Photographic Software Suggestions

[StoneChucker]

Y'all are gonna have to excuse me asking the following question, whenever I type in www.google.com I get redirected to KB, weird...

I have a couple of programs that you can adjust basic graphic setting with (contrast, sharpness, etc...) as well as some effects and tools, but I am looking for a complete photographic package. I'm not a super experienced photo adjuster, but I'd like a program / suite that is easy to use and lets you do as much as possible with pics (and even video, I'll get there in a sec).

For example, cutting, pasting, color adjustment, size adjustment, effects, tools, filters, etc... (I don't really even know what else to add here). I know the obvious ones like Photoshop, Coral, etc, but I have never used them properly to know which one is best. I also heard recently that Photoshop (I think, or another program I thought was grapic/picture related only) can even apply filters (sharpen, color, contrast, etc...) to video, letting you improve the appearance of videos in certain ways.

I'd like comprehensive software which I can use to edit pictures eg:
Color/sharpness/etc, super-imposing sections from one to another, cutting sections out, filling sections in, blur/bend, adjust them, print, be creative, and so on. I'm happy to buy software, but only if I know it's good.
I currently have Windows Paint (Seriously, I use that sometimes to cut sections out of pictures and put on others!!), Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition and HP Image Zone (My best image software which came with my HP Photosmart 3310 MFC).

Can anyone who uses this type of software often and/or who has had experiences (good or bad) with this sort of software, please give me your ideas/experiences and suggestions.

From brief searching, the top editors choice from reviews (from sites like ZDNet and CNET) are the following:
1) Adobe Photoshop Elements 4
2) Adobe Photoshop CS
3) Corel Painter 9
4) Adobe Photoshop 7

Thoughts?

[Blairos]

Photoshop CS - its pretty complicated, but will give you awesome results, if thats what you are after

Plenty of useful help contained with it as well

[bobsmith]

depends on if you want to pay for it, and also if you want to be legit....

Photoshop CS is great but... if you want to be legit it's very expensive (I hear you can find torrents for them easy.... but of course I would know nothing about it....)

Otherwise GIMP is completely free and it's a bloody good software it will do most of the things that expensive professional software will do and it's completely free and legit. http://www.gimp.org

[Big Dave]

Photoshop V6 thru 9.
There is nothing better. Nuffink.

[boomer]

photo shop, paintshop pro

[jumma]

Photoshop 7 and up, but as bobsmith mentioned it is quite expensive for a legitimate copy.

[MrMelon]

Adobe lightroom's supposed to be really good. I think you can download a free trial too. I heard it's quite resource intensive though.

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

[bungbung]

For video you'll want combustion or after effects

[SimJen]

I have used most in my job, Cad, Graphics, Web etc.
Mostly I use Paintshop Pro, I just got the latest version (X) and its now being sold by Corel.
I've used Photoshop a fair bit, but I like Paintshop Pro best, does everything photoshop does but in my opinion easier (not necessarily better).
Version X has heaps of new features for easy photo fixing too.
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satelli...=1047025490241

[dawnrazor]

Photoshop is the bizo, buy an adobe book with a tutorial disc and you can teach yourself everything you need to know to operate it at a decent level of usefulness, then pick the rest up as you go. Although you almost need something like iPhoto (mac only i believe).

[Street Gerbil]

If you are a lucky soul who doesn't need to deal with CMYK separation (and if it sounds meaningless gibberish you are lucky indeed), forget about adobe. Get JASC PaintShop Pro. When it comes to digital image processing in RGB colorspace, it absolutely rules. Adobe premier is probably the best for video processing (Ulead Videostudio is ok, but underpowered - kinda like a 1000cc superbike with a CVT transmission if you know what I mean ).

[far queue]

...I am looking for a complete photographic package. I'm not a super experienced photo adjuster, but I'd like a program / suite that is easy to use and lets you do as much as possible with pics ...

... I'd like comprehensive software which I can use to edit pictures eg:
Color/sharpness/etc, super-imposing sections from one to another, cutting sections out, filling sections in, blur/bend, adjust them, print, be creative, and so on ...

From brief searching, the top editors choice from reviews (from sites like ZDNet and CNET) are the following:
1) Adobe Photoshop Elements 4
2) Adobe Photoshop CS
3) Corel Painter 9
4) Adobe Photoshop 7

Cool thread, I'm going through this process at the moment too. I just do real basic stuff at the moment with ACDSee, but I pick up a new camera later this week (Fuji Finepix S9500), and will be upgrading the PC and getting some decent image editing software shortly too. I've been looking at Photoshop Elements 4 or Photoshop CS2, because I can get them both at a reasonable price. I've been thinking that maybe Elements4 may not do enough for me and CS2 may be overkill

Photoshop V6 thru 9.
There is nothing better. Nuffink.

So ... Dave, a couple of questions
You obviously need a program with all the bells and whistles in your vocation and have built up the skills to be proficient with it, but do you think PS6-9 would be overkill for the average to above above average amatuer?

What's the difference between PS6-9 and PS CS - do you know?

I was looking at the book "Photoshop CS2 for Dummies" today, which looked OK.

StoneChucker - I hope you don't mind me jumping in and asking some questions - hopefully the answers will help you out too.

[soundbeltfarm]

i got PS7 and CS2 and they are pretty similar.
Well for the stuff i do they are.

[Big Dave]

So ... Dave, a couple of questions
You obviously need a program with all the bells and whistles in your vocation and have built up the skills to be proficient with it, but do you think PS6-9 would be overkill for the average to above above average amatuer?

What's the difference between PS6-9 and PS CS - do you know?

I was looking at the book "Photoshop CS2 for Dummies" today, which looked OK.

StoneChucker - I hope you don't mind me jumping in and asking some questions - hopefully the answers will help you out too.

I've only had CS2 for a short time but have spent the past 6 years or so on PS6.
I use it for most of my layouts as well - all of these were created in Photoshop.
http://www.davidcohen.co.nz/adrenders/index.htm

As each version has come out it's the added extras, plug ins, filters and doohickeys that give it the edge over the freebies.

That gallery for example was created with 3 clicks - same as this one
http://www.davidcohen.co.nz/pics/index.html
Put the pics in a folder and click 'automate'. It publishes the rest.

Those features and the way it handles text and typography have been the major changes for me in the upgrade.

Why I said from V6 - the pixel manipultion power hasn't changed that much in subsequent releases - but the add ons are fab.

Average amateur could become paid professional before you know it.

[far queue]

...Average amateur could become paid professional before you know it.

Thanks for that Dave, some great images there. And I like the idea of that last bit too, I've done some stuff for other people in the past with the film SLR, (just pocket money stuff really) but it's time to go digital ... cheers