Glasgow wrote:
Does anyone know of any good software that's free or a one time fee, I don't like this monthly or yearly payment software
If you are new to doing post-processing, buy Adobe Elements 15. It's about $100, sometimes on sale for a bit less. No "rent" payments.
It's got a lot of built-in support for new users. It's also in very wide use, so there are plenty of third party books, tutorials... even plug-ins.
You can download a free 30-day trial of Elements from the Adobe website, at the end of which you can decide if you want to buy it or not. If you do this, I suggest you buy one or another of the guide books in advance, so that you don't waste time fumbling around with the new program and get as full benefit as possible from the trial period.
Elements can do all most users really need. It's got both organizational and image editing tools. In contrast, Adobe's other, more pro-oriented programs are not "all in one": Lightroom is primarily an organizer, while Photoshop is the Mac Daddy of all image editors. They are designed to work together and complement each other.
Elements is designed to stand on its own and provide all you're likely need (if you also want to handle videos with it, get the more expensive Premiere version).
burkphoto wrote:
....Photoshop Elements is popular, but you're editing 8-bit images, which isn't ideal....
Not true.
Yes, one of the relatively minor limitations of Elements is that it's an "8-bit program". And, yes, it's best to "work" with images in 16-bit mode. HOWEVER.... Elements actually
does work in 16-bit whenever you use it to handle RAW conversions, same as you would need to do with any other editing program (in-camera JPEGs are already reduced to 8-bit). The Adobe Camera Raw "engine" built into Elements is the same as what's used in Lightroom and Photoshop. It's only a few of the specialty filters and such that aren't available in Elements until after the image has been saved as an 8-bit JPEG. Really no biggie.
For most people it doesn't matter that Elements is only able to output/save 8-bit JPEG (and similar) files, because those are more than adequate and even what's wanted for the vast majority of purposes. Typically only commercial, pro uses might call for 16-bit TIFFs (and similar). In fact, many printing services require 8-bit JPEGs. Even if you were to use a 16-bit TIFF to make a print yourself, assuming your photo quality inkjet can handle it, there will be no visible difference in the final print. The human eye cannot differentiate between 8-bit and 16-bit. Likely the only difference would be that it takes a lot longer to print.