I Need A New Photo Editing Software Package

[rk911]

Windows 10/11 (Desktop/Laptop). Shooting with a Nikon D-3000.

I'm a amateur photographer and shoot for myself and friends. My current photo editing software...Picasa...is waaaaay out of date and I'd like to replace it.

Looking for all of the usual functions...brightness, contrast, cropping, color adjustment, etc. but wondering if the new suites actually make changes to the original jpg or do they create a new jpg with the edits (brightness, cropping, contrast, etc. so you end up with the raw jpg and an edited jog. When I shoot for friends and family I want to put the edited jpg's on a CD for them so they can choose the jpg's they wish to print. My current software can print edited jpg's only thru that software but Picasa is really more for organizing photos than anything else and it's been working well in that role. We are new a new uncle and aunt so there will likely be a LOT of photography going forward.

Suggestions? Doesn't have to be free but also not looking to spend huge $. Thanks.

 

[Ronstar]

Get the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. I think I pay about $10 a month. It's great. Lightroom has good photo organizing into albums, and you can export to jpg's or other file types, and print outside of the app. And with Photoshop, you can swap kids in and out of pics so that you get every one of them having their best pose in one pic.

 

[explanade]

There is a learning curve though with Lightroom and Photoshop.

I've never used it but Adobe Photoshop Elements is more basic, may still be available without paying a monthly or annual subscription.

You also have to consider how big a library you have, how much you want to maintain. If you're talking thousands of photos, Digital Asset Management or DAM becomes something to consider, how to manage your library.

Lightroom stands apart from most photo editing software for its DAM.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I use Photoshop Elements. If can be bought on sale for $69 or $79. Essentially "Photoshop Lite".

As to your usage, you start with the original image, say a .jpg file. As you edit it you can make changes and "save as" to a Photoshop file name, i.e. *.psd. This .psd file format will preserve your layers and other changes so you can come back later and alter it some more. When you're completely done with that image you can save it as .jpg under a different name than the original file name.

I'm fairly certain Photoshop Elements will meet your needs. Plus there are a lot of YouTube videos and helpful websites to help you learn it quickly. I would put the learning curve at easy- medium.

 

[motley]

There is a learning curve though with Lightroom and Photoshop.

? I thought Photoshop was easy to use.

I'd do a net search on "best free photo editing software" and try what you find.

 

[Palmtree]

As a retired professional photographer I can agree to all the above.

Elements: Basic, but will most likely get you what you need.
Lightroom: Think of it as Photoshop lite. Will do most things 90% of average photographers need.
Photoshop: Advanced users. High level editing and very creative filters and features.

 

[audreyh1]

Lightroom is great for both importing, organizing and editing photos as well as creating slideshows, etc. It handles raw files from most cameras. It does non-destructive editing. I recommend that. Not nearly as much of a learning curve as Photoshop.

 

[motley]

Photoshop: Advanced users. High level editing and very creative filters and features.

Happily I don't have such a need as I looked it up and apparently they only do that subscription crap now.

 

[jim584672]

GIMP

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program: The Free and Open Source Image Editor

www.gimp.org

GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and more operating systems.

Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

 

[Chuckanut]

The great thing about Lightroom is the amount of free teaching resources out there. The bad thing about Lightroom is that it does so much you now need those resources.

 

[Delawaredave5]

I love Picasa too. I hate Adobe and won't pay their subscription BS.

Photopea is web based Photoshop knock off.

Also use Google Snapseed

 

[Slotracer]

Irfanview is a free program which is relatively easy to use. It has cropping, color correction, resizing, rotating, and many other features. It is easy enough to use that we trained our customer service people in 15 minutes on the basics they needed (they would occasionally have to take photos to send to customers, cropping and resizing the photos, and occasionally blurring something before sending). You can keep your original file by doing a save-as after editing.

 

[GenXguy]

GIMP

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program: The Free and Open Source Image Editor

www.gimp.org

GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and more operating systems.

Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

Yeah, free GIMP is what I was going to recommend.

I often use free Irfanview for quick edits.

 

[Aerides]

? I thought Photoshop was easy to use.

Nope, not remotely. PS Elements is easier than the full suite and will cover most needs.

GIMP is nice and free but also has a learning curve.

Picasa was great while it lasted.

 

[motley]

Nope, not remotely.

For me it was. Everyone has their own experience.

 

[OldShooter]

As a matter of principle I will not buy an Adobe subscription. Their goal is to milk the customer base while minimizing R&D investments. A couple of years ago they announced record profits and a subscription price increase on the same day. Makes great sense for them but leaves users constantly at risk. Also, if you stop subscribing, existing photos and edits are essentially frozen -- it's your work and they own it.

I am still using the packaged LightRoom, the last version before they hid it behind a subscription. Its photo editing capabilities, occasionally assisted by the packaged version of Elements, does more that I need. Same thing is true for many of the other competing packages.

The thing that holds me to Lightroom right now is the library and cataloging capability. Tags and the ability to create virtual groups of pictures are things that I use a lot. I am waiting anxiously for a good library competitor with at least minimal import capability. The day that happens I am gone.

 

[motley]

As a matter of principle I will not buy an Adobe subscription.

I will never subscribe (i.e. rent) any software simply because I find the whole concept ridiculous. The only exception I can possibly think of is if it's expensive to buy but really cheap to rent and you do it for one month to check it out before buying.

 

[Ian S]

Paintshop Pro Ultimate is an inexpensive alternative to Photoshop. No monthly fee. $60 on Amazon. Sometimes you can get package deal on Paintshop and Videostudio which I've used for years. YMMV.

 

[explanade]

I don't know about GIMP and other options but Adobe is developing AI features.

Lot of it may be hype but they introduced AI de-noise feature for Lightroom which is a huge improvement over previous noise removable features.

 

[target2019]

Windows 10/11 (Desktop/Laptop). Shooting with a Nikon D-3000.

I'm a amateur photographer and shoot for myself and friends. My current photo editing software...Picasa...is waaaaay out of date and I'd like to replace it.

Looking for all of the usual functions...brightness, contrast, cropping, color adjustment, etc. but wondering if the new suites actually make changes to the original jpg or do they create a new jpg with the edits (brightness, cropping, contrast, etc. so you end up with the raw jpg and an edited jog. When I shoot for friends and family I want to put the edited jpg's on a CD for them so they can choose the jpg's they wish to print. My current software can print edited jpg's only thru that software but Picasa is really more for organizing photos than anything else and it's been working well in that role. We are new a new uncle and aunt so there will likely be a LOT of photography going forward.

Suggestions? Doesn't have to be free but also not looking to spend huge $. Thanks.

I still use Picasa, preserved on my Win XP machine. All of the older family photos are there. It is no longer supported because Google expanded their Photos app.

I use Irfanview on my PC for simple editing tasks like crops. downsizing, etc.

For the Picasa experience, I'll open Google Photos and try some of the filters and techniques when necessary. Google Photos is my management software now.

For a better selection of tools, I paid for Affinity Photo a few years ago, maybe $50. There is a newer version I don't need, but you can trial for 6 months. No subscription. Best Photo Editing Software | Affinity Photo

There's a community for the software, so you can find help with the learning bump if necessary.

Since you're coming from Picasa, I'd say you're gonna dislike the learning curve for anything, just like I do...

 

[Qs Laptop]

I think all these photoediting software packages have merit, however, if you want to get the industry standard and all the support that comes with it, you're looking at Adobe. Adobe Photoshop is expensive, hard to learn and has features the average hobbyist would never use. On the other hand, Adobe Photoshop Elements is much easier to learn and has the best options for features and support, IMO.

I just got an email today and it is on sale right now for $79.95.

 

[donheff]

Irfanview is a decent free editor. Affinity is quite good at a reasonable price. Photoshop Elements (as others suggest) is a good editor with most of the features of Photoshop that "normal" people need. I used it for several years. Gimp is a solid free product and is gearing up for a major release that may take it to the next level. But, like Photoshop, Gimp has a significant learning curve.

I did sign up for Photoshop Creative Cloud a little over a year ago but only because I want it for Astrophotography. I could get by with Gimp, but I prefer Photoshop. From what I have read about the upcoming Gimp release, it could make it better for what I want in AP, but I will probably stick with Photoshop.

 

[obsessed]

Photoshop Elements is now a three-year license instead of the perpetual license it was previously.

I use the Photoshop/Lightroom subscription bundle and probably use Lightroom for 90%+ of my editing now.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Photoshop Elements is now a three-year license instead of the perpetual license it was previously.

I use the Photoshop/Lightroom subscription bundle and probably use Lightroom for 90%+ of my editing now.

Whoa. I did not know that about PhotoShop Elements. Maybe it is possible to buy last year's version somewhere and get the perpetual license?

 

[Walt34]

I believe you can still buy the last version of Lightroom (version 6) before they went to the subscription model and keep that. I haven't checked in a while though.

That said, I started with Photoshop Elements and many are correct, that may be all you will ever use. I wanted to progress farther though, so have been subscribing to Lightroom/Photoshop for the same monthly fee ($9.99/month) for years. BTW, they haven't raised the price on that basic bundle for I think about the last ten years or so, or whenever it was that they first started.

One of the things that I especially like about Lightroom is that you cannot change the original image. It is at heart a database program. So you make your changes and if you want a portable copy to send out you have to "export" the image with your changes into a new file be it .jpg, .png, .tif, or whatever. This is not as kludgey as it sounds, it's pretty easy. There is a learning curve though, and I highly recommend buying a book or two on it if you decide to go that route. I have found the effort worthwhile.

The reason I went with Lightroom/Photoshop is that there are so many aftermarket support books, videos, and classes on it. Photoshop is the industry standard for good reason and whether you like Adobe's marketing isn't going to change that.