Photo Software
Making the most of your digital snapshots
Now that you've bought that digital camera and filled your hard drive with precious moments, it's time to take those photos and really make them special. That's a great shot of grandma with her newest granddaughter, but it really is a shame that both have the infamous red eye. How will you get rid of that? Now, with photo editing software, you can bring that natural gleam back to their eyes.
Digital photo software allows the user to take their photographs, either scanned into the computer or uploaded directly from their digital camera, and easily crop, fix or add borders to them. Average photographers can make the most of their snapshots, adjusting as necessary before printing. For the more advanced photographer, photo editing software offers a wide range of artistic effects. For example, you can merge several photos into one or superimpose images over each other.
Photo software also allows you to organize your photo files, a critical feature now that most people have thousands of digital photos to sort through. You can tag photos with as many keywords as you like, and later call up only photos that relate to specific keywords. Organize your photos by date, subject, location or anything else in order to easily find what you're looking for.
Features and Benefits
Most photo editing software includes:
- Image adjustments: Fix and fine tune your photos to make them look perfect. Remove red-eye, increase fill light, increase or reduce contrast, or straighten crooked shots.
- Cropping: Zoom in on just one person's face, or cut out extra background. You don't have to mess around framing your shot perfectly when you take it.
- Color effects: With the touch of a button, you can have the same image in black and white or sepia tone.
- Photo sharing: Share your photos through email, in online galleries or by printing them out.
- Photo albums: Create digital albums and CD slide shows, or prepare full-color scrapbook-style photo books to print.
Top Choices
Among the top photo software is:
- Photoshop Elements from Adobe
- Paint Shop Pro Photo from Corel
- PhotoImpact from Ulead
- Digital Image Suite 2006 from Microsoft
Major Considerations
Ask yourself these questions before buying photo editor software:
- What format can be imported (digital camera, scanner, mobile phone removable media)?
- What/ how much editing will I be doing (red eye touchup, type effects, border designs, auto image straightening, resizing, cropping)?
- How will I share my photos (email, online, mobile, uploads to digital printers)?
- What operating system do I need (Vista, XP, 2000, Mac OS10)?
- Do I need to organize my photos (archive, image search, ratings, create albums)?
Price Range
Most photo editing packages cost in the range of $90 to $100. If you want to organize your photos but plan to do only basic fixes, you might prefer photo album software or photo sharing software. These packages tend to cost much less, usually between $30 and $50. There is also free photo software worth considering. Picasa from Google allows basic photo editing, along with easy photo organizing, emailing and printing.
Summary
If you own a digital camera and a computer, chances are you would benefit from photo editing software. Whether you choose a full photo editor or a more basic photo album package depends on how much time you plan to spend manipulating your photos.
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