Hey folks, I have NEVER used photoshop, lightroom or paintshop or any of the other processing software that is out there.
I would like to make minor corrections and adjustments to my images to make them a little better. I shoot both raw and jpeg if that matters.
My question is (finally), what is the most user friendly program and what do most of you use and why?
Thanks in advance for any and all advice on this!

Ron

depends on what you want to do, how much you want to learn and how much you want to spend. your camera probably came w/ some sort of processing software, esp. if it can shoot raw.

they all have 30 day trials. Lightroom is a great program. Photoshop is, well, Photoshop and it's a career you might want to try the simpler Photoshop Elements.

If you're only looking to do MINOR adjustments then you could look into one of the free programs like GIMP, Picasa or even what came with your pc/mac.

Use DPP to convert to jpg then process.

A good starting point is Adobe Photoshop ELEMENTS. It is very comprehensive and inexpensive. I think Adobe has a free download, evaluation on their web site. The concepts you learn using this program will be transferable to more advanced and expensive products in the future (like Photoshop CS4 or Lightroom).

To get up to speed, go over to lynda.com and take the PS Elements class. Also, the product has a very nice manual (worth reading).

what do you mean with minor adjustments? A lot of raw converters don't allow you to do selective adjustments. You will need gimp or photoshop (elements) to clone or brush or alter anything on your image. with lightroom (which is great IMO) you can also do selective editing, but for the precise work i always use photoshop.
So i think that if ou want to do minor adjustments, like whitebalance, contrast/brightnes or levels and so on, you will be best of with any raw converter out there. I like Lightroom, you can download a 30 day trial of lightroom 2 or you might as well try the new lightroom 3 beta wich is out for testing now (for probably longer than 30 days).
Depending on your camrea brand either canon's DPP or Nikons Capture NX will do a very good job, since both camera's will undertand all of your camera settings which will give you an image that virtually looks the same as the jpg you get from your camera.

And where to start? Well look at your images and ask yourself: what do you want to change... Maybe you can make that warmer looking picture straight away by altering your white balnce on camera... But that's probably not what you're after.

Thank you all for your input, it sounds like there are programs out there that I had never heard of before!
What I am after is to give my pics a little pop, maybe make the sky a little bluer, tone the skin if need be and a little more color to the eyes. I have also thought about playing around with a little color to b&w conversion and leaving the eyes vibrant color...I know some like and some despise this.
I do try to get it as close to "right" in camera but there is always that person that may walk by at the wrong moment...the piece of something you can't move but want gone or just the "crap, I was in a hurry to get the shot and forgot to check my settings deal".
I do have the Canon DPP and either I don't know how to work it or it doesn't do what I want it to do. It seems to want to change everything not just a specific area, it seems very limiting.
Thanks again everybody!

rdphotos wrote:
I do have the Canon DPP and either I don't know how to work it or it doesn't do what I want it to do. It seems to want to change everything not just a specific area, it seems very limiting.
Thanks again everybody!

you can't do this with dpp. you'll need photoshop (elements or cs) and start learning selections, layers, and masks. it will take time but you'll get there eventually.

Vote #2 for Photoshop ELEMENTS! Great program to start with, and under $100. Easy to learn, does a lot of what the big boy (CS4) does, but not all. Try it, I think you'll find it works just fine for what you want to do. You WILL have to spend some time learning it though in order to really take advantage of all it has to offer.

Jo

I would say definitely definitely go for Lightroom. Lightroom can be had for just over $100 and you'll never need to upgrade after that.

That's what I use and I handle editing for plenty of wedding photographers. Lightroom 2, specifically.

brandonwade wrote:
I would say definitely definitely go for Lightroom. Lightroom can be had for just over $100 and you'll never need to upgrade after that.

Not to highjack here, but where can lightroom 2 be purchasaed for just over $100.00? I see it is possible with an acedemic discount, but is there somewhere else that offers this for such a low price, non acedemic? Thanks

yes, usually, LR can be had for something like $200 US if on-sale or Educational. $100 would be a *steal*