targa75 Loc: san diego

Am a beginning photographer using
a Nikon 5300 camera and Nikon AF-S
18-140 mm 3.5 lens. Which software
would you recommend (running Win 7)
Friend recommended IPIXIO but your
reviews are not good.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Nikon's supplied photo editing software is a good place to start. It's free with the camera. Otherwise, Lightroom or Lightroom CC is good, and relatively easy to learn. Lots of online tutorials.

WILLARD98407 Loc: TACOMA, WA.

PS Elements is a great starter that can take you a long way.

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

You may find Photoshop, Lightroom, and Elements a bit daunting at first. I start my students out on the Photos program that is part of Windows 10. For Apple, users I start them on the Apple Photos program also a part of the Apple OS. These two programs are fairly simple and easy to use. Like your basic camera, as your needs grow you will have a better idea as to the editing program you may need. Welcome to UHH and the world of photography.

SX2002 Loc: Adelaide, South Australia

FastStone Image Viewer/Editor...a free programme that does pretty much everything a photographer needs...only a 5MB download.

DNW

I use PT Photo Editing for starting.

JohnD3 Loc: Raleigh, NC

Like several others I would look at PS Elements. There are a ton of tutorials available on UTube that are excellent and its functions represent the vast majority of those available in PS should you decide to transition; however, many users have found that Elements was sufficient to their needs.

bleirer

Photoshop elements puts the same pic in 3 windows: beginner, regular, advanced. The beginner mode walks you through a lot. One time price of $99 for photography, $149 if you add video editing with Premiere. Introduces you to Photoshop and when you begin to notice its limitations and are ready to switch to Lightroom/Photoshop it is easy to transfer the catalog there. You can trial it for free.

https://www.adobe.com/products/elements-family.html?promoid=V2XYKZ3B&mv=other

srt101fan

Depends a lot on why you want the software and how much editing you want to do. If you're only shooting JPEGs you could conceivably get by without any software beyond that in the camera.

If you want to get into serious editing, make sure you look at Affinity Photo along with the other software mentioned.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I always start new students with Lightroom, along with a quick refresher on file management in Windows and an explanation of how a catalog (database driven) file management system is different from a simple file browser. This is where 99% of newcomers to Lightroom get stuck. It's not a Lightroom problem per se, it is more a matter of expecting LR to behave like every other browser-based editing program, and not understanding the difference.

The photo editing part is actually very simple, but as a result, it can have some limitations.

When students want to do more, or want to do what they are doing in LR faster and more efficiently, then Photoshop is the natural option. Between the two, you'll have a complete solution, which, at the moment, is not really available from any other publisher. The LR/PS suite sets a standard in the industry, which many other programs try to emulate. Is it perfect? Nope! Will you ever outgrow it? Not likely. And at $120/yr, it is priced competitively with programs that offer less and have you paying for upgrades every 12 months.

If you take the time to learn LR you'll find it is worth it.

Bill_de Loc: US

I agree with most of what Gene said. He always leaves a little out at the end. At $120 a year for Photoshop/Lightroom you are basically paying $120 a year for upgrades. And if you choose to not pay this, you can no longer use the program.


Many of the other programs do offer upgrades for a price, but if you don't need the new features you can continue to use the program and pay $00.00. And if you do decide to upgrade it may be considerably less than $120.


It is commonly understood that when you buy a program you are buying a license to use it. On1 makes a distinction. They say on their site that when you buy it, you own it.


The subscription plan works for many, many people. But you should do your homework as it is not the only game in town. And, many of the other programs will do everything that the casual photographer will ever want, and then some.


Just something to think about.

--

---

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

FastStone is really nice for free as is GIMP which is much more complex. As for a paid program I use On1 and really like it.

bleirer

You can't resell or give away on1, can you? so you really have a perpetuall license just like any other program that is not subscription. They use the word own but that's just marketing in my view.

CO

Of course, Lightroom and Photoshop are excellent. If you like using the Nikon picture controls, then you might download Nikon Capture NXD. It will automatically apply the same picture control - vivid, neutral, standard, monochrome that you have the camera set to. You can adjust the picture controls to suit you. Lens distortion profiles will be loaded and it can automatically apply those. If you get one of Nikon's phase fresnel lenses in the future, it can apply corrections for those also.

Photocraig

For me, the most important two things Gene51 says are:
The Lightroom Catalog is a different type of file system that needs to be understood. A not so obvious fact, and a somewhat obscure skill to learn, even from the Adobe Tutorials.

The Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop software is an industry standard. The tutorial support and help available is overwhelmingly plentiful and excellent. A user, even a novice, has at least 4 free and three subscription (paid) complete sources of "soup to nuts" learning channels for Post Processing with these tools. A user can readily pick the best that fits his or her learning style and preferred instructor's accent (two are French, I believe). Since this is where an Advanced User will likely end up in the PP Software Universe, the best idea, in my mind, is start there right away.

I'm a 50 year career Computer Sales Pro, so I understand all the tricks and personalities of these companies. I'm also old school and was trained to believe that Computers were for selling and NOT for using, resulting in crippled skills with the keyboard and mouse.

BUT, I processed better images on my first try using Lightroom than I ever did (except maybe one) in my B&W darkroom. Go there. Pay the $120 a year, and start your climb on the Adobe Learning Curve right away.

That's my 2 Cents--and good luck and even better results.

Disagreeing with me is easy, but disagreeing with Gene51 on a topic like this is at your intellectual and image making peril.
C