What photoworkshop package is best?

[New to photography]

Ok, I'm new to all this and just starting out with it all. What does anyone recommend? I guess I'm looking for a simple package [like simple to use - I struggled opening a flickr account so that's how basic I am!]. Most of my shots are of dogs, flowers, birds and wildlife in general and I am using a Canon EOS 500D.

Hope I have posted this in the right place, if not please move it off somewhere it should be. Also, if there is a review on here of diffferent packages, can someone please put the link up for me, as I can't find it! although I am looking more for personal opinions based on your own working use. Thanks.

[Doug Pardee]

Simple, free program? Picasa comes immediately to mind if you're on Windows. You didn't say what kind of computer system you're using, which is rather important for software recommendations.

On the other hand, if you're shooting Raw, Digital Photo Professional came with your T1i/500D. Go get the update to version 3.8, and it'll cover most of the usual needs.

[New to photography]

Free or bought - it's ease of use that I'm most interested in. I did download Picasa and then panicked because it downloaded or uploaded [I don't know which term is correct sorry!] all the pictures on my computer and then I found if I edited something in Picasa it was edited on the hard drive too. So I panicked big time and deleted it as I was scared that all my pictures would be changed or lost. In photobucket and flickr you can do what you want to the pictures and it doesn't change the ones you have on your hard drive. Sadly flickr and PB are a bit too basic even for me - LOL!

I am using Windows Vista basic.

Not shooting in RAW yet, that will be another post sometime! All my pics are jpegs.

[LeeR]

Just ran across a site that may help. 10 Free Web-based Alternatives to Photoshop

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by New to photography

I found if I edited something in Picasa it was edited on the hard drive too.

That's how almost all off-line photo editors are. A few are 'non-destructive' (that's the term that's used), but most expect that you've saved off your original files and that you're working on copies.

All Raw file converters are non-destructive, including Digital Photo Professional.

LightZone is non-destructive, but it's really slow and it's not really simple, so I can't recommend it for what you want. The same company (Light Crafts) puts out a simpler and cheaper version called Aurora that is non-destructive, but it's pretty slow, too.

There's apparently a non-destructive editor called Artensoft Photo Editor, but I've never heard of it and don't know anything about it.

Otherwise, the non-destructive editors are going to be the online ones like you've already been using.

[New to photography]

Originally Posted by LeeR

Just ran across a site that may help. 10 Free Web-based Alternatives to Photoshop

That's a fab link, I'll have to take my time and go through each one and see how easy it is use, thanks so much for that link

[New to photography]

Originally Posted by Doug Pardee

That's how almost all off-line photo editors are. A few are 'non-destructive' (that's the term that's used), but most expect that you've saved off your original files and that you're working on copies.

All Raw file converters are non-destructive, including Digital Photo Professional.

LightZone is non-destructive, but it's really slow and it's not really simple, so I can't recommend it for what you want. The same company (Light Crafts) puts out a simpler and cheaper version called Aurora that is non-destructive, but it's pretty slow, too.

There's apparently a non-destructive editor called Artensoft Photo Editor, but I've never heard of it and don't know anything about it.

Otherwise, the non-destructive editors are going to be the online ones like you've already been using.

Doug, thank you so much for taking the time to explain about what "non-destructive" means - I would have been clueless otherwise. Also thank you for opinions on packages - this is exactly what I wanted - some plain, straighforward advice. You make a very important point too in relation to Picasa - that of working on copies of pictures - I didn't even consider that [!] as I am very bad at backing pictures up - I know, I'll get myself better orgainsed! Thanks again.

[JohnTait]

Amazifier is a nice and simple photo editor.
You can’t do professional stuff like Adobe’s PhotoShop with it but its good for 99% of the photo editing I do...
It has some nice photo effects, photo frames, stickers, etc..
The best I like is the magic brushes where you can brush nice stuff on to your photo like snow flakes…
You can get it from their website at Amazifier - Fun and Easy Photo Enhancing for FREE!.

[SusanH1970]

You can also download the free trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. It's a less complicated version of full blown Photoshop and I believe it would suit your needs just fine. There are LOADS of simple, easy to follow tutorials all over the internet for it, too.

If you find you like it after the trial runs out, you can pick it up pretty cheap - around $80 - at Costco or on Amazon (cheaper than buying through Adobe).

ETA: Adobe's actually having a sale on it at the moment - with an instant discount and a rebate it's only $70. I think the last day of the sale is 5/31/11.