New to photography software

Hi I am very new to photo programs and have no clue on which one I should get. I was thinking about DXO, but am still not sure.
I usually force myself to shoot pictures that come out close to what I want it to look like (doesn’t always work out, but I find it more fun this way". However, I get lots of noise in high ISO like many digital cameras would and I may have some dust spots here and there. So my question is this, what software would you recommend to a person that likes to have his or her images lightly touched here and there. I do want some control over these things but I don’t want to go overboard and have the power to change the image completely to the point that they look completely different from one another, just some little things I mentioned above. O and maybe something that will allow me to change my aspect ratio and dpi for other purposes and help me keep all my images organized. I have loads of images on my computer and have trouble organizing them all. Thanks for everyone’s help, it is greatly appreciated :)

LB,

GIMP is free photo editing software. Do a web search and you will see it hosted on numerous sites.

I use Corel's PhotoPaint as a lightweight bitmap/raster graphic editor.

But Photoshop (PS) is the declared King of the Hill, both for it's power and many available plug-ins. Downside on that is cost (~ $500 last time I checked) and complexity to learn. Student versions are available if you are one, and you can learn it.

As for noise, there's several applications / plug-ins that can help. One is called Neat Image and can either work standalone or as a plug-in in PS or Corel. The free version only works up to I believe 1024 pixels though. There's others, but I haven't used them.

I'm sure others will also chime in and provide some good suggestions.

G

The ones GB! mentions are good but want to mention that you can get photoshop elements for around $100 and do an awful lot with it.

Ya I was thinking about Photoshop but it is rather complex. I am a student so I can pick it up for a low price. I am planning on taking a Photoshop course next year after I finish all my photo journalism classes so mabye then Ill pick up a copy. I did however try gimp when I converted my pc to Linux ubuntu. It was fairly easy to get into but sadly my hard drive acted up. I am installing it right now on my laptop. Thankyou, I had no idea it was free on windows :thumbsup:

Update:

Im having alittle trouble downloading GIMP for my laptop. My laptop's os is windows vista home edition premium.

Being one of the Noowbies as well, I started a Photoshop Elements Course at our local technical school. The instructor is a definate advocate of using the Wacom tablet products for processing/manupilating the photos. I checked the local Walmart, and found the PSE 7.0 for $79.95....but no Wacom. Went to Staples and they had the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet, along with the higher end products from the company. That being said, and one who enjoys a challange, I discovered the Wacom Bamboo Fun, small size (5.8 x 3.7), is packaged with Photohope Elements 6.0, Corel Paint Elements 4.0, and Nic Color Efex Pro 3.0 for only $99.99. I'd been using the trial version of PSE 7.0 and decided that i didn't need to go for the upgrade. It works great, but I'm still learning the tablet.

I am retouching old negatives, converting them to positives with Picasa 3 and Paint

I am interested of gallery on antique cars

Elements is a great place to start. If you choose to pursue the course and want to upgrade to the full blown Photoshop CS4, you can upgrade. Watch the Adobe website and check in magazines like Rangefinder for their upgrade offers. I upgraded from Elements 4.0 for $279.00 with an upgrade coupon.

Hi all, so I've been hearing about Lightroom. I currently have the CS3 Web suite which includes PS CS3 Extended. I haven't done much with photos so far other than just some sharpening and other minor stuff, but I'm wondering what Lightroom would give me over PS. I looked at Adobe's site but didn't really understand what I'd gain for the money. I'm looking at starting photography as a hobby instead of just "oh I'm on vacation lets take a few pics" and would likely be playing with RAW format files once I get a new camera.

Jump right in if I mis-speak.........

Lightroom combines a browser gallery with some very powerful editing tools. It does not have a lot of the editing and design tools that PS offers. Lightroom is wonderful for batching large numbers of photos. For instance, you can load 400 photos into Lightroom, view and cull the bummers. Then select batch options such as white balance, convert to .jpg or any number of things....... it will perform all of your selected actions in the background, leaving you free to work on something new!