Off-Topic? Any recommendations for Photo Software?

[ladyandtramp]

This is kind of off the "collectible" topic -- but I know there are so many artsy folks around this community, I thought I would ask if someone could recommend a photo editing software package? I've seen some really cool results of photo-editing in this group...and I trust you folks!

I'm looking to purchase a photo-editing software package and just can't make up my mind.
I'm looking for it to do stuff like minor corrections (red-eye, shading, standard photo-corrections), and I like the idea of being able to cut-n-paste pieces of photos together to make a different photo. I also need the ability to select multiple photos to print to one sheet of paper (I am sick of trying to make my 'lite' version do this -- I've wasted so much ink!!).

I read the boxes, but for the life of me cannot tell the difference between the Microsoft Publish IT! and Microsoft Photo IT Deluxe and Adobe...and I've looked at PaintShop Pro.

So -- do you use photo editing software? Which one/ones? What do you like/dislike about it? What are the nifty features? What should I ensure my software has before I buy (i.e., what have you run into that is a MUST!)?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated (oh, I'm running Win2000, if that makes a difference).

Thanks!

Jan
ladyandtramp

 

[BeautyLLM]

Hi Jan, I have been using Adobe Photodeluxe for about a year or so now. It is kind of a really trimmed down version of Photoshop which is the program most professionals use. I would reccomend it highly as it is easy to use and has the features you mentioned. Another program I have that I actually got for free with rebates was MGI Photosuite Platinum version. It is similar to Photodeluxe but has a cool photomosaic feature...but overall I still recommend Photodeluxe.

Hope that helps.

Leslie

 

[Quentin Disney]

Photoshop, Photoshop, Photoshop! This program is my god. I made my sig pic using it. Although the learning curve is rather steep and the price is as well, there are a great amount of tutorials for it online.

However, they have a new version of Photoshop for consumers called "Photoshop Elements". It should be around $90 bucks and does everyting its big brother can without some of the advanced features.

Or...you could "download" it somewhere or get it from a friend. I don't think this is something that most of you people would do here, but I am a college student and the regular version is around $600.

 

[ladyandtramp]

Thanks Quentin and Leslie! I appreciate your reviews...

I would love to get the Photo Shop sw, but like you said Quentin, it is a wee bit pricey.

Anyone use PaintShop Pro for me to compare to Photoshop deluxe?

 

[Dom13]

I use MicroGrafx Picture Publisher for photo editing. It came free with my scanner. It is an excellent program with many of the features, and the learning curve, of Photoshop. It sounds comparable to the Photoshop Elements program Quentin mentioned. I also use several other programs for different things like animated .gifs and other website stuff.

 

[Flitter]

Right now I am using Picture It. I have not had much experience but, it seems to be an easy enough program to use. I also have Adobe but that seems to be a bit more time consuming.