What software should I use for photos?

Question

I want software that will go several steps beyond "Paint" and the introductory photo programs that come with the computer. I've heard Adobe is best, but there are dozens of choices. Can you give some advice? I am not a graphic designer or guru. I just want more control over manipulating graphics (jpg, tif, gif, bmp) and some formatting control for digital photos from my pretty good camera.

Thanks for your advice.

David

Answer

This question was answered on April 17, 2006. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

This is a great question!! What you have heard about Adobe is right, it's a great program and allows full control over images. The problem with Adobe products is the learning curve. If you but an Adobe product, expect to buy a book to go with it and plan on spending a lot of time learning how to learn the program. Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful program but it's not very intuitive and expect to shell out several hundred dollars for Photoshop. You can buy Photoshop Elements for far less but it still has the same learning curve problems. You can try a free demo version at www.adobe.com

Another program is Microsoft's Digital Image Suite. It's a bit more intuitive and about the same price as Adobe's Photoshop Elements.

Last but not least is a free option called GIMP. This is another program that has a big learning curve but it's every bit as powerful as Photoshop. You can download it at http://www.gimp.org/</p>

Author

Posted by Aaron of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on April 17, 2006