Digital Photo software recommendation

[woozer]

Hi - I would like to have a go at editing and generally "playing" with my photos but I am no computer expert. I did do an evening class on the basics a year or two ago and would like something that will give me maximum tools without costing a fortune and will work with my computer which has XP - any suggestions gratefully received.

[Vagrant]

GIMP - it's free http://www.gimp.org/

[bibblebub]

this is the other thread with more replies http://www.theanswerb...k/Question952922.html

[ChuckFickens]

I agree, gimp answers your request for "maximum tools without costing a fortune"

Don't expect it to be an easy learning curve to get the best out of it though, lots of tools comes at a price, that being it is a complicated package.

There is a lot of help on the web for using gimp if you search but make sure the hold you find relates to the version you are using.

[Andyvon]

Hi Woozer,

I 'went digital' three years ago. I tried the standard editing tools like Photoshop but they really weren't very good. Then I discovered Picasa. It's very good indeed and it provides all that I can ask when I edit my photos. The steps I usually follow when editing each picture are:-
Straighten - sharpen focus - lighten or darken - balance contrast - balance colours - crop the picture to a balanced view. Picasa allows you to do plenty of other things but those are the standard steps I use and each picture takes about 30 seconds to edit.

Best of all is that Picasa is a free download! Just type it into your Google bar then download the latest edition. Once it's downloaded, Picasa will 'pick up' any photos you download and they are there waiting for you to edit when you enter Picasa. You can put your pictures in folders etc. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

[NazNomad]

"... I tried the standard editing tools like Photoshop but they really weren't very good"

Ô¿Ô

[Answerprancer]

I use Corel Photopaint (12) and it's been brilliant both in terms of user friendliness and features. It also works with lots Photoshop plug-ins (eg. Topaz Adjust, Eyecandy 4000).
The industry standard seems to be Photoshop.
Either way, there are costs and under no circumstances must you download any software from places like http://thepiratebay.org/ via the (apparently) very efficient bit-torrent client "Vuze" which apparently can also be used for seeking out software like this.

[woozer]

Thank you all for your help

[NazNomad]

Wait, I still need clarification on the ''Photoshop not being any good'' statement.

[snags]

^

''without costing a fortune''...

[NazNomad]

C'mon who pays for PS?


<oops>

[snags]

Ahem...

Anyway, Photoshop, for someone who just wants to generally 'play about' is overkill imo...

[Wak]

Hi Woozer, When you have got your photos as you want them to be, you can create a Slide show in either "Irfanview" or "XnView", two FREE programs which you can Google for.

[Buenchico]

As Vagrant has pointed out GIMP is free. It's the nearest thing that you'll get to the wonderful (but expensive) Photoshop. Click 'Download GIMP 2.6.11' here:
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

However (even after your evening class) both Photoshop and GIMP present a new user with quite a steep learning curve. I use a 'full' version of Photoshop and I wouldn't be without the several reference books that I have to keep referring to (even after many years of using the program). If you're going to be using GIMP i STRONGLY recommend downloading the User Guide:
http://www.gimp.org/docs/

As has already been recommended, Picasa is free (and a great deal easier to use for more basic operations):
http://picasa.google.com/

Serif PhotoPlus SE is also really good for easy photo manipulation. It's free (or you can buy the 'bells and whistles' version, PhotoPlus 9, for £9.99):
http://www.freeserifs...m/software/photoplus/

Chris