Recommended software

[TraderBill]

I have been taking pictures for many years but digital photography is fairly new to me. As an amateur, what software do I really need in order to work efficiently with my digital images? I see Photoshop mentioned frequently but the $999 price tag seems quite out of line for someone who is doing digital photography for their own pleasure (and not to make a living).

What software is really necessary? What additional software should I consider if money were not an issue? I am a long-time PC user.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Bill

[Jim Bryant]

Get photoshop elements 9.0. It's only about $99.00! Or lightroom, that costs about $200.00.

[PowerPix]

If you can't go with Photoshop, the best software that you will ever need is Gimp. It is very close to photoshop, it's FREE, and not as much of a learning curve.

[Ambrosia76]

I have lightroom 3,photoshop elements 9,paintshop pro phot x3,and photo explosion 4. I use all of them for various things. if I had to pick my favorites it would be lightroom and elements

[Biomech]

Can't lie, I would say get Lightroom if you can as well Best piece of photography based software I've ever used. Photoshop is good but can do a lot more - really suited to "making" photos, whereas Lightroom is suited for processing images. I never use "Camera RAW" or Adobe Bridge, but I guess they work well too -?

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Get photoshop elements 9.0. It's only about $99.00! Or lightroom, that costs about $200.00.

+1 Agree with Jim

[JFSanders]

If you shoot Nikon then in my humble opinion NX2 is the best photo development software you can use on a PC. Jim

[baycruisers]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

If you shoot Nikon then in my humble opinion NX2 is the best photo development software you can use on a PC. Jim

I agree--I love NX2's U-point technology for editing without masking, plus the additional editing tools that are good, though not spectacular. Noise reduction is very good in RAW.

I also like Photoshop Elements 9 because it can do 90% of the pixel-level editing you'll ever want to do and it offers layers, which are very useful, especially if you want to add text or other creative uses.

At some point a digital asset management program can be very useful. Lightroom has some DAM features built in. I personally prefer ACDSEE Pro 4, but that's a personal preference.