Well as many will confirm, Photoshop is the industry standard. Now in version CS4. It is very good but expensive.

If you are just starting and wondering how much you want to do try some of the free stuff first.

Picassa from Google will do most simple things such as cropping and straitening, making colour and density changes.

There is also Faststone which is simple to use.

There are others which I am sure will be suggested by other members.

Have a look at this query from the "BEGINNERS" section in the forum 

http://www.myfinepix.es/forum/1/24154

I cannot seem to grasp the consept.  Could anyone tell me how to copy and paste from Fine pics veiwer to word.

We use both Adobe photoshop CS3 and Elements 6 but it depends how far you want to turn your photograph into a digital image.  Elements is a cut down version of the bigger CS3 package but has all the gizmos to adjust your pictures properties.  It is easier to use than CS3.

If you are taking pictures in "RAW" and want the maximum amount of scope you use 16 bit files you will need a CS package as Elements will only open RAW file to a maximum of 8 bit CS goes to 16 bit.

We recently bought CS3 from Amazon for £124.00 for the extened version and Elements 7 is between £50-£60.

Hope this helps

Trevor

Haven't used it much lately but I have GIMP and find it very powerful, can do most that Photoshop can, but the manual is a little strange to follow sometimes. There's a lot of internet support and plugins available too.

I use paintshop pro X, now at pro12, I find it very easy to use and has a very helpful learning mode.

It also has all the features of Photoshop but is less expensive.

Hi, I use PhotoshopElements 6, bought from Adobe. I had bought Photoshop Elements 5 from a seller on Amazon and found that it was a copy!! I only buy from the manufacturers now!!

Since I started using a PC, I have used the Paint Shop Pro series of picture editors. I started with version 5 and I've worked my way up through 7, 8 10 and I'm now using PSP X2 Ultimate.

It is an amazing piece of software, with a lot of inbuilt tutorials for the beginner at a click of a button.

I've bought most of the upmarket ones and have used Photoshop/PSPro extensively but, over the past 12 months I have been using Ashampoo's Commander 7. I find this one more than adequate and yes you can download it freely for 30 days and more !

Give it a try.    Best wishes.

As commented, 'psp forces you to make some changes within a small window'. There is a tick box at the top of the edit window which previews the amendments on the main image. I agree that the usual tiny windows are a problem.

Photoshop is said to be the most professional, but it is also the most expensive. I tried a download of Elements but found it lacked essential tools.

I now use Paint Shop Pro X2 which was available on a half price offer as a download direct from Corel. I do tend to recommend GIMP which is also liked and used by many and its free. All should be available as downloadable trial versions for about 30 days. After the trial period then uninstall what you don't like and pay/donate for what you keep.

You can't be sure that what works for someone else, will work for you. The only way is to try for free.

Photoscape is a great free editing, printing, do it all, bit of software I think is great.

I tried:

1. Elements: (Powerful, industry standard software, but I did not find it very intuitive - good point is there are lots of books and magazines out here.  Has a certain kudos and you are often not considered a serious photographer if you don't use Photoshop or elements!)
2. Serif PhotoPlus x3: (found this more intuitive and was the cheapest)
3. PaintShop Pro Photo x2:(found this the most intuitive and has a dark grey theme which helps when editing.  the 'ultimate version comes with a 2g memory stick and a bunch of other software (including a program that can retrieve deleted files from memory cards - already saved my parents from a divorce with this!).  Yes you do have to carry out some tasks in smaller windows, but there is a tick-box that will show the changes on the main image also and if you are lucky enough to be able to use two monitors (I use a 19" monitor for editing and my laptop screen) you can keep the main image clear by placing the pop-up on the other screen!

I chose to use PSPP X2, but all have full trial versions down-loadable from the Internet So my advice is download them and pick the one that works for you.

I have a copy of the Serif PhotoPlus 9 mentioned above which is pretty good if you can get a copy of the magazine.

Paint.net and Gimp are also good starting points as they are free and down-loadable from the web.

Good luck.

As a beginner myself I use IRFANVIEW as it free and highly rated by others. I also go to the the picnik website and edit on line at www.picnik.com. Picnik is great for an absolute beginner and you can feel your feet a lot more with irfanview before going out and buying something expensive.

Regards Francis

I'd recommend Paint.net - its free,  and does most things pretty well

I'm an avid Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 user and love it. Had problems with Vista and Photoshop together. Well recommended and you can get a free 30 day trial from Download.com before you buy.

Good Luck,

Fay

Photoshop Elements 8 is now out and very good it is too I find it easy to use and has a good amount of wizards built in to help,

CS4 is brilliant but not intuitive and has a steep learning curve.

Corel paint shop pro is still an excellent inexpensive alternative.  I have used them all and use CS4 the most but up until completing a photography course recently I used Elements because it was musc easier

Adobe lightroom is also very good for image editing and cataloging, crop, colour fixes, straightening, and all the basic tasks, links in very well with CS4 as well

Try Paint. net. it is free and can be downloaded . It is very much like Photoshop

Currently learning/using Aperture 3.0.3 and iPhoto '09 v8.1.2 on an iMac.

I'm really new Ive been messing about as a happy snapper for years but now am keen to try some experiments with photography >fist all what is raw comparedt to to normal format .Im adedicated lets get what we can for free . My limited understanding is that the raw/jpeg are just different ways of store the digital files is this sort of on the right wave length . Total Beginer at cj.lash@hotmail.com