Photo touchup software

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

What's everyone using to touch up their photography? I see Photoshop Elements is about 70 bucks as a download from the big A. Does anyone use it and is it difficult to learn? Most importantly does it help adjust your photography if the original picture is decent? Is there freeware available that works will suit a turners needs for clear photography. I am sure none can make a silk purse from a sows ear but assuming you have taken a decent picture with diffused lighting.
faust

[Allen Howell]

Faust,

Photoshop is a great program, but can be pricey. However, there is an open-source program that is similar to Photoshop out there that you can download and use for free. It is called GIMP. Here is the link:

http://www.gimp.org/

It works well, but may take a little getting used to. You will have to download the manual seperately. Good luck and have fun.

Allen

[Jamie Donaldson]

I've been using Photoshop Elements 3 for many years, and it does everything I need since I'm not into heavy manipulations. Gimp is not easy to master quickly, and another free download program I do recommend is IrfanView. Google it for a download source.

[Alan Trout]

I have used gimp and several other open source photo editing software. If you shoot RAW images what I like best is Adobe Lightroom 3.5 easy to use and very effective and non destructive. But I am no expert I just have good results. It can be pricy but see it on sale from time to time for about $169

Alan

[Alan Zenreich]

I have been using PhotoShop for many years, now using PhotoShop CS5.

For some things I use IrfanView or the SnagIt editor.

[Dan Forman]

I have PS Elements 8, it does everything I need to do with jpegs, but it doesn't work as well with raw images unless it's a small crop. But it does quite a bit for the relatively low price. I have heard of Gimp, but have never tried it. There are some tutorial videos for Photoshop Elements, not sure if there are for some of the others mentioned. I mostly just use the resize, adjust brightness and contrast, and sometimes color adjustments, but it will do much more.

Dan

[Nate Davey]

Photoshop Elements 9

[Dan Hintz]

GIMP is great, but it can have a steep learning curve... I prefer Paint.NET. Also free, closer to Photoshop in ability and style of action, supports PS plug-ins, etc.
http://getpaint.net

[John Keeton]

FastStone Image Viewer 4.6 (http://www.faststone.org/) will do it all, and it is free. I use a PE for a quick fix on my pics, but I use FastStone for alignment and resizing, as well as playing with white balance at times. It would do everything PE will do with the exception of layer work, creating TIFF images, etc. - some of which I need for my website. Were it not for the website, I would not really need PE.

[Ken Hill]

Adobe Lightroom- one of the best photo editing softwares on the market.

I use them all because none of them do it all. GIMP is a great budget Photoshop inspired tool.....but for basic edits you do not need $600 software such as PS etc.

[Norm Zax]

Paint.net downloadable free here: http://www.getpaint.net/ (top right corner. Dont download Babylon on the large download button). Easy and simple.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Thanks for all the replies. It is great to have a group of people willing to share experiences. I will look over them all and take a whack at the free ones before buying something I may not use.
faust

[Alan Trout]

You can go to the Adobe web site and they have a 30 day free trial of Lightroom. After using all that have been mentioned I took the 30 day free test drive. I ended up buying Lightroom. Its hard to explain it just works better. If you do not like the software, with the free trial you lost nothing except some time.

Alan

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Thanks Alan. I will check it out right now.
faust

[Marty Eargle]

As someone who has been using Photoshop for well over a decade, I will always suggest people looking for a free/cheap editor try the Gimp. It is a fair argument that it is a bit of overkill for a few simple photo tweaks. But the same argument could be made about turning a bottle stopper on a Powermatic.

With that being said, Ken is right in saying that Adobe Lightroom is great and a very enjoyable program to use. It is one of those programs that you can become very comfortable with very quickly. But if you're not in the place where you want to buy the program when your demo is up, I would go ahead and download the Gimp and use what you've learned from LR to get the hang of it. There really aren't any free alternatives to what Lightroom is that are worth your time. Picasa had potential as a something to use for everyday photo editing, but the focus shifted from quality to Google integration.
Good luck.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use IrfanView. Easy to use. I used GIMP but just didn't care for it.

[Dan Hintz]

IrfanView is great for viewing images, maybe a quick crop, etc., but it's strength is definitely not image editing. I use IrfanView as my main viewer, Paint.NET as my main editor, and Inkscape as my vector processor.

[David DeCristoforo]

Photoshop is the preferred "go to" app for image editing. There are many other options but PS is the "industry standard". Obviously, most of the responders here do not use Macs which is too bad on a number of counts. If you used a Mac, you would find that the resident iPhoto app offers many of the basic image editing functions including cropping, rotating, sharpening, adjusting white point, color, brightness and contrast, etc. Plus, it's ridiculously easy to use. The "learning curve" is about the same as learning to peel a banana.

[Ken Hill]

Actually DD, PS is not the go to program for edit work, it is for image manipulation and graphic design however Lightroom is the prefered photo editing and cataloging software prefered in the industry. I do not use Lightroom for myself, but have it when working a workflow of images from someone else on location.

PS can be work flowed using so many good plug in's these days, but its no where near Lightroom for typical edit work. Its nothing to do 500 images in an hour with Lightroom.

[James Combs]

I haven't seen it mention so I will through it out here for what it's worth. I use "Paint Shop Pro Photo X2" by Corel. Does everything I need to do and can usually be found for ~$60+. Have used it for at least a decade or longer and like it a lot.

[Nate Davey]

The "learning curve" is about the same as learning to peel a banana.

Using Apple is as easy as pealing a banana???? Hadn't thought of it that way:D As a Mac user I agree, PS was a hold over from my Windows days and Elements has a lot of functionality with easy guided steps.

[Hilel Salomon]

I have used photo shop (great but learning curve is equally large), gimp, paint.net and some of the MS software. I like Picasa the best. It is free, user friendly and pretty effective. I've taken photos at night and made them into dawn and dusk shots.\

[Steve Schlumpf]

Faust - I have been using FastStone Image Viewer for a number of years and am still happy with it! It is a free graphics program and really has a lot of capabilities. Another free program is Paint.net and it has layers - which FastStone does not.