Best editing software for pics???

TonedPeaceNut

So I got the camera and lighting to where I am quite satisfied with my pics. Now I just need a little advice on which photoediting software I should buy?

I'm not looking for a program that allows the greatest functions or ability to tweak the pics, but rather one that is easy to learn and use. One of the functions I'm most interested in is the ability to resize numerous photos at one time to the same size. Another is the ability to lace photos together easily so that I may join the obverse and reverse pics together into 1 without much effort.

I know that might be asking for too much, but I'd like to know which programs you use and what are the benefits and drawbacks to each.

Thanks in advance!


TPN

gregormendel

Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I use Elements. Works great for everything you mentioned. Not too hard to get the hang of, if you read the manual.

Melmcbee

Ditto. Tpn, when you find it let me know please. I am still struggling with how I can reduce the mb and pixels to post on the forum.

Monstavet

Don't buy anything...there is an excellent freeware program called Irfanview you can download. Great program, very funtional and intuitive. I can tell you that some of the best pictures you see on these message boards are done with irfanview and not some expensive program. There are others out there as well. Check it out.

Wekar

Photoshop is great, if you don't mind the hefty price tag, and are a real graphic artist/designer. Photoshop Elements is just as good for what you'd need, and much cheaper, but still has a lot of bells and whistles that can be overwhelming. Starting out, irfanview really is great free software for what you're looking for.

Monstavet

I did this with Irfanview:

Monstavet

And this:

Monstavet

And this too: (all in less than 5 minutes)

TonedPeaceNut

TTT for the morning crowd.


TPN

ziggy29

For the Mac users out there, Graphic Converter is an excellent option as well. It's shareware for $35, the upgrade policies are among the most liberal and generous I've ever seen (I think I've paid $15 *once* to upgrade from version 4 to version 5.5 over the course of about five years), and the software does almost everything you'd need for routine photo manipulation. There are a few Photoshop features it doesn't have, but it costs nothing to give it a test drive.

mgoodm3

I like Photoshop Elements.

ss350camaro

Hi Michael

I still use a 7 year old version of Adobe PhotoDeluxe Business Edition v1.0 that came with a digital camera i bought at the time. I would imagine that it would be very inexpensive to purchase today.

It works great.

Most Digital Cameras come with some kind of software to upload and view the pictures.

Did you get a software CD with your camera ?

LeeG

I use "Picture It" 9 and "Paint" that comes with Windows. I just downloaded Infranview. Where is the "Crop" function? Lee

mgoodm3

I've seen this one in use before. It's a photoshop takeoff made by Linux programmers called "The Gimp". It's modeled after photoshop and does a lot of stuff. My brother-in-law uses it and says it works OK. It's free.

gimp

cosmicdebris

Photoshop for me.

LanLord

PictureIt works really well for making your coin pictures circular. It helps get rid of any disctracting stuff (Staples, or writing) near a coin when it was photographed.

Highly recommended.

DominusDeus

I can send a copy of Adobe Photodelux Home Edition 3.0. It came with the installation CD for my scanner a few years ago. Will be a 50 MB .rar file (assuming, of course, you k now how to extract a rar file. Not that it's hard).

OKbustchaser

<< <i>I use "Picture It" 9 and "Paint" that comes with Windows. I just downloaded Infranview. Where is the "Crop" function? Lee >>



Use your mouse to outline the section you wish to crop. Go to edit on toolbar. Select crop selection.

Jim

RedneckHB

I use Photoshop Elements

Barry

I use Photoshop, which is really more than you need for coins. It's an amazing program and can be very complex. I took a course on it at the local Community College last year and learned a lot of new things about it. For example, when preparing coin images, I usually resize the raw image to 4x3 inches to make it easier to work with, to combine obverse and reverse images into one pic. In the course, I learned how to write actions and automate batch functions. So now, rather than resizing each pic individually, I just run the batch command and resize the files all at once. A nice time saver. BTW, this feature is not included in Elements.

XpipedreamR

For free software, I use Serif Photo Plus 5.5. It does everything I've ever need it to. I think the free version is now 6.0.

You had to call their 800# after a month to register it, and they ask you if you would be interested in their newest (pay) version, but other than that, and some emails from them, they weren't the least bit intrusive. I love it.


Link

gregormendel

<< <i>So now, rather than resizing each pic individually, I just run the batch command and resize the files all at once. A nice time saver. BTW, this feature is not included in Elements. >>


I use Elements 2.0, and it has the batch processing function. I use it all the time.

carl

Mostly it all depends on how much you know about computers. I'm not a great computer person and my son got me photoshop. I may not be alive long enough to figure it out. Listen to monstavet's post. That's true about all the free stuff you can download. I don't know if they are even in buisness anymore but I bought a program for $15 about 10 years or more ago and it works great for anything I want to do. It even impressed my photoshop expert son. That program and a few more were sold by a company called Seattle Film Works. I recently picked up a program that does a lot more and is simple to use called Microsoft Picture It. That also cost about $20 and is also easy to use. There used to be a program called LView that could be downloaded of the net and I have that one also. I've got a few other photo programs on this computer that I don't know where they came from but may have been installed when I put the digital camera program that came with my FujiS7000. You can go to places like Best Buy, Circuit City and other computer stores but unless you want to spend a lot of time leaning something complicated jsut do as monstavet said and download one of the many free programs on the net. Another method would be to go to the buy/sell forum here and ask if anyone can send you a free one. Nothing to loose.

Monstavet

"Listen to monstavet's post"

In 3 and 1/2 years on these boards, it is the first time anyone has ever said this!

stimmy

Save Your money... Use the free software that came with your computer. Mircosoft Office Picture Manager came with my computer and works just fine..

Stephen

CoinResource

Irfan view is less accurate in changing images than Photoshop in my opinion. I use it for viewing and changing formats. Photoshop rocks!