Calling all digital photographers -- need software advice

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

I'm getting my first PC with Windows 7 as the OS. For years I've used and loved ACDSee for photo editing, and am currently running Photo Manager 2009 on my XP machines. It appears from online research that ACDSee hasn't yet made its software truly compatible with Windows 7 -- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, according to comments in various forums.

I suppose I could wait for ACDSee to get their Photo Manager 2010 out, but who knows how long that will take? Meanwhile, one purpose for getting the new computer is to migrate much of what I do on my current main PC with XP over there, to work in parallel with and eventually in place of the old system, when I feel comfortable with making a wholesale switch to Windows 7. I don't want to have to wait Og knows how long to get photo editing software up and running.

So, if I'm going to get a different photo editing software, what should it be? It needs to be intuitively easy to use for editing and printing; organization and sharing features aren't as important to me, and I don't do video work. The tools I use most often in ACDSee are crop, shadows/highlights, sharpen, straighten, repair, and resize. I don't do a lot of techno-tricks with my images, or overlaying of text. A quick and easy watermarking tool would be nice.

I do have a suit of software that came with my Canon Rebel XTi that I could try, although I got it almost a year ago, so it's probably not Windows 7 compatible out of the box. Also, I tried editing with it and quickly said the heck with it; too complicated and hard to figure out, even reading the instructions.

A couple I've been reading about online are Picasa and Serif PhotoPlus. There's always Adobe Photoshop, of course, though I was under the (erroneous?) impression that it's not as easy to use as other softwares. There's a whole lot more out there, and I don't know which would be a good choice.

Suggestions? Experiences? Warnings to run like hell? Help, please!

[postcards]

Adobe Photoshop Elements. More than you'll ever use, but just what you need.

The latest version should be Win7 compatible.

[panache45]

My rule: Always get more than what you think you'll ever use. You'll wind up using it all.

I have the "full" Photoshop. I don't know what's missing in Elements, but I know it wouldn't be enough for me.

[outlierrn]

Considering the price difference, Elements is surprisingly close to 'full' photoshop. It will easily cover everything the OP listed with plenty of room to grow. If you're not a professional photographer or graphic artist, you're unlikely to miss anything.

[pulykamell]

Give Adobe Lightroom a shot (I think they have free trials available on their website.) I do photography professionally, and 90% of my workflow is in Lightroom, and the serious manipulation goes on in Photoshop. Given the types of adjustments you do, I think this would be the best option for you. If you're dealing with a large volume of images, this is the ideal starting point.

[Markxxx]

If you're just looking to sharpen, change colors, put some filters and effects on photos the best program by far is XNView. It's free and I've rarely had to use other programs

[Tim R. Mortiss]

I have "full" Photoshop. I've never been formally trained on it, and it is DAMN non-intuitive. I can usually figure it out, but I can't recommend it as "easy to use." Powerful, yes, but not easy to learn.

By the by, if you must use Photoshop, get a book by Scott Kelby. He is so good and explaining things, he makes it almost seem easy.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Tim R. Mortiss

I have "full" Photoshop. I've never been formally trained on it, and it is DAMN non-intuitive. I can usually figure it out, but I can't recommend it as "easy to use." Powerful, yes, but not easy to learn.

By the by, if you must use Photoshop, get a book by Scott Kelby. He is so good and explaining things, he makes it almost seem easy.

I second the Kelby recommendation. He's a fantastic teacher. When you get more advanced, Seth Resnick and (the somewhat controversial) Dan Margulis are worth checking out for more in-depth Photoshop and printing geekery. I think Photoshop is pretty intuitive, but I've been with it since 2.0, so I really don't know of any other way of thinking about how to manipulate my images.

[Fritz]

I have Photoshop CS3 which I am still learning, but for simple and fast stuff like crop, shadows/highlights, sharpen, straighten, repair, and resize I use PhotoImpact. The Version 6 that I have was originally free with a flatbed scanner that I purchased, and a quick search shows that Version 8 may be free as well.

Very easy to use.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Thanks for all the replies so far -- they've given me pointers to investigate.

Any thoughts on GIMP? It's freeware, it's described as both powerful and easy to use, and I think I've seen people here speak highly of it before. And Corel's PaintShop Pro?

[ianzin]

GIMP is free, as you have pointed, and 'free' is very hard to disagree with or be disappointed by. It works, it's useful and it enables you to do pretty well everything you can do in something like Photoshop Elements. So try it, see if it's adequate for your needs. If not, then you can think about moving on to something else.

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by EddyTeddyFreddy

Thanks for all the replies so far -- they've given me pointers to investigate.

Any thoughts on GIMP? It's freeware, it's described as both powerful and easy to use, and I think I've seen people here speak highly of it before.

I use the GIMP for the same things as the OP-just adjusting photos plus occasional image creation.

I find it easy for basic uses such as the OP needs, dabbled with more complex stuff, mostly just poking around.

The help files are a separate download, make sure you get them.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Originally Posted by Fritz

I have Photoshop CS3 which I am still learning, but for simple and fast stuff like crop, shadows/highlights, sharpen, straighten, repair, and resize I use PhotoImpact. The Version 6 that I have was originally free with a flatbed scanner that I purchased, and a quick search shows that Version 8 may be free as well.

Very easy to use.

Darn it, I looked into Ulead's PhotoImpact and got all excited about it -- sounds like just what I need, all right -- and then checked compatibility. Doesn't have a Windows 7 version out yet. Bummer.

Corel Paint Shop Pro x3 is compatible, though.

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by EddyTeddyFreddy

Darn it, I looked into Ulead's PhotoImpact and got all excited about it -- sounds like just what I need, all right -- and then checked compatibility. Doesn't have a Windows 7 version out yet. Bummer.

Oops - sorry. I'm still on XP...

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Just to give you all an idea of what I do: Editing for me is primarily a way to tighten up, enhance, and balance the given image rather than use it as a springboard for creative expansion. For example, this beach scene doesn't look all that different between what came out of the camera and the edited final version.

Moving a bit farther along the editing spectrum, there's this horse portrait, which started out dull and cluttered and wound up like this.

A lucky shot of a redtail hawk went from portrait this to landscape this.

And while the original here was a nice enough shot, I think the edited version has a lot more oomph.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Adobe Lightroom is certainly worth a look - they're adding more and more Photoshop functionality to it, and it's great for sorting and organizing.

I use Photoshop, but I do a lot of other work in it; not just photo manipulation.

[Pork Rind]

I am a heavy professional user of Photoshop and and almost exclusively use Lightroom at home. Not only do I think it's better at general purpose editing of photos, it's an excellent library management tool as well, which is something that Photoshop doesn't do at all.

[chrissi1]

As an ambassador for ACDSee and a user myself, I just want to let you all know that the next version of ACDSee Photo Manager 12, due out this spring, will be Windows 7 compatible.

[Rigamarole]

I second the recommendation for Photoshop Elements. I have the full version of Photoshop as I have been using it for years - yeah it has a learning curve but it's more oriented toward professionals and thus has a very wide range of features, but that's not what you need.

Elements is a pared down version which is still powerful software but much cheaper, easier to use, and has built-in organizing tools that are very helpful (lets you drag and drop various tags to photos to categorize them, for example). It's what I used before I got the full Photoshop. I have tried Corel PhotoPaint as well and didn't like it as much, it was a while ago so I couldn't really articulate why as I don't remember.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Originally Posted by chrissi1

As an ambassador for ACDSee and a user myself, I just want to let you all know that the next version of ACDSee Photo Manager 12, due out this spring, will be Windows 7 compatible.

That's all well and good, but how long from now is "this spring"? I need photo-editing software now, not in two or three more months. Believe me, if I could use ACDSee on the new computer, I would, because I like it very much.

[Chefguy]

I quit using ACDSee when they decided to change to a less intuitive format for the 2008 version for some stupid reason. For quick and dirty, I use Picasa 3, which is compatible with Windows 7, and is free. The only annoyance with Picasa is the clunky resizing method.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Yes, ACDSee 2008 had some drawbacks, all right, but Photo Manager 2009 is a much better, easier to use product, with a wider selection of tools. It gives me everything I normally need for the simple sort of image editing I do.

Of course, the Windows 7 compatible version that's promised might bollix up ease of use if they go too crazy with the updates.

[NoClueBoy]

I have yet to keep any freeware/shareware that I've tried.

I'll just stick to Adobe stuff. I do like my Nikon NX and Transfer for file management (Canon's stuff was very useful, too, when I was shooting EOS), but it's PhotoShop all the way for anything else. I have 3 different versions, use Elements for probably 75% of my work, even the simple stuff. Check Adobe support sites for plug ins and specials.

[squeegee]

I <3 Lightroom and Photoshop, but I've used them since almost their inception (BarneyScan, anyone?). They do far more than you need, but Photoshop Elements does, too, but is much cheaper and has a pretty neat photo organizer and other useful things. And if you learn Elements, you've got a small piece of how to use the bigger versions, if that interests you.

[si_blakely]

I use Digikam on both Windows (from KDE on Windows) and Linux - workflow and tagging are brilliant. It has some basic editing functions built in, and you can use an external editing program: I use The GIMP.

My wife understands enough about it to tag photos for printing projects at various sizes, I can then export the tagged photos onto a flash stick and get them printed. It also handles direct export to picasa/flashbook/flicker/online printing services...

Simple, powerful and worth looking at.

Si

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Well, I took the plunge and installed Elements. This will definitely require some study. So far, with a good deal of at-first fumbling about, I've been able to do all the editing I normally do, and the results are good. I don't like the way downloading photo files into the software automatically sorts themby date taken, since that is not how I order my downloads, but that can be worked around by creating folders in My Documents to download the camera into.

We'll see, in a few months when ACDSee 2010 comes out, whether I'm still frustrated enough to go over to its comforting familiarity.