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AnchorDesk

David Coursey
My favorite photo-editing software is...

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Friday, Jan. 23, 2004
TalkBack!Add your opinion
It's been a while since I've looked at photo-editing software. So as a public service to all of you who got a digital camera for Christmas, but have yet to decide which program to use, as well as to those of you whose hard drives are stuffed with unedited holiday pics, here's an update.

Dave's faves
While I admit the four top photo-editing apps are all pretty darned good, I personally prefers these two.
Do you really need this stuff? I have yet to see a digital image that didn't benefit from a run through of at least the automated fixing process for color, brightness, and contrast that all these programs offer. If you have a digital camera, I'd say, yes, this is software you need.

THE GOOD NEWS is that it's pretty hard to go wrong with the major packages from Adobe, Microsoft, Jasc, and Ulead. Each lists for around $100, but, thanks to rebates and big discounts, you can often find them for much less. I'm not recommending you purchase on price alone--but I'm not recommending against it, either.

I know you come to AnchorDesk looking for strong opinions. But in this case I strongly believe that competition has given us four very nice products. I personally like some more than others, but that's just me. The ones I've used most are from Microsoft and Adobe, so let me start with them.

My current program of choice is Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9, also available as a Suite with the company's photo organization product. You're likely to find this one with a big rebate at warehouse stores.

I'm not going to tell you the program is vastly better than its competitors. But since I use a lot of Microsoft products every day, it has a certain familiarity. And I've never run into a photo problem the program couldn't help me solve. The program includes a number of wizards to help beginners and offers a powerful Smart Erase tool for things like removing a zit here and there. Yes, even us 40-somethings need that feature now and then.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 really should be up to version 3 by now, making me think that Adobe may not really be interested in consumer products. The Elements feature set isn't as competitive as it used to be, largely because competitors have taken the best features of Adobe Photoshop (the pro version that lists for $649) and baked them into their consumer products. While Elements remains a subset of Photoshop, it's based on the release that was current two years ago and now looks dated.

IT USED TO BE that anyone who dealt with digital images had to use Photoshop, as the leap from consumer to pro software left behind lots of useful features. Today, that isn't really the case for normal mortals. Elements and the other programs I mention here are likely to be all you ever need, even if you're editing for Web sites or print publications.

That being the case, making Photoshop Elements too good might be seen by Adobe as drawing customers away from the full (and six times more expensive) version. (Like it's better when Microsoft steals them?) Still, Elements is a great program and an excellent choice for anyone who might someday use its big brother.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.0 has many ardent devotees, many of whom feel the program does a better job of some basic things--such as red-eye removal and erasing troublesome backgrounds--than Digital Image Pro. This is probably the best of the bunch for people who want to get really creative with things like layering. The user interface is competent and overall this product probably rewards dedicated and frequent users better than Microsoft does.

Ulead PhotoImpact 8.0 is, to my eye, a notch below the previous three, in terms of functionality and features. However, I haven't played with the new XL version, which adds some interesting lighting correction features as well as what looks like a much-improved ExpressFix Wizard for fixing everything at once.

MY OVERALL BUYING ADVICE is to read the reviews, visit the company Web sites, and ask friends. Pay special attention to the user interface each program offers, which probably varies more from product to product than the actual features.

I'm not a power photo editor, so some of the benefits offered by Jasc and Ulead are lost on me. People who are real digital darkroom users might benefit more from having two of these programs than investing in the big money version of Photoshop. I'd choose one from Microsoft or Adobe and the other from Jasc or Ulead.

If you still can't decide, buy Microsoft, if only because Digital Image Pro or Suite may be easier to find and less expensive. But that's just what I tell friends to do, largely because it's easier for me to provide phone support for stuff I use all the time. Or buy one of the others. Suit yourself.

The key thing here isn't so much which of these four you buy, but that you avoid everything else. There are some pretty lightweight photo-editing products out there. Sure, they cost less, but you get what you pay for. And with all the money you're saving shooting digital rather than film, why not put some of that savings into some really useful software?

What do you think? Do you use photo-editing software? Which program do you like best? TalkBack to me below!

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