radiojohn

Here's a question: WHAT do you need to edit? Cropping, color correction, lighten/darken, change contrast?

srt101fan

John, count me in your "small minority" that find Affinity Photo difficult to use. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a wonderful program. I only have limited experience with one other program, PhotoImpact, which I found very difficult to use. But I suspect that for me, and maybe most people, all highly capable editing programs are difficult. For example, the "simple" sliders like exposure, brightness, contrast, etc are not very simple because the adjustments are all interrelated and the setting on one will affect the others. That drives me nuts!

drmike99 Loc: Fairfield Connecticut

I agree with another poster who recommends Affinity Photo. I use it and like it for the same reasons. BUT - - it is very similar to photoshop in “difficulty “ so if PS/LR is too much for you, Affinity might not be your best substitute.

JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

On another note, use You Tube for videos on how to use any of the software packages. I find the videos much easier to use than trying to follow instructions in a book.

Anthony Morganti is particularly good with Lightroom and Photoshop. As noted, there are good videos for all the apps.

Dwiggy Loc: Dunedin, FL

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

Luminar AI has a very intuitive user interface.

wildweasel

Smart Photo Editor is a fantastic photo editor.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Likely because they may not agree...

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I recommend Adobe Photoshop ELEMENTS (currently version 2022) because it is reasonably comprehensive and has user selectable versions: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. It is widely supported with plug-ins, how to books and videos, etc. And it's much easier to learn to use than PS or even LR. There's a free 30 day trial available to download from the Adobe website. After that it costs $100 for a perpetual license. (It's not a subscription like PS and LR.)

If you also need to work with video, that's a separate software: Adobe Premiere Elements 2022. It also sells for $100, but if the two are bought together as a bundle the total is $150 for 25% savings off each.

One somewhat minor drawback to Elements is that Adobe essentially rolls out a new version every year. There are very limited updates offered in between. As a result, while the version you buy today will work fully with virtually every digital camera made today or prior, if you were to buy a camera released AFTER your version of Elements, it will very likely not be fully supported until the next annual release and you'd have to purchase that. No "free upgrades" or even discounted upgrades. Most people don't change cameras all that frequently, so this may not be a problem for years. But if you are considering a camera purchase soon, be sure to check that it's supported by the current version of the software.

Amadeus Loc: New York

I have Affinity also. I used to use PS but went to Affinity for the one time price and free updates. It is similar to PS. Not sure if it’s any less of a learning curve. But it should be able to do everything you would need, especially just starting out.

Tom McGrew Loc: NE Ohio

ACDSee is good, available for both PC and Mac. They have a free trial also, I believe.

jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania

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You could go with Photoshop Elements. It has guided edits for beginners built into it. You can also get Elements+ to go along with Elements. It is only $12 and gives you access to quite a few features that are part of Photoshop but not normally accessible in Photoshop Elements.

Al Vocinq Loc: The wilds of upstate New York

i second that. GIMP can be as simple or complicated as you want/need.

mmills79 Loc: NJ

two caveats about Luminar though (a Skylum product): 1) It is poorly supported i.e. you won't get any support for other than the simplest of issues & they don't backwards support older versions 2) If you do decide to try it, use it with a MAC and not a PC. Skylum does most of it's development around the MAC and when it comes to the PC version, there are usually many more bugs (and generally unsupported). The lack of support problem is really a shame because there is so much unrealized potential for that platform, as a result.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Another vote for Irfanview. People who have never tried it may never know how easy it can be. If I had 110 editing programs, I still would never be without Irfanview.