a really "bad" update. For example, a few years ago Adobe made some significant changes to LR that users seriously hated and Adobe eventually had to undo.

Elements doesn't see very frequent updates like LR and PS. There are occasional fixes and tweaks, but Adobe instead just releases a new version of Elements annually, adding features and updating compatibility with new gear that's been introduced during the previous year. Usually the new release of Elements is announced sometime in Sept. and available then or shortly later in Oct. The last six or eight years, you could almost set your watch by it! Elements, which is more properly "Photoshop" Elements, has been around since 2000, but the first few versions weren't updated annually so there haven't been 21 versions of it. Sometimes the "new features" in the upcoming version of Elements are important, sometimes they aren't. The "old" version doesn't stop working just because a new one has been released, so many people continue to use the version they bought for a number of years, only updating occasionally (such as when they buy a new camera or some new "gee whiz" feature they just gotta have is added).

Personally I use LR and PS (both for as long as they have been available for Windows, so from around 1994 with PS and roughly 2006 with LR). But I don't use the subscription versions (still using LR6 and PS CS6). I'm missing out on a lot of the more recent innovations. I'm still able to do what I need to do with the software. If I were using the subscription model, I'd try to turn off the auto updates, to prevent changes being made to my setup unexpectedly. I like to control when updates are applied to my software. Neither LR6 nor PS CS6 are supported any longer. So I haven't had to worry about any updates for a while! Eventually they will no longer be compatible with my operating systems or I might get a new camera that requires newer software. When those things happen, I'll have to decide whether to keep using LR and PS under the subscription model, or to abandon Adobe after 25 or 30 years, to use something else. Today there are some good alternatives for both LR and PS. Or maybe I'll go with Elements and Elements +.

Elements goes on sale every so often, usually around a holiday. So you may see it for $70 again in a month or so.... Or maybe not. It will very likely drop in price close to the announcement date of the next version... Elements 2021 will certainly be on sale to clear the shelves, once Elements 2022 is available.

reverand

I resisted going to Adobe Lightroom online, because I didn't like the idea of paying a monthly rental fee. However, the fee is about $10 a month, which isn't outrageous. Adobe is hoping you will need more space in the cloud, which will raise the rental fee. I don't use the cloud. Instead, I use an external hard drive.

Turns out that if you subscribe to Lightroom (use the Classic Lightroom, not the one that links to the cloud), you also get Photoshop. But here's the advantage. The program keeps updating automatically. The standalone programs require updates that cost $70-$130, every year or so, which means you're saving money in the long run.

I'm not sure the Adobe package will give you the best bang for the buck, but I think it might over the long run for another reason. It's really the industry standard, just the way Nikon became the industry standard 35mm. This isn't to say that it's necessarily the best, but it does imply long-term stability. Indeed, the Nikon lenses I bought for my 35mm camera forty years ago still work on my digital Nikons (although they aren't automatic).

speedmaster Loc: Kendall, FL

Easy but very capable software is Photoscape X (free) or Pro version (39.90). It is not a Photoshop but whatever you learn with it you can use later in Photoshop. Download the free version and if you like it pay for the PRO.

Cheers

kmielen Loc: Eastern NC

Can't beat dividing by zero!

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Free? Can't beat GIMP. Free updates forever. It'll even use photoshop plug-ins !!
IF you have $$ burning a hole in your pocket - yeah - check out paint-shop pro and PS Elements.
If you're retired (like Jerry and me) then do run through Jerry's list of photo editor links.
I for one don't have any idea where he finds all the links he helpfully posts !

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

I hate the thought that someone is holding me to ransom, which is what it is if you go with Adobe Photoshop (as good as it is). If you stop paying the monthly ransom and things could change in your financial future that limits what you can payout, or they raise their pricing, then you can no longer use the programme.

I would suggest you take a look at two great alternatives that allows you to own it and use it forever, for a one time payment. Take a look and get a free trial on these:

On1 RAW 2021 ...a great programme with free 30 day trial and as easy as seeing a style and clicking on it, or use the sliders to create what ever you wish.

Topaz Labs ...again buy it once and own and use it forever. A choice of modules to allow you to buy what you need individually, or just buy the whole Suite.

Both really excellent software makers and I have used them for many years, and I use Photoshop but I stuck with the last one you could actually own and use forever.

therwol Loc: USA

The Windows Live software is no longer supported by Microsoft. You can still download it from third party sources, and some of it will run in Windows 10 (Like the Live Movie Maker, which I still use on occasion) but I don't know about the Live Photo Gallery. Go ahead and use it on your Windows 7 machine, but if you make the transition to Windows 10, consider some of the excellent suggestions made here.