best software for a beginner photogrphaer

Vicki Brazil wrote: For a beginner (like me) I downloaded Picaso. It's free and you can google it and find the site to download it. It's a good program and makes my pictures look awesome.

Picasa also has some great options for organization, sharing photos online, tagging faces, etc. You can also do things with your online photos via Android phones if you happen to have one (can't speak to iPhone). I'm a huge of anything Google, and used this a lot from right after it came out. But I admit that since I bought Lightroom, I haven't really touched it. Not so much because I don't like Picasa, but because there's no sense opening a second application to do what I can already do in Lightroom.

as a beginner i got lightroom and photoshop....i dont like starting off small i like going big lol

butterflygirl921 wrote: as a beginner i got lightroom and photoshop....i dont like starting off small i like going big lol

And as a beginner, how are you doing with those two softwares? Why did you decide to get those two?

wolverine wrote: If you want a free software try Paint.net from www.getpaint.net

Thanks. Is this like the Paint that comes with Windows?

motol66 wrote:

butterflygirl921 wrote: as a beginner i got lightroom and photoshop....i dont like starting off small i like going big lol

And as a beginner, how are you doing with those two softwares? Why did you decide to get those two?

I am doing good with it and I got those two because my cousin can get them lol

Well the good way to to see what works for you is to play with all the so far mentioned programs, and see what works for you. You can download the trial versions of the Adobe products and play with them for 30 days. I would suggest Elements first because it is the easiest, then Lightroom. I personally use Photoshop but then I have been using it since 2.0. It was a pain to learn with a lot of cussing as I learned it, but now I can do it in my sleep.

I forgot to mention the other big benefit of using lr or ps is that there are an awful lot of tutorials on youtube so if you get stuck and don't want to wait for a response on the forum there is always a virtual person to help you achieve what you want

Personally speaking I use Picasa..because it's easy to navigate and use..because it's free..(I can't afford lightroom,might go to Elements,but I trialed it and it was slow) you can add a watermark..and I just like it..the purists dismiss it, but 'one mans meat is another man's poison' if you get my drift!

Robin

robinchun wrote: Personally speaking I use Picasa..because it's easy to navigate and use..because it's free..(I can't afford lightroom,might go to Elements,but I trialed it and it was slow) you can add a watermark..and I just like it..the purists dismiss it, but 'one mans meat is another man's poison' if you get my drift!

Robin

It isnt a case of being purists but what we have used for years and what has the most bang. I have nothing against Picassa except it doesnt work for me, if it does for other people then good for them.

I use Picasa too

You can use the software provided by your camera manufacturer.

If I have to do lots of editing I use either photoshop or gimp. For very simple editing (like auto adjust) I use the windows live photo gallery. I also use photoscape, which is free and has got lots of good effects to choose from.

There are a few free other programs out there that haven't been mentioned like Photoscape, RAW Therapee, and Pixbuilder Studio.

I tried Gimp and like some of the information I read, it does have a steep learning curve. I would recommend that you hold off on this one until you have worked and played with some of the others and feel confident enough in the terminology. (that's what got me)

Picasa is good but it is a Google product and will search your entire hard drive and bring in all images. I found that really annoying as I didn't want to spend time cleaning up all the stuff I didn't want in there. Also if you are a paranoid "Google knows to much about me" person then you might want to avoid this one.

Photoscape is a free and pretty simple to use application. I feel it's really good for the beginner as it has a nice interface, easy to use options and doesn't overwhelm the user.
photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

Pixbuilder is another free tool thats similar to Photoscape. It offers a few more fun things to do with your pictures that Photoscape doesn't have.
www.wnsoft.com/pixbuilder/

RAWTherapee is a RAW file format processor. Like Gimp, it's a little difficult to figure out at first, this is mostly due to the layout of the controls. Some of them aren't where you would think they would be. But for processing RAW images without having PS it really comes in handy!
rawtherapee.com/

Another cool free tool for Windows is Hugin. Hugin is a panorama tool that helps you create panoramas.
hugin.sourceforge.net/

And of course as already mentioned, the software that came with your camera.

sree2472 wrote: You can use the software provided by your camera manufacturer.

I agree with this, big time! I've been using Corel Paintshop Pro X3 since about June (I recommend steering very clear of this product BTW). I can do lots of cool edits. But just today I decided to check out the Canon software (Digital Professional Pro). It's very simple and yields very nice results. I think I might start using it for all of my non-layer type edits. I'm blown away by the results I'm getting from this program.

butterflygirl921 wrote:

motol66 wrote:

butterflygirl921 wrote: as a beginner i got lightroom and photoshop....i dont like starting off small i like going big lol

And as a beginner, how are you doing with those two softwares? Why did you decide to get those two?

I am doing good with it and I got those two because my cousin can get them lol

I can see you like to brag about getting the two softwares. Nothing wrong with getting software for free, but the question is more like.. do you completely understand how to use photoshop as a beginner? Lightroom is easy to learn.