Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler What’s your favorite photo editing software?

Now that I’ve got this DSLR camera and a few hundred really crappy pictures, what’s a good photo editing program?

I tried the software that came with the camera, and I’m not all that happy with it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s just too basic.

I think I need noise reduction. No, I know I need it….

I’d like to be able to combine shots taken where there is extreme exposure setting differences (like a really bright sunset over a dark mountain peak). I don’t know if there is anything that will do that, but I was thinking if I could take two pictures of the same thing, with two different exposures, I could cut and paste?? I dunno, maybe I’m just dreaming, but that would be cool.

I’m still using JPEG, but think after I figure this thing out, I’ll use Raw + JPEG, so it would be cool if I didn’t have to use two separate programs to convert and process.

That six hundred dollar Photo Shop is too expensive for me.

I’ve looked at about a dozen different programs, and really don’t which one to get. I figured I’d ask you guys before I go downloading a bunch of trial versions.

I'd like to stitch panoramas too.

Mike, you might consider the more affordable Adobe PhotoShop Elements. The name explains it. It might still be too "basic" for you, but I can't say.

You can find a lot of opinions, reviews, and tips and tutorials on the internet.

Adobe Photoshop Elements Techniques

Photoshop Elements Tutorials and User Resources

The above were found by simply by googling "Photoshop Elements."

I know the price of photoshop is steep but there really isnt anything that comes close.
Which camera did you end up getting?

The GIMP is an open source free software which I believe is capable of doing anything Photoshop can. I've downloaded it, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet. It certainly looks like it has a LOT of features though, so I guess it's worth giving it a shot...it's free!

Thanks Alex. Elements was already on my list to look at. I had not read all the reviews though, thanks for the links. Adobe also has one out called Lightroom that looks pretty good too.

There’s one out called Bibble that’s getting a lot of praise.

I’m also looking at Helicon Soft that looks promising. http://www.heliconsoft.com/index.html

Corel Paint Shop Pro is another one that a lot of pro’s use who refuse to dump $600 on Photoshop.

It’s all quite daunting…..

Bray,

I went with the Olympus Evolt 510 with two kit lenses; 14-42 and 50-150. One of the reasons I don’t want to spend six bills on software for it is I want the 7-14 super wide angle lens, and it costs $1500.. so I’m saving my pennies for it.

Thanks Mary…. I had not seen that one yet. I’ll check it out.

I use Lightroom from Adobe. It's pretty easy to use and you can download a 30 day trial to see how you like it. If you are on a mac you could check out Aperture (again, 30 day free trial). Also a good program. I chose lightroom because it works on both PC and MAC. So far it's been great for organizing my photos and correcting er, enhancing.... my photos.

I like paint shop pro. It used to be made by Jasc but I think adobe bought them up or something.

It was about 100 bucks the last time i looked.

The new version, Paint shop pro XI is $70 at Corel.com

Elements 5 will do everything you'll need and, if you look around, it can be had for under $50. Add the latest Adobe RAW Converter and you've got about all you need. I've an older version of Photoshop but I never use it anymore.

As for combining images to get HDR (high dynamic range) Photomatix does a great job and is very intuitive.

There are many great noise reduction applications, some freeware and others shareware. Noise Ninja is among the best. Noiseware Community Edition is free and very good.

For panos try Autostitch, the easist and one of the best there is.

If you'd like to try some perspective correction download ShiftN, a nifty little freeware application. It easily corrects architectural lens distortions, etc.

As you can see, I like freeware whenever possible. If it's a great application I'll donate.

As for RAW, I'll bet you'll be shooting RAW exclusively very soon. You just have so much more flexibility over jpeg. Unless I'm shooting quick family photos I stay with RAW.

Hope this helps, arkiedan