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General discussion

What's your favorite photo editor and why?

Aug 29, 2006 7:19AM PDT

What's your favorite photo editor and why?

ACDSee Photo Editor
Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Corel Paint Shop Pro
FastStone Image Viewer
The GIMP
IrfanView
Picasa
Ulead PhotoImpact
Other (what is it?)

Discussion is locked

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Paint Shop Pro
Aug 30, 2006 11:30AM PDT

Older version of Paint Shop Pro 6) is simple, with good overall capability and speed. Yup, there are more sophisicated programs ... but why get out a 300-lb toolbox to tighten a doorhinge.

Software is a tool. Often Less is MORE !!

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I use Paint Shop Pro
Aug 30, 2006 11:45AM PDT

PSP is about 96% of Photo Shop at less than one-third the price. I've been using it for years.

fhowden

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PhotoElf
Aug 30, 2006 12:40PM PDT

I like PhotoElf because it is simple to use and has the ability to print up to 64 different pictures on the same page. If you want to print more than one picture on the same page, this is the one. Cost is reasonable, also.

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Photoshop out of Necessity
Aug 30, 2006 6:02PM PDT

My favorite and only photo editor I use is Photoshop, since I am a professional in the Publishing Industry I don't have a choice. But however I would like a simple and fast photo editor that does a great job and opens and closes fast. Photoshop is monstrous. I know it pretty well, since I have been working with it for years. I used to have a little program I used from time to time called PhotoFinish. Not only fast but did a great job. I think it went by the wayside, and haven't heard of it in many years.
If any of you know of a great and fast little program that does the job well, I would like to know about it. It needs to be a light program that opens fast & closes fast.
I also own Corel Photopaint, but don't have it installed.
Thanks

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Gimp 2.2
Aug 30, 2006 9:25PM PDT

Try it for free. Its small (3.6mb) quick to load and intuitive to use. What is more, it does everything the Pro and semi-Pro programs can do.

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ACDSee, Photoshop, PhotoImpressions, FilmFactory, PaintShop
Aug 30, 2006 11:54PM PDT

Ok! so as you can see, I use plenty, or I should say, I have plenty on my PC.

My Photoshop is outdated but heck I bought it years ago and I really don't feel like dumping more money into a newer version. It's bloated with features, and sure enough it does the best job, when I can actually find the feature I need. I use it as little as possible but when it comes to raw performance (meaning when I need to take a crappy, unclear pic and turn it into a work of art) it's pretty much the only one that can do the job. It unfortunately means I will be sitting at the PC for hours, but heck, sometimes pictures are worth saving. It does take some time though to know where you're going and what everything does. After years of service, I have yet to use all the features and I still sometimes need to look twice to find the obscure feature I want. Just so you know.

I have had to use Corel PaintShop Pro at work, and found it of equal quality as Photoshop, the interface is a little less bloated and I found the tools a little more intuitive, but all in all, it does a great job for those who want to do a lot to their pictures. It's also bloated with features, so if you wanna use them all, prepare yourself for a lot of reading, trial and error and also some time trying to find the feature you want. It does offer however the features you use most in a readily available taskbar.

If what you're gonna do is just remove red eyes, cropping, correct colours and some other basic editing in your images, there are 2 softwares I favor: ACDSee and Photoimpressions.

I love my ACDSee and have bought 3 times already. You will need a pretty strong PC to run version 8 (forget it if you have an old PII, you're gonna spend too much time waiting for it to start up) but all in all, you can still go with older versions. Version 3 is still installed on my old PC and works wonders without the extras I get in version 8. The best extra, it also turns your machine into a powerful file manager. Need to rename 200 files in a simple step, it can do it for you. Select them, press <F2> and create the name structure and it does it automatically. Now there's a feature I have used for many years to rename party pics, numerous variants of a resume or whatever else. FForget about Windows Explorer for me, I do most of my bbrowsing in ACDSee as it offers all the same features and then some. To me, it's worth the price of purchase, albeit there were a few deceiving versions in the past. But as you get to try it free for a month, you can try it out and toss it out if you don't like it.

As for ARCSoft's Photoimpressions, it came with one of my printers, who can shun free software? Not me! So I had to try it out. I was suprised, by how easy it is to use. Ok, for the guy who's used to other software, it does need some learning, it's not as straightforward to me as ACDSee, but it gets the job done... and to some, it may be more straightforward. It's dedication to photo editing, means it's got no extras, you can colour correct, remove red eyes, add text... but I find editing multiple pictures a proverbial pain, as you have to close each pic before moving to another, or you'll soon have 15 tiles in your main window. It took me a while to remember this, but as it's the only fault I could find it, I'd recommend it to anyone who's gonna simply edit the family party pics. As I said, it came free with one of my printers, so you can probably find it the same way.

Filmfactory came free with my latest picture printer, so another plus. Nonewithstanding the fact that it's very basic, remove red-eyes and color corrections are pretty much the only two features it has, this may suit your need. I wouldn't buy it, but I have the space on my drive and got it free so it's there, readily available for the next picture I only need some automatic correction for.

I read all the other posts and I guess I'm gonna be trying some new software. I may change my mind about some of mine, but for the time being, that's the best I can tell you. If you're gonna do some basic picture editing, go ACDSee or PhotoImpressions; for more advanced stuff, Photoshop is great for me, even with all it's flaws, try it out and see, it's available on the website as a trial. So all in all, find what suits you best, my combination is ACDSee and Photoshop: the first for basic easy stuff, the other to save that one pic I don't want to lose but where you can't tell if it's a racoon or a mountain on it.

Cheers!

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Corel PhotoPaint is easy and very powerful!
Sep 6, 2006 7:39AM PDT

Though I started my photo editing in Photoshop, I soon found that Corel's PhotoPaint was then, and still is easier to use. And, Photopaint is just as powerful! And, since PhotoPaint then came bundled with DRAW, I also found that being able to import and work with bit mapped files, while still in DRAW made things all the more easy. Besides, the effects one could creat are fantastic: enveloping a bit mapped picture of one's child, into vector objects has enabled me to create wonderful effects with my images! I must admit that I have not used Corel's Paint shop, but if they have brought some of the tools from Photopaint, Paint shop should be easy to use, and quite powerful.

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Favourite Photo editor
Sep 28, 2006 9:26AM PDT

I have two, Microsoft Picture It and Corel I have only just purchased Corel and haven't yet explored it.

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my favorite photoeditor and why
Mar 25, 2008 11:30AM PDT

It is undoubtedly Adobe Photo Deluxe Business Edition photo editor
It is only the tool you need to digitally correct and enhance your photos, and then when you are finished doing that, the artistic tools are there as well as publishing tools and templates. Projects, and special effect plug ins are included such as ripples, distortions, pixilations,solar effects, outlining, collage-making... and the list goes on. But my favorite tool to get funky and creative with is the good old cloning tool. I do great art with it. All your needs are there; compact, intuitively arranged, non threateningly presented so you can jump right in without even reading directions. And after i clean up self photos, I look so good!

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Photo Editing Programs
Aug 18, 2009 5:17AM PDT

I use a few different editors, but here are the main ones I use and why.
1. Most of the time I use Photoshop Elements. It does just about everything and I love the feature "Save For Web" where you can adjust file size easily without giving up hardly and quality.
2. I like to use Picasa when I want to share photos online. I use their desktop software, Picasa 3, and upload to my account on Picasa Web. It's very simple. You can also synchronize any editing.

Here are some editing software reviews I have put together.
http://www.digital-photos-online.com/photo-editing-programs.html

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Photoshop CS4 Is my personal favourite
Dec 20, 2009 11:08AM PST

Photoshop CS4 Extended-Full not trial but anyway this program I like depending on your computer you can usually get fast results and believe it looks daunting first time but it is actually rather easy after a while and it doesn't take heaps of time to get use to and I personally find it user friendly as for the alternatives I've tried gimp its slow and if your use to Photoshop the way everything is set out is much more dificult to find what you want

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Adobe PhotoShop
Dec 24, 2009 5:04PM PST

It's quite powerful, I can use it to edit as I like.

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(NT) Adope
Jan 23, 2011 4:20PM PST
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photo toolbox is good and enough for me
May 19, 2011 6:12PM PDT

Recently, I find a smart photo editing software called Photo Toolbox.
It's not famous, and doesn't contain so many complicated features. But it's small, fast and easy to use for beginners.
Besides those basic adjustment, it provides clone stamp and dodge/burn tools, and even several marquee selection tools which can only be seen in come expensive products. And it's price is good too(I don't think any valuable stuffs should be free for anyone).

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HandyRetouch.com
Jun 7, 2011 5:20PM PDT
HandyRetouch.com - professional and very easy to use tool for photos editing. Just in few clicks you can professionally retouch and prepare your favorite photos to publish on the Internet or for printing. Advanced algoritms for online photo editing are integrated in HandyRetouch.

Photoeditor specializes for portrait photos where the main goal is the skin preparation.

Retouching and restoration takes place in several stages.

The first stage - cropping photos. This stage corrects the composition and distinguishes visually important elements.
Second and foremost step is the high-end retouching of skin. All professional photographers make such preparation, before publishing their photos. At this stage removing of all imperfections from the skin, such as glare, excess shine, fine wrinkles, roughness, sores, pimples and etc. takes place. After this treatment skin gets the correct, uniform and perfect structure. In the third stage automatic algorithms are used for skin aligning and silencing of certain types of defects.After this step skin will look silky, smooth and rejuvenated.

The remaining stages are optional. There are pitch correction, which can be used to give to skin a light tan, and various effects, such as contrast enhancement images, making a fantastic effect, giving expressive eyes by increasing the figure in the iris and etc.
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answer
Jul 17, 2011 8:45PM PDT

I am not a professional photo editor. I am using fast stone image viewer and it works perfectly for me Wink. plus it's free

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Adobe PhotoDeluxe
Aug 25, 2011 6:38AM PDT

Since getting a new lapop with Windows 7, I am unable to install this software....

AND I MISS IT! Cry


I've tried GIMP, but so far, am NOT impressed. I am going to try Picasa.

If anyone knows of any programs that are similar to PD for not too much $, PLEASE let me know!

Wink

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Tip.
Aug 25, 2011 6:42AM PDT

There are known workarounds to get this installed but this is not the discussion to do this. Try the CNET Windows 7 forum and note all the details of which version, any error messages encountered plus any heroic efforts you tried.
Bob