coondog Loc: Lost in Vermont

I'm new to digital pics. I'll be learning on a Nikon D3100. Attached are 2 pics I edited on I-Photo (Mac.) Is this a good program to start with? What about experimenting in RAW format? What would be a sensible editing program to learn on. Thanks..

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

I am unfamilar with I-Photo, but as far as a program to use, the best course is to try some out.
You need an idea of where you want to take your editing, if you want all the power you can find, PhotoShop is king.
But with great power comes great responsibiliy, oops sorry :oops: comes a steep learning curve.

Although there are around a googol youtube tutorials!
PSE (Elements) has most of the power of PS.

There are a myriad of other programs that people swear by, most of which offer free trials.

If you have a friend that is into image editing (some people have issues with calling them photos) spend an afternoon diving in and seeing what you can and would like to do.
I did this with a friend of mine, initially she said ahe didn't what to do anymore than fine tune her images. After she played with PS, she became a convert!!! :lol:

GT

slickrock Loc: jacksonville

Lightroom 3 will enable better file organization and editing than i photo. There are many helpful publications for this app. Always use RAW. Elements is a great introduction to PS at a very reasonable price.

PhotoGator Loc: Florida

The Bee and the Flower crispy shot.
Your camera came bundle up with an editing software.
Now you have two, so master them so you will have a technical and practical knowledge to then decide if your needs require more powerful tools.

GIMP (almost compareable to Photoshop but FREE)
Photo Elements
Corel PhotoShop X5 Extreme
Adobe Lightroom 4 (5 is about to be released in June)
Adobe Photoshop CS6

PhotoGator Loc: Florida

Could anyone take a shot at removing the bright spot on the head of the girl? Also removing the non gray background and cropping?

A friend's Mother's Day Memory