by True Blue

Created on: May 24, 2009

The best photo editing software for PCs

The best photo editing software isn't as easily defined as you may think. What defines best for me does not automatically mean that it's best for everyone else. There are so many different programmes catering to different levels of photography and choosing the best programme for me has taken a lot of time; trial, and effort.

First let me explain that if you are an amateur photographer using a point and shoot compact digital camera, you will find that the photographs you take are of a very good quality due to the advances in technology. Often after taking pictures for your family album at birthday parties and on holidays you are normally left with two categories. Photos you can use and photos you can't. Either way having a simple editor that automates the basic editing techniques to make them better pictures is a handy thing to use.

The two that do the best job in this case are Picasa from Google and Windows Live Photo Editor. Having tested both, I have opted to keep both because they are both good for different things. Windows live is an excellent free programme and very good for panoramic stitching, and quite good for portraits. Because of the quality of those two particular points I have chosen to keep it on my computer. The down side is that Windows Live is quite slow when performing the required tasks.

Picasa however is a very well designed programme with a user friendly interface and has a wide variety of tricks up its sleeve. It is very quick and I find myself getting through a major workload, 3 to 4 hundred pictures in a matter of a couple of hours. It has many of the basic editor tools automated and a batch editing facility which really can make it a joy to have. Google have also allocated web space where you can store all your pictures with an integrated upload.

Moving on to the mid range editors where editing becomes a new age art form, and where the boundaries to your work seem non existent. Most of the really good editors require you to buy a licence, but you can still find free editors that can improve your photos and the way you present them. Gimp and Ifranview offer a wider variety of editing tools and as such a great training ground for the professional platform of editors.The editors I've mentioned are all free and very easy to get to grips with given a little time and patience.

If however you want to perform miracles with your photos, and really get into creating works of art in a more designer

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