Photo editing

[Rdrobins]

Howdy folks!
I'm new here and very excited to be here. I love reading these articles and especially following the weekly assignments and contests. I'm finally getting the hang of taking pictures and have taken some pretty cool ones IMO but I am at a loss for photo editing. I don't have the cash to spend on a nice program right now but I know there are free ones out there. Can you please share your recommendations with me? Ones that are use friendly and can work with raw photos. Thanks!

[Madog]

Your best bet might be to start with the conversion software that came with your camera, or go to the manufacturers website. These programs are pretty basic, but offer most simple photo manipulations.

[DelCan]

One program that is free is called Gimp. It's similar to photoshop. I've never used it myself, but I know others on here do. I included a link for you.

GIMP - Downloads

[PhotoRebel4]

I tried Gimp after coming out a photography class using PS CS3. After using CS3 for a few months, I didn't care for Gimp too much. It was probably because I was used to Gimp though.

Gimp will do the basic stuff you want it to do. And since you don't have a photo editing software and aren't already used to one, it may work great for you. I ended up going with Photoshop Elements 8 when I bought my own and I love it.

It does everything I need it to do. If you're going to be doing really complicated photoshopping, go for CS-whatever-version-is-out-now. If not, than PSE8 or PSE9 should work great. I mainly use it to adjust levels, white balance, saturation, B&W conversion, and a little bit of retouching. I think it's a good compromise between the free stuff like GIMP and full blown Photoshop.

BB