Photoshop

I don't know if this is where I should be posting...

Does anyone have any recomendations/suggestions?? on photo software?  I've never used photoshop and keep hearing about it.  I just upgraded my digital camera and would like to utilize it as much as possible.  Anyhoo hope this makes sense. 

I use photoshop and it's really a good program and fairly easy to use.  Expensive software though, but isn't most software?

Photoshop runs between £500 and £600. But you can get Photoshop Elements for something  like £70 and it'll probably be just as good for you. I'm sure it'll be able to do everything (and more) than you're needing. I used to use Photoshop Elements at work and it was great.

I've had Photoshop CS for a couple of years and I still don't know how to use all of it. It's really designed for professionals, I think.

I'd definitely recommend Photoshop Elements. You might even be able to get it cheaper on eBay (I haven't checked though).

We've got Picasa but I don't know how to use it!!! windows photo editor is easy.

Photoshop is really powerful, but if you're just looking for something to manipulate digital photos or make simple graphics then you absolutely don't need to spend hundreds of £££ on it.  I agree with among_the_stars on Photoshop Elements- sounds like it would suit your needs. You can also look at Corel Paint Shop Pro as well (which I really like- can handle photos or your own graphics).  Those types of programs will run about £75 (compared to Photoshop, which is going to cost you at least £400.)

If you are just looking to do some photo editing, then Picasa would do the trick (and it's free).  IMO, Photoshop is overkill unless you have £££'s to burn.  Not to mention very confusing to newbies.

Try Picasa first, then move on to Elements if you need something a bit more powerful (they have a free trial version).

I use PhotoShop, but I agree that you probably don't need it. I worked as a graphic designer for 12 years in the US, so I'd feel lost without it! Picasa is probably all you'll really need. And you'll save big money!

(I did buy an Education version of PhotoShop on eBay a couple of years ago and it cost well under £100. Probably an illegal copy, but it works for me!)

If you are just looking to do some photo editing, then Picasa would do the trick (and it's free).  IMO, Photoshop is overkill unless you have £££'s to burn.  Not to mention very confusing to newbies.

Try Picasa first, then move on to Elements if you need something a bit more powerful (they have a free trial version).

I've never used Picasa so i can't speak to that but i work in the graphics field and Photoshop is hard to learn depending on what your background graphics knowledge is.  Do you use a mac or a pc?  Apple has iphoto as part of their ilife package that has some pretty nice features and it's not too bad price-wise.

I agree, you don't need photo shop for some basic editing. I think Photo Suite will suit your needs fine, and it's not too coslty. (I can't recall what I paid, but it was probably somewhere between $10 and $40, because I wouldn't spend more than that). Photo Suite also lets you make collages and do some fun stuff, like fake magazine covers. And it does decent basic touchup and adjustments. I have Photoshop too, which is great by way costly, and I can tell you, I prefer using the free Picassa software from google to remove red eye (though that is all I use Picassa for -- but that's only because I have a lot of other photo-editing software). If you can get a couple of programs cheap or free, you can play with them and see which ones do which tasks the best.

My mobile phone died yesterday so I went and got myself a new one.  This one came w/ a camera and w/ adobe photoshop starter edition, has anyone used this one??  What a great bonus!! Also going to check out Picassa

Another option, is Corel's PSP XI. It's catching up on photoshop, and alot less expensive.

I use Photoshop and Lightroom.

But a free and equally powerful option is GIMP.
www.gimp.org/