Photo Editor Programs

[Tenbear2808]

What is the best program for photos? I would like to do more than just what little came with my computer but there are so many out there.

I want to take photos I have found while clearing out my moms stuff and scan them and edit them in special ways for framing and scrapbooking.

What would be the best one?

Thank everyone in advance

[Buzzardhut]

I like Paint Shop Pro.
Try to find an older version in used software because the older the better.
3.0-4.0
5.0+ tries to compete with Photoshop and contains more features than you will ever need, plus costs more $$$

[Mike]

I have a lot of experience with photo editors. I have used..

Photoshop
Corel PhotoPaint
Ulead PhotoImpact
Paint Shop Pro
The Gimp

I currently have all of those installed on my comp and at times use each one. The reason for that is that they all seems to have certain things that they do better than others.

Photoshop is probably the most all around versatile, but that versatility comes with a high cost. Photoshop is expensive and hard to learn, so unless you are planning to spend a very large amount of time with it then skip it.

If I had to pick just one it would be Corel PhotoPaint. To me it is the best mix of versatility and ease of use.

But a close second would be Ulead PhotoImpact. This program is by for the best at inserting text into the Photo. It does amazing things with text quite easily.

The Gimp is originally a Linux program that was ported for Windows. It is a free program that you can download, so you might start with this one. It is pretty good overall but a little hard to use. If you are somewhat computer savvy you should be able to handle it.

But like I said each one has its strong points. If you have specific things that you are wanting to do with your pics maybe mention those specific things and I will try to help with which program does those things best.

[SharpSabre]

I also like PaintShopPro as a "full-featured" grapahics program. As a light photo/graphic viewer with basic editing features I use IrfanView:

http://www.irfanview.net/

Totally free and very nice for quickly flipping thru picture files. On my PCs it's set as the default program to open .jpgs, .gifs, etc.

[heybales219]

I have microsoft office and I used MS Office Picture Manager now. It's pretty simple but has all the features and functions of the others mentioned in previous posts. I think it's only available if you purchase Microsoft Office though.

[wife]

oopsie

[NovaStorm]

I use them every day, rarely for photos but that is one of their strengths. The top three are:
Photoshop - What like $700 or so? Best thing about it is that there are just so many sites that have tutorials for it as well as many books written on it. Lots and lots of plugins.

Paint Shop Pro. About $100. Good deal and has an ok selection of books.

The GIMP - Best free graphics editor out there. Nearly as good as Photoshop but few books and few web tutorials.

OTHer than that, check out Photoshop Elements which is about $100. It's specifically designed for photography. It won't do much of anything else, but for photography it is suppose to be pretty good and easy to use.

[J4E]

oh I luv PhotoImpact That is what I use

[Kaitlyn]

OTHer than that, check out Photoshop Elements which is about $100. It's specifically designed for photography. It won't do much of anything else, but for photography it is suppose to be pretty good and easy to use.

The later versions of Elements will do a lot, I have 5.0 and haven't found much it can't do.

[ATYCLB]

I like Paint Shop Pro.
Try to find an older version in used software because the older the better.
3.0-4.0

I'm still using version 3.11 from around 1994-95. :lol2