elee950021 Loc: New York, NY

As someone above suggested Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 @ $59.95 (Best Buy, New Egg, Amazon is temporarily out of stock) is a good bet. I've been using it since Version 1 which was packed with scanners back in the day. It's come along way and the new version has a number of additional "auto" features which make life a little easier: Auto Smart Tone, Auto Haze Remover, Auto Shake Remover and Adjust Facial Features are new. It
also has Camera Raw 9.7 which is the latest version I believe. I use PSE for fast, quick and dirty adjustments when I don't want to boot up PS CC (which I also subscribe to).

After some practice and playing with the various features you can if you get really get into post processing, move up to regular Photoshop. Another advantage to using PSE is its wide use by photogs and all the books, tutorials, videos, workshops, etc. that are available.

BTW: I also use a slew of other editing software as each company offers features that are exclusive or work better than a similar feature on other software. My favorite is Picture Publisher 10, a 10 year old piece of software that was the leading PC editing program as Photoshop was originally only Mac based. It was bought by Corel to incorporate some features into Paint Shop Pro but has some great features not found elsewhere and still installs on Win10. Just my 2 cents.

Seasons Greetings!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Any software that anyone recommends will come with a free learning curve. Since you are just starting out, I'd recommend one of these, as they are both free.

Light Zone - http://lightzoneproject.org
Phocus - http://www.hasselblad.com/software/phocus

Welcome to the world of continuous learning and frustration.
--Bob

ketihflyr

Elements PSE 15 is the newest and is on sale from Adobe take a look and you can try PSE15 for free to get a feel, however at first just work with the Editor, Organizer is there but remember ORG is a program of it's own, if you like the editor then you can work with the Organizer which is a search engine. I do suggest you spend hours listening to tutorials, making mistakes can take a lot of time to correct. Adobe has many tutorials for elements foe editing.
I have Elements and a, learning how to use.

JeffR107

I've used Corel Photo for years and love it. Lots of free stuff and I upgrade every chance I get. Right now you can get it for about $50 to $80. I always get the Ultimate version. I also have elements too, but there are things like teeth whitening that just work much better with Corel. I also use Corel Video and the two work great together.

Ratta Loc: California

So many free or inexpensive programs out there as have been mentioned. Obviously, starting with the free programs is the way to go to see what you like, the type of user interface, ease of use, learning curve, etc.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Corel AfterShot. Comes in basic and pro formats. Easy to learn. It's Corel's update of Bibble Pro which I have used for years until Bibble Labs was bought by Corel. I think it is much better than Lightroom and much faster. You can download a trial for free. Other programs worth a look are ON1 RAW and the freebies already mentioned.

pbearperry Loc: Massachusetts

I love photoscape and Windows live photo gallery.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

So many choices! When you are first starting out, even the simplest program can be a challenge. My suggestion is to choose a program that has everything you know you want and a lot that you don't even know you should want! I use the Adobe CC subscription, which includes both LR and PS. You can use LR at whatever level you choose, by learning one or two functions well at a time, ignoring ones you do not understand. PS is more difficult, but is a great companion for LR. If you don't mind challenging yourself over time (nothing has to be learned immediately), this might be the way to go.

Both LR and PS are available as a 30-day free trial. In a month you can discover whether or not you can make sense of the programs. Try LR first - it is actually fairly easy to use. The subscription is worth it even if you never use PS! You will never have to buy an upgrade, either, since all changes to the program are automatically available to you for no extra charge. After the free trial, if you do not want to subscribe, you don't have to. And if you do get the subscription, you can cancel it whenever you want.

There are plenty of online sources for learning to use the different software programs out there. This makes it fairly easy to get help along the way. Also, Adobe has tutorials, an online manual, and other online help. AND you have UHH!!!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

You may as well pony up for Elements so you can be learning Adobe's way of doing things - Most serious work is done with Adobe based software period.

slynn Loc: poland ohio

macphun luminar easy to use and fun to play with,

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

Also, GIMP (can do 99% of PS & LR together) hard to learn in depth but FREE.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Sure. For beginning and simple edits I recommend Fast Stone. It's a viewer and a basic editor. It's a free download and will get you started very nicely. Good luck.

tooltinker

potraitpro black Friday specials till this Friday BF2016 coupon code have great bundles see there demos on there web

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Actually, Photoshop Elements 15 (the newest... just released a few weeks ago) was on sale recently for $40-$45. It's normal list price is $99.95. It's currently avail. for $59.00 on Amazon (they are out of stock with it on disk, after the sale.... but I imagine the downloadable version is still avail.)

Those higher prices probably indicate "Premiere" version, which adds video editing capabilities to still photo post-processing of standard Elements version. If you only need to work with still photos, or use something else for video, you won't need the Premiere Elements (currently about $80 on Amazon).

I'd also recommend Photoshop Elements. It's got a lot of built-in support for new users. It's up to you whether to use in "beginner", "intermediate" or "expert" mode, with more or less guidance from the software.

Most of the "freebie" programs have no support... you're own your own to figure out how it works, though there may be some online tutorials or books. More advanced Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC/6 also don't have any significant user support... and Photoshop in particular has a much, much steeper learning curve. For anyone just starting to do post-processing, I STRONGLY discourage the full blown Photoshop/Lightroom CC subscription package. Yes, it seems cheap at $10 a month and is certainly possible to learn to use them well... if you're up for about a year's worth of college-level classes and text books. Frankly, for most peoples' uses, Photoshop is extreme overkill and neither it nor Lightroom is truly complete without the other... they are designed to complement each other. In contrast, Elements borrows on many key features of both LR and PS and is designed to be an all-in-one program.

Previous version Elements offered at discounted prices might be okay, but someone with a newer camera may need the newer version of the software to work with their camera's RAW files.

Also, if interested in compositing panoramas out of multiple images, I understand some people had trouble with Elements 14 (Photomerge). Hopefully that's been fixed in 15.

If you want to give it a try, download Elements 15 for a free 30-day trial from the Adobe.com website.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

User support is an issue that Adobe apparently has been working to resolve. They now have many tutorial videos covering different aspects of the programs. The manuals are also online, and although they have a lot of pages to wade through, can still be helpful. Their online Help site is a mixture of useful and no good information, but once again, wading through can help. However, if you can move a slider, LR is fairly easy to use...


I am very much in favor of free trials! They are a great way to learn how to use a program BEFORE you pay for it. There are many other programs in addition to the ones Adobe has to offer that provide free trials.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post is another advantage of having LR. It is great for developing a cataloging system that suits you. The images are on your hard drive in their own folder, and LR uses them to bring up that catalog. Not sure how the interface between other programs and your images works, but I do know it is very good in LR.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Top option is Corel Paintshop Pro X9. It does everything most of us need for about $60 or less. To be honest, I still subscribe to Photoshop, but not because it is better, only the inertia of really getting good with Corel. I have also tried a couple others including ON1. (Nothing better than Perfect Resize for getting big prints out of small sensors)