photo editing software

mollybird

Im currently looking to try and get some editing software for my pictures. Does anyone know a good one that is either cheap or free. Ive tried using Gimp and really not a fan.

Thanks

Wabbit Ears

You can do a fair bit with Picassa

Paulw

Adobe Lightroom isn't overly expensive, and can do a good bit of editing. You can download a fully working free 30 day trial too, from the Adobe site.

AnCatDubh

The Gimp is pretty cool - but i suspect what you are looking for is the image manipulations which adobe lightroom and/or photoshop actions would do for you. For this you will need to invest. As Paul says, lightroom is the cheaper way in, but you are spending money which I gather you don't want to do. Picassa's fun too albeit a little constricted perhaps.

zenno

Adobe released their photoshop CS2 for free to the public and you can download it here....

Source: http://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html


Adobe has released this legacy version of the ever popular Photoshop as freeware. Download and enjoy.

<snip>

5uspect

It wasn't released for free to the public. It was provided openly to previous purchasers as they shut down the activation servers.

CS2 won't work on Intel Macs and will be a little bit troublesome on modern versions of Windows.

Kenny Logins

Depends on what you mean by editing? ..and what platform?

Could be anything from Snapseed on the iPad to Paint.net (www.getpaint.net) on a Windows PC.

bullpost

An option between the free offerings like Gimp and the pro-level expense of Photoshop is Corels Paintshop pro.
This will cost under €100 and for that you will get a 64-bit program that compares favourably with photoshop/lightroom.
It does require a fast computer though!

Review here:
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/corel_paintshop_pro_x6_review/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corel-PaintShop-Pro-X6-Ultimate/dp/B00EI5D04G/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1393245441&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=paintshop+pro

dinneenp

I've always used Picasa and am very happy with it.
Simple to learn (20mins), very quick to make changes, has plenty of features for an amateur who doesn't need/want to spend ages editing.
Has lots of features- crop, straighten, lighten/darken, saturation etc and a selection of filters.

I always mean to try the free trial of Lightroom and see how good it is.

b318isp

I bought PS Elements secondhand, with unlock key, on Adverts for about €25. Great program.

dwayned

after using the 30 day trial of Lightroom i went ahead and signed up to the 12month Creative Cloud account which includes Lightroom and Phototshop, costs about £9 a month (approx €12 a month i think).

link here

mollybird

thanks a million for the replies everyone. ya i find picassa very restrictive. that why im looking to change from it. i downloaded gimp and didn't find it easy to use at all.

ive downloaded photopad which i got the hang of fast enough. so im going to give that a go for a while and see how i get on.

Ben D Bus

dwayned wrote: »

after using the 30 day trial of Lightroom i went ahead and signed up to the 12month Creative Cloud account which includes Lightroom and Phototshop, costs about £9 a month (approx €12 a month i think).

link here

Yeah, I downloaded Photoshop CC for the trial period and I'm seriously thinking about continuing with it when the trial is up. :mad: :pac:

Kenny Logins

mollybird wrote: »

thanks a million for the replies everyone. ya i find picassa very restrictive. that why im looking to change from it. i downloaded gimp and didn't find it easy to use at all.

ive downloaded photopad which i got the hang of fast enough. so im going to give that a go for a while and see how i get on.

I agree, Picassa is a bit basic and Gimp isn't very intuitive IMHO.

Give Lightroom a go, there is a learning curve but I really think it's worth the effort when you start taking a lot of photos. I really don't know how people cope with editing, exporting and saving photos one-by-one. I think you can still buy it boxed, with no subscription to that Adobe cloud ****e.

BTW, what camera do you have? Most come with some editing software.

EDIT: £70 for the latest version. As good an investment as a new lens (IMHO), at a fraction of the price. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photoshop-Lightroom-Mac-PC/dp/B00CLD7Y4O £

dwayned

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I agree, Picassa is a bit basic and Gimp isn't very intuitive IMHO.

Give Lightroom a go, there is a learning curve but I really think it's worth the effort when you start taking a lot of photos. I really don't know how people cope with editing, exporting and saving photos one-by-one. I think you can still buy it boxed, with no subscription to that Adobe cloud ****e.

BTW, what camera do you have? Most come with some editing software.

yeah +1 on that,

The bulk editing/reviewing and tagging is great, plus there are some good tuts on youtube on the offical Adobe channel as well as a guy called "Terry White" - he has some great tuts for people new to Lightroom that i would recommend.

And yes you can still buy it one off, think its about £79

dwayned

Ben D Bus wrote: »

Yeah, I downloaded Photoshop CC for the trial period and I'm seriously thinking about continuing with it when the trial is up. :mad: :pac:

lol yeah i downloaded it because i knew i was going to be working on a couple of projects where i shot tons of pics, after using for the trial i dont think i would go back to any other program, plus i am now starting to dabble in photoshop.

zenno

5uspect wrote: »

It wasn't released for free to the public. It was provided openly to previous purchasers as they shut down the activation servers.

CS2 won't work on Intel Macs and will be a little bit troublesome on modern versions of Windows.

I see. I didn't realise this. Sorry about that.

5uspect

zenno wrote: »

I see. I didn't realise this. Sorry about that.

Doesn't mean you have to believe them...

bernard0368

Found this the other day limited but free.

http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/effects8free/

calendarqueen

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I have a similar question.

I've tried using Photoshop and Gimp and found them both so difficult to use. I use picasa for basic editing and the only additional thing I need to do to my pics is to clean up the background. I'm editing pictures for my web-site. There generally tends to be a lot of other stuff going on in the background as I don't have a dedicated area for taking photos and my items are quite large. Is there any simple way of cleaning up the background, preferably with free software?

Tks

brightspark

calendarqueen wrote: »

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I have a similar question.

I've tried using Photoshop and Gimp and found them both so difficult to use. I use picasa for basic editing and the only additional thing I need to do to my pics is to clean up the background. I'm editing pictures for my web-site. There generally tends to be a lot of other stuff going on in the background as I don't have a dedicated area for taking photos and my items are quite large. Is there any simple way of cleaning up the background, preferably with free software?

Tks

How about this

http://www.bonanza.com/background_burner

ScumLord

dwayned wrote: »

after using the 30 day trial of Lightroom i went ahead and signed up to the 12month Creative Cloud account which includes Lightroom and Phototshop, costs about £9 a month (approx €12 a month i think).

link here

That's a great deal.

calendarqueen wrote: »

I've tried using Photoshop and Gimp and found them both so difficult to use.

Photoshop isn't that difficult once you get your head around it, you won't need a quarter of the features starting off.

You do need to sit down and spend some time learning how to use it though. A for dummies book would suffice at getting you started but once you've started there is no end, you'll always have something new to learn but I think it's worth making the effort for photoshop. It's an industry standard, you can ask google for a tutorial on how to do just about anything that comes into your head and someone will have posted a walkthrough showing you how to do it.

dinneenp

Perfect effects 8 for free, normally $100.
Nit a complete software editing tool but could be good as an addition. Works standalone too.
http://petapixel.com/2014/05/06/deal-alert-onone-software-is-giving-away-perfect-effects-8-for-free/

Myksyk

I use Lightroom most of the time and find it brilliant. I did an online course first though which made it a breeze to use. Very happy with it. I use Photoshop CC too for other stuff that Lightroom is limited for.

StompToWork

dinneenp wrote: »

Perfect effects 8 for free, normally $100.
Nit a complete software editing tool but could be good as an addition. Works standalone too.
http://petapixel.com/2014/05/06/deal-alert-onone-software-is-giving-away-perfect-effects-8-for-free/

Downloaded this yesterday, and it's not so bad. It's no Lightroom or PS, but for quick global edits, it's pretty good.