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Gradually getting into photography via my DSLR ... using Picasa which is fine, but a friend 'Photoshopped' a couple of my pics and the difference was significant. She suggested Photoshop is relatively involved, and I'm not [i]that [/i]interested in the computer side. Nor have I the spare cash to buy it!
Is there a free package that's a bit more advanced/allows some customisation that anyone can recommend?
Thanks
Gimp.
Adobe Photo Deluxe is quite good. I gave it to my folks to use for editing. It has some Photoshop tools in it but is far more user friendly. I think its free too.
If not get the Gimp.
How about the Nikon editing software you should have for your camera, that would do the job
or
Pick up an older version of Photoshop Elements, they used to give them away in the software bundle that came with cameras and scanners
Gave my copy of version 2 away and that's got all the basics you need, probably get it for the price of postage if you asked nicely on here
Gimp, free and fine.
Do some learning and online tutorials to get the best out of it
Lightroom for your PP although it's a very powerful tool and does much more than simple PP, opening images up into PShop only when it's really necessary to do major corrective surgery!
Ti29er - did you miss the free bit?
[url= http://www.getpaint.net/ ]paint.net[/url] is good and free.
Gimp is a bit more flexible, but also quite clumsy in places.
Photoshop Elements isn't free (about £50) but is basically a cut down Photoshop and is often used in camera mags that cover post-processing (e.g. [url= http://www.dpmag.com/ ]Digital Photo[/url])
How about the Nikon editing software you should have for your camera
[url= http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/nikon-view-nx.html ]Nikon ViewNX[/url] is free and does basic RAW conversion and editing.
[url= http://www.capturenx.com/ ]Nikon CaptureNX[/url] isn't free (about £80) but does loads of non-destructive post-processing and is probably the best way to get the most from Nikon RAW/NEF files.
Ooops.
Yes, missed that!
Nothing for nothing I guess.
£80 for the Nikon software is wise. LR is about £175 I think.
If you are eligible for an academic discount (and the conditions are not that strict) you can get LR for 99 quid, IIRC.
If you're on a Mac, you could give this a go;
It's quite cheap and you can trial it for free. I should add my mate wrote it, but that doesn't make it bad 😉