Photo Editing Software Buying Guide

Why get photo editing software?

Most photo editing software included with digital cameras is good only for moving photos onto your computer. A step up in bundled photo software may provide extremely basic editing and organizing tools. Either way, if you want to do anything more than basic color correction and file transfers, you should look for photo editing software to address your specific needs.

Photo editing software does three basic things: creates images, edits images and organizes images. Most photo editing software is designed to address a combination of these functions, from organizing software with basic editing tools to editing software with paint tools. Knowing whether you want to organize photos or heavily modify them will point you toward photo editing software that meets your combination of needs.

Fine-tuning every picture

If you need extensive cropping, image repair and contrast and color adjustments, choose photo editing software that includes editing functions. Professional versions of photo editing software can be extremely involved and difficult for a novice user to master, but what you lose in ease of use, you gain in precise control.

Serious image editors should choose photo editing software with cropping, color correction, special effects filters and image format conversion. Adobe Photoshop continues to be the photo editing software of choice for professional photographers and designers. It provides precise control over every aspect of an image, but that precision comes with a professional-level price tag, and novice users may find themselves intimidated by its wide range of tools.

If you don’t need that much control, look for simpler photo editing software that includes cropping, color adjustment and the ability to create JPEG images, which is the best format for publishing on the Web. Some photo editing software comes with specialized tools to optimize graphics for the Web and features that create buttons and automatically generate HTML.

I live to paint

Vincent van Gogh once said, “I dream of painting, and then I paint my dream.” If you dream of creating images, you’ll need photo editing software with a suite of tools specialized for the task. Graphic artists, web designers, and even conventional artists all use photo editing software to create images and to stylize text.

If you want to create images as well as manipulate them, it’s important to know the key words to look for when you’re shopping for photo editing software. At the very basic level, look for draw or paint tools. Many basic photo editing software packages contain poor versions of these tools that may not satisfy the advanced user. Corel Paint Shop Pro offers professional-level tools for image creation and an interface that intermediate users can master.

The ability to bend, shade and emboss text is a great bonus feature if you’re making greeting cards, CD labels or flyers, and advanced photo editing software eliminates the need for a separate program to style text. However, it’s important to note that photo editing software isn’t the best choice for those who need freehand drawing or illustration tools. If you’re starting with text or photographs, photo editing software will take your project to completion. If you need to draw, choose software designed for that purpose.

Organizing photos

If you take a lot of photos but can never seem to find anything, photo organization software is the best choice for you. Some photo organizing software also includes basic editing capabilities that are useful if you only intend to crop photos, reduce red eye and adjust color. With most photo organization software these functions are automatic, so you won’t have any control over the results. You’ll be able to improve upon a good picture, but you’ll need photo editing software with more options and control to fix a bad one.

Photo organization software includes easy, intuitive editing features that make it extremely friendly for the novice. If you are looking for photo software to manage projects such as slideshows, collages or setting up a photo album on the Web, photo organization software is the right place to start. These programs come packaged with pre-designed templates that any user can customize to create great-looking scrapbooks or photo albums.

Technology versus creativity

Getting the right photo editing software is largely a matter of finding something with features that you can use. If you’re not highly computer graphics literate, the advanced tools featured in Adobe Photoshop will be meaningless. The learning curve is so high that you’ll never be able to use the software. If you are a creative genius looking for photo software to do advanced art applications, tools packaged with a basic photo organizer will leave you feeling unsatisfied.

Be realistic about your needs and your level of technical savvy. In the world of photo editing software, more expensive is only better if you need the advanced features and can reasonably use them. Novice users should look for photo software with cropping, red eye removal, color and lighting balance. More advanced image editing photo software may reference things like hue, saturation, layers, burning and dodging, darkroom filters, and RAW file support. If you see a lot of terms in the description that you don’t understand, keep shopping until you find something that does exactly what you need.

Need to know more?

• Top Photo-Editing Tips
  http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,104628/article.html
• How to Add a Person to a Photo
  http://help.cnet.com/digital_photo_editing/9602-12576_39-0.html?messageID=2509375&tag=tip-2509375&kw=digital+photo+ed...
• Digital Photography Tutorials
  http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm