Monday, 07 July 2008

• Photo Editing: Choosing Software

  by Photographer Jess

  As I'm sure most of you know there is a huge world of software out there to choose from. Just Google "software" on virtually any topic and websites start rolling in offering free programs, trials, and betas but how do you know who to trust and where it's safe to get it?? Well, to be honest, I haven't spent hours finding all the cool free stuff and little known "wonder programs" that are just as good or better than the ones everyone is talking about. I'm the mother of 5 kids under 10 so I'm a busy girl! But I can offer you my two cents worth and let you research other options that might work better for you.
  
  Editing always held a draw for me! I loved turning my photos black and white and then coloring cheeks or flowers in the editor I had. In the beginning I was fine only editing with the little software program that came with my computer but it wasn't long before I longed for more! When I finally realized that photo editing software was a must the first phone call I made was to my brother who is a graphic designer extraordinaire! He said right off the bat: You NEED Photoshop! Don't waste your money on anything else! I was not really surprised since I'd been hearing photographers rave about it for years. But that nearly $700 price tag had me more than a little intimidated! What could something that cost that much possibly offer little-ol'-self-taught-photographer me?? I wasn't that complicated a girl! I just wanted to make my photos cool! Not turn them into magazine worthy masterpieces!! I hung up feeling very small...
  
  So a few weeks later my hubby and I were strolling through Best Buy and I dragged him down the software isle so I could drool at the Photoshop versions. I didn't know what I was looking for exactly but I stumbled across the new Adobe Photoshop Elements and stopped dead in my tracks. Under a 100 bucks? Now that was a vast improvement! My sweet man grabbed it off the shelf and said, "Let's get it." I was thrilled!!
  
  Let me make a disclaimer here: I don't work for Adobe. I don't get some kind of kickback for recommending this program. I just am a consumer who was looking for a solution to a problem and this product met the need. If you follow this link to Adobe's website, you can download a Full Version trial of Elements 6.  Now with that said, here's a few things you should know and keep in mind:
  
  First, Photoshop Elements is powerful! It's a big program and it's complex. This is a wonderful thing and a bit of a frustrating thing at the same time. On the one hand, you are getting quite a bang for your buck! If you were thinking of springing for the full, expensive Photoshop CS3 let me just say: you could get all the stuff you will ever need in the Elements version. The extras in CS3 are not something I, even as a professional now, have really needed (and I have worked with it quite a bit). All the add-ons and applications designed to enhance Photoshop will work perfectly with the Elements versions. So I can't say enough about the advantages of going the Elements route. Only that on the other hand, it has quite a learning curve so don't expect to master it before the trial runs out.
  
  And then just a warning: be careful of "deals" out there on the Internet advertising getting you into some "older" version of Photoshop for super cheap. Some of these are on Ebay and can really shoot you in the foot instead of helping you. These older versions are pretty much obsolete and take a class to use (practically... I've messed with several and was totally lost!). I have one friend who did this and after buying the program she thought was a fabulous deal ended up completely befuddled by it and then bought several expensive tutorials, books, and even DVD's trying to learn how to use her program! And then in the end she just finally gave up and purchased Elements after seeing what I was doing with it. She hasn't looked back at that "cheap" program since. So that's just my experience. You can do with it what you will.
  
  So as we go through these lessons you'll notice me refer to editing techniques I use in Photoshop terms since this is what I use. Hope that helps those of you curious about what I recommend.  Happy Editing!! 

  Do you ever edit your digital photos?  If so, what program/software do you use?

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