Choosing the right Photo Editing Software for you!

There are multiple photo editing software programs to chose from. Some are free of charge and can be downloaded online while others are bordering on expensive. The ones you can download online usually offer the basic tools and are extremely easy to use, whereas the ones you purchase provide you with hundreds of complex options and require lots of training to utilize them well. So it isn’t always easy to decide what to choose if you are just a newbie in the photo editing world. This is a breakdown of the most popular options:

Adobe Photoshop: 
This is the most sophisticated and widely used software available on the market. The number of tools available is massive and if you know how to use them you will be able to achieve spectacular results. The two downfalls of this software are the price (which is in the hundreds) and the complexity, which means that if you want to be able to use this software effectively you do need to dedicate time to learning the ins and outs.

Adobe Photoshop Elements:
This is simplified version of Photoshop and if you are only starting your photo editing journey than it is all you need. The great thing about Elements is that this software is available free of charge. It is often included with your camera when you purchase it, and if not than you can download it from the internet. The only downside of this software is that it provides a limited number of tools, so when you become more familiar with photo editing you might want to apply some other techniques which are not achievable with Elements.

Corel: 
This is the biggest competition for Photoshop. Price wise and functionality wise it is similar to Photoshop, so it is simply a matter of personal preference whether you go for Corel or Photoshop. I personally have both and I find there are some techniques I prefer to do on Corel while others are easier on Photoshop. Overall Corel seems simpler to operate while offering almost all the same tools and techniques that Photoshop has.  That being said this is still a complex software that will require some training in order for you to fully appreciate it.

Piscasa: 
If you are just an amateur photographer using point and shoot camera and don't really want to spend your time editing every single photo with complicated software than Picasa is the way to go. This free editing software available from Google. To use it you don't really need to know much about photo editing, as all the functions in Picasa come with auto mode, which basically means that you click on one button and the software fixes the photo for you. It is extremely easy to use and probably the best place to start your photo editing education.

If you are just starting out then I would recommend going one of the two free ways mentioned just to get a feel for photo editing. Photofilter & Photoscape are two more free photo editing softwares that may offer some more tools than Elements or Piscasa. Once you have been using one of the free programs for awhile and are comfortable with it then I would recommend moving on up to Corel or Photoshop. I can’t really tell you which program is the best as it is based on personal preference. I hope this little article has helped you make the right decision on which photo editing software to start with.