[kent11202]

I used to have Picture It (no longer sold) and it was pretty easy to use. Unfortunately, it when bye-bye when my hard disk crashed so I'm looking for a software package to replace it and asking for suggestions.

I just want to do pretty straight-forward stuff - crop, change from color to black and white, add some features, color/contrast adjust, add text and or arrows pointing to a portion of the pic, etc. Downloaded a free trial of Adobe (something) and it was not in the least "user friendly" as far as I was concerned.

Thoughts/suggestions are most appreciated....thanks in advance.

[dnel29]

Google Profesional Photo Editing software is now free.(Used to be $100+) I have never used it but it looks like it might suit your purpose.

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/


Picasa is also good as well. (Really simple adjustments, filters, cropping, red eye, text etc.)
Picasa will probably be a better choice for your use.

EDIT: Look like they have discountinued Picasa. Google Photo is what they have now. Not sure if it what you want.

[kent11202]

Originally Posted by dnel29

Google Profesional Photo Editing software is now free.(Used to be $100+) I have never used it but it looks like it might suit your purpose.

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/


Picasa is also good as well. (Really simple adjustments, filters, cropping, red eye, text etc.)
Picasa will probably be a better choice for your use.

EDIT: Look like they have discountinued Picasa. Google Photo is what they have now. Not sure if it what you want.

Thanks! I'll check out Google.

[Gabe@TAG]

Lightroom is pretty awesome. It used to be $399, but since their Creative Cloud program launched, 9.99 a month from Adobe gives you Lightroom and Photoshop which comes in handy and is great to learn.

[bmw1racer]

Try these two... They're both viewers and editors... And free.

http://www.xnview.com/en/
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

[tc328]

Google Nik...is now free as someone already stated

but I think you'll still need a host application (photoshop. lightromm, etc)

[90c4]

Have you tried the software that comes with the camera? I use Canon's Digital Photo Professional exclusively which is very easy and intuitive, as well as powerful.

[Pixel8ed]

I will second software that comes with the camera. Especially if your wanting to save money. I
At least the canon DPP is actually fairly powerful. It can do pretty much anything you would want to do.... For free.

Lightroom is the industry standard for a reason. And now you can get it and photoshop for $10 a month. It's a deal that is pretty hard to beat.

[Mik3ymomo]

I've been using Lightroom from the start. Can't think of a reason to ever change. It does 98% of everything I need.

[08njSTEP]

I purchased light room on disc and will have it next week. My computer doesn't have an internet connection, and that's why I purchased a hard copy. My Sony a6300 has jaggies really bad in jpeg. Cars are awful and buildings are really bad also. Seems worse with 50-200mm and not bad with 18-55mm especially indoors. I only noticed it once on my computer. So I changed to RAW but my computer doesn't recognize the files. I read that I need a digital image converter. Does LR come with DIC or do I need to download the Sony specific DIC. Thanks in advance.

[The Wind Breezes]

Just get a Mac. It comes with software called Photos that does all this stuff. Thank me later when you realize you were doing computers wrong your entire life.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by 08njSTEP

I purchased light room on disc and will have it next week. My computer doesn't have an internet connection, and that's why I purchased a hard copy. My Sony a6300 has jaggies really bad in jpeg. Cars are awful and buildings are really bad also. Seems worse with 50-200mm and not bad with 18-55mm especially indoors. I only noticed it once on my computer. So I changed to RAW but my computer doesn't recognize the files. I read that I need a digital image converter. Does LR come with DIC or do I need to download the Sony specific DIC. Thanks in advance.

The software that came with your Sony should've come with a RAW reader/converter... Lightroom has Adobe RAW built into it, so it'll automatically recognize the RAW files.

[08njSTEP]

Thanks for that info. Sony requires a download for DIC and I only have internet access through my phone.

[wdb]

FYI Google is abandoning Picasa.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by 08njSTEP

Thanks for that info. Sony requires a download for DIC and I only have internet access through my phone.

You could download it to your phone, then transfer it to your PC... I would think that your phone has a USB connection.

Oh, if you've bought Lightroom, don't you have to activate it via the internet?

[08njSTEP]

Never thought about phone to computer USB. I don't know about LR as I haven't received it yet, and I just read something about it expiring. If it requires download I guess I'll have to work around that too.
I don't use computers at all, as such they don't work easily for me.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by 08njSTEP

I don't use computers at all, as such they don't work easily for me.

If that's the case, maybe Photoshop Elements would've been a better choice over Photoshop Lightroom.

[08njSTEP]

I haven't paid for LR yet, what's the difference with elements?

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by 08njSTEP

I haven't paid for LR yet, what's the difference with elements?

Simpler interface, a few less features... Geared toward novices who don't need all of the pro photographer features.

[justanotherdude]

GIMP. Free, similar to Photoshop. Used it for a long time before I finally bought Lightroom.

[Mik3ymomo]

There is plenty of support online for both elements and Lightroom. I've never used elements so I can't comment on it but Lightroom works great as a stand alone. Some of the features may not work without an Internet connection but Lightroom should work for you as a stand alone.
As far as features that may not work, I think when new lenses and cameras come out support and correction info for those lenses will have to be imported to the software via Internet connection.

I know computers are not easy to use at first but worth learning to make your life easier in this day and age. Also there are so many free tutorials on YouTube that it's in your best interest to adapt to how information is deceminated now.

[igzekyativ]

pixlr.com