What photo editing software would you recommend me please?

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Dani Sparkles

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Hi please can I ask anyone what software they would recommend I use for editing my sofware. I use right now Microsoft Photo Gallery and Picture Manager so not sure if I can get better. I wondered are there any free ones I can get please and if so which ones? Thanks, Dani xx
 
probably the best freeware one is Gimp.
But like Photoshop it has a steep learning curve. but worth the effort.
 
Too much too soon could be counter-productive - you could start by trying Paint.net, Dani - http://www.getpaint.net/index.html - which is a well-known free download.

It might be a good intro to some of the features typical of higher-end software. See how it goes. I'd try one thing at a time.
 
The NIK collection is now "FREE" from Google, that has some pretty advanced features too well worth having. https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
Most of these programs as said by Terry take a fair bit of learning.
Probably best to pick the one you like the look of and stick with it until you really get the hang of it. Gimp is very good a a free editor BTW.
 
To be honest, I think you should bite the bullet NOW and buy a copy of Lightroon v6. I've never used any of the free apps but I found Photoshop very unintuitive - it was originally designed for graphics and design professionals and not photographers! Lightroom was specifically for photographers, and i took to it straight away.

It is not yet known if Adobe will ever produce a stand-alone LR v7, as they are trying to sell us all a subscription model at £10 per month for LR and PS.

You can get a free 30 day trial of Lightroom from the adobe website. Whatever you decide there will be a learning curve; I'm still discovering new features in LR after about 8 years of using it! It is now a very complex piece of software which has many features I will never use.
 
Thanks again to all I think I might try paint.net and gimp for now as I have limited money right now but will still think about it. xx
 
jerry12953 said:
To be honest, I think you should bite the bullet NOW and buy a copy of Lightroon v6. I've never used any of the free apps but I found Photoshop very unintuitive - it was originally designed for graphics and design professionals and not photographers! Lightroom was specifically for photographers, and i took to it straight away.

It is not yet known if Adobe will ever produce a stand-alone LR v7, as they are trying to sell us all a subscription model at £10 per month for LR and PS.

You can get a free 30 day trial of Lightroom from the adobe website. Whatever you decide there will be a learning curve; I'm still discovering new features in LR after about 8 years of using it! It is now a very complex piece of software which has many features I will never use.
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Yep start with Adobe and you cant go wrong, Ive been using Lightroom since V3 and now have the full CC package but the photo package is around £10 per month but its gets updated regularly. My workflow is built around Adobe and does everything I need.
 
Dani Sparkles said:
Thanks I have got GIMP now so will try this! x
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It really is worth downloading Nik software suite it's now free with many one click solutions and effects for your images and like someone has said it can be used as a stand alone piece of software :)
 
Phiggys said:
It really is worth downloading Nik software suite it's now free with many one click solutions and effects for your images and like someone has said it can be used as a stand alone piece of software :)
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Ok jaut got GIMP now so you think Nik is easier to use then as GIMP looks hard!? x
 
If no-one has explained (and you might not know) there's 2 levels of editing images: image development and pixel-level editing.

Image development software is what you use for making basic changes to an image, just as though you were developing a photo in the darkroom. You will adjust exposure, contrast, colour balance, sharpness, cropping the picture etc. Examples of this software are DXO optics Pro (free, mentioned above) Lightroom (not free) Dark table and Raw Therapee (both free). They are non-destructive editors that do not change your base image, allowing you to keep you work for re-editing again if needed.

Pixel level editors that you would use for making deep and fundamental changes to your images (like adding or removing things, or changing the nature of the image irreversibly) include Adobe Photoshop, Jasco Paintshop (not free) GIMP and the NIK suite (free).

There's also a class of editor that sits slightly outside these, and will make destructive (i.e. irreversible changes) to your images but can still be used to improve & develop them. Examples are Irfanview (very small, fast and easy to use) and DigiKam (more powerful, still easy but more complex) - both free.
 
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Dani Sparkles said:
Ok jaut got GIMP now so you think Nik is easier to use then as GIMP looks hard!? x
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They are different, and while there is some cross over, they do slightly different things. GIMP is more complex to use, and not intuitive (much better now than it was though).

If you want to improve images straight out of camera then try DXO or Raw Therapee instead - don't use GIMP for that.
 
ancient_mariner said:
If no-one has explained (and you might not know) there's 2 levels of editing images: image development and pixel-level editing.

Image development software is what you use for making basic changes to an image, just as though you were developing a photo in the darkroom. You will adjust exposure, contrast, colour balance, sharpness, cropping the picture etc. Examples of this software are DXO optics Pro (free, mentioned above) Lightroom (not free) Dark table and Raw Therapee (both free). They are non-destructive editors that do not change your base image, allowing you to keep you work for re-editing again if needed.

Pixel level editors that you would use for making deep and fundamental changes to your images (like adding or removing things, or changing the nature of the image irreversibly) include Adobe Photoshop, Jasco Paintshop (not free) GIMP and the NIK suite (free).

There's also a class of editor that sits slightly outside these, and will make destructive (i.e. irreversible changes) to your images but can still be used to improve & develop them. Examples are Irfanview (very small, fast and easy to use) and DigiKam (more powerful, still easy but more complex) - both free.
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Thank you I never knew this! xx
 
Elliot,have you tried raw processing in the latest update,do you think its improved,also when trying AF raw did you use the AF option or the Apple option.
Ive found that unlike say lightroom if i adjusted say shadows and hiighlights 100% iits very very good whereas AF is quite poor but if you approach the
Goal slightly differently in AF though not as quick the results can be very similar,this problem with originally using hl and s in AF was very frustrating but im happier now
If i want to use AF for a change.
 
SsSsSsSsSnake said:
Elliot,have you tried raw processing in the latest update,do you think its improved,also when trying AF raw did you use the AF option or the Apple option.
Ive found that unlike say lightroom if i adjusted say shadows and hiighlights 100% iits very very good whereas AF is quite poor but if you approach the
Goal slightly differently in AF though not as quick the results can be very similar,this problem with originally using hl and s in AF was very frustrating but im happier now
If i want to use AF for a change.
Click to expand...

I haven't I'm afraid. I'm a LR user.
I did have a quick look at the RAW processing when I first got it (not long before this last update) and it wasn't very good IMO. I've not bothered to look at it again.

To be fair to AF, their pixel editor is fantastic for the money and maybe their Raw converter has improved. I do understand they don't all work the same so maybe, as you say, I was a bit heavy handed :)
 
Dani

If you are new to photo editing then I would suggest Photoshop Elements. It has an easy and advanced option. The advantage is that it doesn't have the overwhelming array of option of the Full Fat Photoshop, but does a very good job and has some of the advanced tools that Photoshop has. You can start off using the easy option ( called Quick Edit) and then progress to the more advanced section. The advantage is, that should you decide to go full Photoshop, the skills you have learned with Elements will transfer to Photoshop.
You van download a trial version ( 30 days) from the Adobe web site. I would also recommend you have a lok at some "Starting with" video's first so that you get the most out of the 30 day trial. Here's an example from Adobe

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/tutorials.html

Elements is not free but not expensive about £49.00
 
If you are in full time education it's worth seeing if your institution has a Creative Cloud licence available to students, I'm lucky to work at a University with it so I get all of the Adobe products (Photoshop, Lightroom) for free.
 
Yeah , in my wisdom I got Elements 11, a nightmare to work with, very unhelpful and unresponsive. Found Zoner Photo Studio much nicer and all in 1 package unlike the 2 disjointed ones in Elements.
But I understand that Photoshop is where the serious user will finally end up as I only edit for myself.

I got a download of PSE 11 direct from Adobe as a free Trial, then when the 30 days had passed I was offered a Discount and later another Discount which I paid, thought I`d better not push it to far.
So no need to pay full price, of course may be different now but worth a try.

Just remember any one software does not suit everyone.
 
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