Just this year I started photography and Iv been hoping to buy a photo editing program. However im not sure what to choose. Currently im using HP image zone plus and neat image but it doesnt really do anything so im planning on maybe a photoshop. However if any of you have any other suggestions id be glad to take them I just want to know what program is probably the best to go for or what you are currently using and what you think of it.

Thanks alot.

Riley

Well, a lot depends on how deep your wallet is. I used Adobe's PhotoDeluxe (a light version of Photoshop for $99) for many years, I'm not sure what they call it now. I use Photoshop now. There are several freeware and shareware image editing applications out there if you have a really limited budget.

PhotshopElements 3.0 is fairly good. It is verey close to the pro versions. Its around 149.00

and its been superceded now by Elements 4.0

I did not know that they came out with 4.0 yet. Thats even better.

Paintshop is my tool of choice. It is similar to Photoshop, but it lacks some of the really advanced effects that come with Photoshop. I used it to easily produce all my wallpaper. If you want you can get a (used?) copy from Amazon Marketplace for $27. That beats several hundred for Photoshop, but if you decide to do the extremely advanced stuff you'll find that most industry shops use Photoshop.

You can buy old versions of Photoshop from Ebay or Amazon Marketplace. It just means you won't be using the latest version.

buying an old version of PS on the cheap is a good move if you dont qualify for educational discount as it means you can upgrade to the latest version for less than a third of the retail price from any previous version.

Im not sure if price is a huge factor here. Iv got lots of money saved up from previous jobs that iv done and little chores so whatever you guys think could improve my images the most ill probably go ahead and get.

Or if you want to spend your money on something you can't get for free look here:-)

If price is not a factor, definitely go with Photoshop . . . It's the industry standard and because of this tons of books and online help is available for anything you want to do.

ill reasearch the program a bit and find out were to purchase it. I plan on buying something within the next month so im still open to any tips or advise anyone wants to give me on purchasing a program.

My company uses AtomicPark.com to purchase software. They are both cheap and reliable. You should check them out no matter what you decide to purchase. happy shopping!!

I know I don't speak for everyone here, but me not using Digital Image Pro would be like having my hands tied behind my back. My mom bought Digital Image Pro 7.0 (made by Microsoft) a good while back and I think it is great!

It is really only good for what would be called "light manipulations" in the sense that it isn't very fluent at moving sections of photos around smoothly, also applying filters to small areas can be tricky, but you usually don't see the need to. It can easily do any cutting, cropping, or resizing I need to do (which I have yet to figure out in photoshop). It is excellent in adjusting brightnes contrast, tints, saturation, and color palletes with no difficulty what-so-ever. Also, I tried out Photoshop's diffuse glow for the first time 2 days ago, and it seemed cumbersome and unweildy in comparison (I live by that effect). Even though I have Photoshop at my fingertips, I rarely get around to opening it up. I am pretty sure this program costs about $100. I am not saying it can do everything Photoshop can, but it certainly gets me by. Check it out (and no, I am not being paid to write this). :-)

Iv been scurring around looking at all the programs that have been recomened within the last posts and so far the only one I like is photoshop. I was just curious if anyone would reccomend this program that im using in my com tech class at my school were we create ads and magazine covers using this program by photoshop called elements.Ive gotten pretty good at using it. I was just curious if anyone would reccomend this program?

Riley

Elements is very good if all you are wanting to do is enhance and quick fix your photos. its auto smart fix function is normally very effective. It's on version 4 at the moment and is a relatively cheap alternative for those not interested in anything other than working with there shots and not really prepared to go the whole hog on CS2. on the upside its a nice and easy introduction into the PS interface and working style if you do decide to upgrade later.