software for a noob

[JCT]

as a relative noobie when it comes to my camera and post processing of my photos, i am after some advice of what software i should be getting for the PP. The camera (40d) comes with some basic software for photo editing but i assume its going to be very restrictive, am i correct.

It looks like Photoshop Cs3 is commonly used from peoples signatures but i have heard its expensive and failry complex

[ricktas]

Photoshop has a 'consumer' version called Photoshop Elements. Very worthwhile.

There are many and varied Post processing packages out there. From the free ones you can download off the web. Try googling "Picassa" or "The Gimp", to Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop Elements right through to Photoshop CS4.

[kiwi]

...also try Lightroom. I think it's taking over the worlds photographers (regrettably that last 5% sometimes needs photoshop).

Also DXO, Bibble, you name it

I actually think Picassa's pretty good for free and you can post and host pics on the web using it for free too.

You can get a trial version of just about every program out there.

[JCT]

cheers guys, appreciate the responses. ill check them all out.

[matilda]

Yes I use photoshop CS3 but i do lots of photoshop work.

My dad uses photoshop elements and that does what he needs.

[thelastname]

I second Lightroom, rather easy to use and it wont edit your originals.

[ricktas]

I second Lightroom, rather easy to use and it wont edit your originals.

No software edits RAW files permanently.

[umajo]

i am with the above lightroom and photoshop for me, when i first started i used elements and its excellent to start with but have just upgradsed to cs4 now and love it:th3:

[Harves]

Photoshop Elements will do everything you need for under $200, great value.

[jev]

I vote for PaintShop Pro - Elements is lacking too many important features and PS CS just is too expensive. Or, if you can live with it quirks, GiMP - you can't beat price/performance of that :D.

[JCT]

i have downloaded lightroom, gimp and picassa, had a brief play with all 3 and so far i like gimp for features and ease of use. Picassa seems ok as well. Lightroom is a 30 day free trial, im just not sure why when i 'save as' out of lightroom its stripping my file size from 3 to 4 meg down to 600kb approx.

[kiwi]

The LR export is probably resizing based on the dimensions of the file you choose, say 1024 on the longest size.

The good thing about LR is that your original file is not touched at all