Picasa,Photoshop, Something Else?

tasha859

I received a Lumix for Christmas, now I'm taking pictures like crazy so I get better. Care to condemn or commend an editing program for a beginner? TIA

RhymesWithOrange

Photoshop Elements

MrsBrownsFan

There is a website/online program called Picnik that is pretty cool...www.picnik.com.

hopscotch.

Ditto Photoshop Elements.  Photoshop CS4 is too in depth and expensive for a beginner and Picasa is WAY too basic.  If you want simple editing (like red eye removal and cropping), Picasa is fine, but if you really want to be able to do more things like whiten teeth, smooth skin, and merge photos, Photoshop Elements 8 is your best bet!

GilliC

If you don't want to invest in a version of Photoshop right away, you might try Paint.NET  The user interface is a little less intuitive at times, and there are some things that are harder to do than in Photoshop, but it's 100% free!

estherandgeoff2

There are two things you could benefit from. A program to organize photos, rate them, and do basic edits. If you are on a PC I would recommend taking a look at Lightroom. Or on a Mac you can go with either Lightroom or Aperture. And then if you need further editing, you could get Photoshop Elements. The nice thing about Lightroom and Aperture is that any editing you do is non-destructive so you can always go back to the original. 

musepuppy

MrsBrownsFan:

There is a website/online program called Picnik that is pretty cool...www.picnik.com.

I agree that this is a great first editor for a beginner.  The most useful basic features are all free, too.

tasha859

Thank you ladies. I played around with Picnik and downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements.

mrs.tweet

Photoshop Elements if you want to drop a couple hundred for basic skills.  Photo Explosion deluxe does most of the same work that PE does for about $50, and you get tons of bonus software with it, printer configurations,etc.