Reviews of Photo Editing Software

Digital photography is now big business; with so many people owning a digital camera, and many more already using or considering buying a computer less as a workstation but more as an entertainment center, it is not surprising that there is an increasing number of photo editing applications available. In fact, typing "free photo editing software" into your computer's Internet search engine will bring up a long list of software that you can download for free.

Free software is useful if all you want to do is very basic editing, but it is unlikely to be able to help you fix damaged or faded prints or transparencies, for that you'll need much more sophisticated examples, which can cost half as much as some digital cameras.

The good news, however, is that with so much competition around, the software developers are anxious for you to try their products. Most of the editing applications available can be downloaded over the Internet as free trial versions, this way you can try them for yourself and decide which one you think is most appropriate for your needs.

Below is a brief run down of some of the more popular image editing software packages available. The list is by no means exhaustive and the accompanying information is intended to act as a review, rather than a guide.

1. Adobe Photoshop Elements. Once thought of as the "cut-down" version of Adobe's professional editing application Photoshop, Elements has been developed over the last couple of years with the digital photographer specifically in mind. It features all the powerful tools and filters necessary to make complex corrections to images, and is ideal for the projects in this section. Elements features an excellent Help menu that will take you through the more common image editing tasks, and the latest version features a powerful Organizer tool that will help you to store, sort, and access your images.

2. Corel Paint Shop Pro. Another extremely powerful editing application is Paint Shop Pro. Only available for the Windows platform (that is, it can't be used if you have a Mac). Paint Shop Pro has near professional image editing capabilities that can be quite difficult to master. The program's other features include a self contained animation package, called Animation Shop that may or may not appeal to you. Another of Paint Shop Pro's strengths is its Web facilities, which may be valuable if you're intending to set up your own website on which to show some of your work.

3. FotoFinish Studio. One of the easiest programs to get to grips with; FotoFinish Studio has a very user friendly interface, allowing you to perform a variety of tasks with ease. Its ease of use, however, is reflected in its fairly limited editing capabilities but this may well be all you're after. The program's limited editing functions are offset by the excellent sharing features such as emailing images to family and friends is simply a matter of a couple of clicks. Furthermore, FotoFinish will allow you to set up your own photo gallery on their website free of charge.

4. Ulead PhotoImpact. Offering excellent value for money, PhotoImpact contains very powerful editing capabilities rivaled only by more expensive software. The tools require a fair amount of patience and dedication to learn, but if persevered with, this application can make complex enhancements to your images. Another strength of this particular program is its sharing capabilities. It can automatically "optimize" your images for the Web, create slide shows and Web galleries, and is automatically linked to an online photo company that will host your Web gallery.