New to everything...HELP

[KTV]

Ok, I am new to this site and new to editing, etc. I am in LOVE with the art of taking photos...I Just purchased canon7d. I am trying out a free trial of photoshop...but find it reaaaaaly hard. I know that there are tutorials etc. I have picnik, and I know that its not proffesional, but its so much easier. I plan to start doing kids/family portraits as soon as I get everything down. So is there anything on a proffesional level that is easier than photoshop? What about onone photo suite?

[zona5101]

Hi and welcome!
on a pro level, there is photoshop...it is the market leader/standard. It is hard to learn but it is very powerful. There are lots of tutorials and websites (including here) that can help you along...

[SusanH1970]

You could always start with Photoshop Elements which is a bit easier to get the hang of, then upgrade to CS5 after you've gotten the hang of it. I started with Elements 7, learned it pretty well, and then the transition to the version I have (CS2) was much easier.

You can download the trial version of Elements 9 from the Adobe website. It's much less costly than CS5 if you decide to purchase it, so not as much of a gamble should you choose to purchase it after the two-week trial ends.

YouTube and other sites are your friend. When I'm wondering how to do something new in Photoshop, I just google "How do I [fill in the blank] in Photoshop [insert version here]?"

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by KTV

Ok, I am new to this site and new to editing, etc. I Just purchased canon7d. I plan to start doing kids/family portraits as soon as I get everything down.

Just re-read your original post and wanted to add...being so new to this, you may want to hold off on actually getting ANY post processing software and learn your camera first. Learn to get correct exposure, focus, and composition in-camera before getting into the habit of trying to "fix" these issues in post processing. Get all that stuff under your belt, then get Photoshop version whatever and learn how to enhance those images.

If you shoot in RAW, the software that came with your camera (Digital Photo Professional) will allow you to do some editing as well as convert to JPG for print or online sharing.