The right software

[noah1]

Hi all,
I am looking for the most for the least. Please advise which is the best software for pasting multiple images and fixing pixelated digital photos.

Thanks!

[Medley]

I personally think the best bargain out there is Adobe's Photoshop Elements 5.

- Joe U.

[DEvianT]

Paint Shop Pro X or PS Elements 5

[masdog]

Well....

The best value is THE GIMP, but many people don't like the interface and the lack of features.

The best bang for the buck is Photoshop Elements - a stripped down consumer version of Adobe's photoshop software.

Ultimately, it depends on what features you want and how much you want to pay.

[KenB]

For free...

basic editing: Picasa (picasa.google.com)
advanced editing: The Gimp (gimp.org)


I like and have had a lot of success with The Gimp and there are myriad free add-ons for it.

[DEvianT]

A word of warning with the GIMP. Free it may be but if your using it to get images printed for commercial reasons you will have problems with colour management. (In my experiences of it) I tried it as obviously free would be great! I had to give it up.

PS Elements is fine for general editing. If you want to just process your photo's rapidly and not do any more then Adobe lightroom is a great one stop shop from RAW processing to DAM and websites.

[drg]

The WYSIWYG feedback from PE 5 is hard to beat for the money. I am not sure what you mean by fixing pixelated digital photos unless it is about de-screening or re-sizing issues.

A very powerful alternative to the full version Adobe Photoshop CSx(2 or 3) is available from www.dl-c.com and is Picture Window Pro. Different interface and not the third party documentation, but good web support and its $100. Very serious software for the digital photographer. A few powerful addons for scanning and framing tools to name two are available. Some of the best scanning profiling softward for under $1000. Does require some tweaking for high volume work. On a notebook hard to beat for field work and single image manipulation.

[DEvianT]

I'm wondering if by de-pixelating images you mean removing noise? If this is the case then the thing you want is Noiseware Pro. Best noise removal product on the market in my opinion and very cheap also. Comes as a plug-in for photoshop but also as a standalone if photoshop is beyond the budget.