Which photo editing software covers your needs?

Have a look at the most used alternatives. You will find the span is wide from advanced photo editing software at a high price to lower priced options with features more than enough to cover even the advanced amateur’s needs.

IMAGE EDITORS

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Is the best but also most expensive photo editing software available at a price of about 650 US$. The features include everything possible you can do with an image editing software. The package might seem overwhelming for a beginner. As you come along and learn

Photoshop you will find a load of useful plugins and filters from external sources that can be implemented as well. One feature available in CS3 (maybe not important for everyone) is the possibilities of combining multiple exposures to create high dynamic range (HDR) images. I like this feature since I am doing HDR images a lot. There are however other software’s available for this on the market. Now other image package has the same amount of available add-ons and online tutorials. Photoshop CS is aimed at the professional segment and has advanced color management. It also has advanced text features aimed at graphic and web designers. A new version CS4 will be launched in November 2008.

Read more about Adobe Photoshop here.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6

At a price 500 US$ less than the full version CS3, Elements 6 is a powerful and easy to use photo editing software. Element have the most important features the full version has. The most important in my view features missing in Element 6 is the Channels Palette, Layer Masks, Adjustment layers (curves, color balance, selective color, and channel mixer).

Some of these features are possible in Elements 6 but the way there is a little more tedious. On the other side there are some features available in Elements 6 which is not available in Photoshop CS3. A few of these are: drop in frames, Quick Fix mode, backgrounds and artwork, automatic red eye removal and the Photo Organizer. The Photo Organizer lets you organize your photos with tags so you can search and share them. The Organizer offers different ways of sharing your photos in slide shows, video CDs, cards, email, calendars, Web galleries, and photo books. A new version - Photoshop Elements 7 is just released.

Read more about Adobe Photoshop Elements here.

PaintShop Pro X2

At a price of 70 US$ Paint Shop Pro is a very popular image editing package and offers an easy and affordable way to repair, retouch and edit your images.

Many of these features are easy to accomplish with automatic features. The package contains a lot of advanced features like HDR merging, digital camera noise removal, add watermarks, selective color replacement. RAW file support for more than 250 cameras is included. A very nice and often forgotten feature with Painshop is the compatibility with many available Photoshop plugins. Note that Photoshop actions can not be used with Paintshop. After Photoshop this is the program that offers most online tutorials on the web and in magazines. There is even a paper magazine (www.officialpspp.com) aimed at Paintshop users.

Read more about Paintshop Pro here.

Ulead PhotoImpact X3

PhotoImpact is a complete photo editing software similar to Photoshop Elements. The price is just a little lower than Elements at about 70 US$.

ExpressFix mode for easy adjustments of the most used photo corrections, which is very convenient for the beginner. A lot of the fixes in this package is done by a click or two. A wide range of digital photography filters and effects are available. You can easily make fun photo projects such as collages, comic strips, calendars, greeting cards and more by choosing from over 200 customizable templates for a wide range of ways to share your pictures. PhotoImpact X3 also includes Photo Explorer to organize and manage your images.

Read more about Ulead PhotoImpact here.