Some of the best photo editing software

The photo editing software packages available for PCs range from easy to use basic tools that cater for the simpler tasks to highly sophisticated programs that require many hours to become familiar with the vast functionality. The quality may vary, but the best photo editing software for PC will depend on what you need and how you intend to use it. A number of packages stand out. These include Google's free Picasa 3, the open source GIMP 2, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X1 and Adobe Photoshop.

Picasa 3 must be one of the easiest photo editors to use. Not only is it capable of enhancing and transforming your photos, it is a powerful organising tool as well.

Picasa 3 is available as a free download from Google. Once the install has completed, Picasa will search your PC for images and organise these into albums. Large thumbnails make finding your pictures simple. Simply select any pictures that you would like to share and upload these to your own Picasa Web album. Create a slide show of your photos for use on your blog or Website.

Picasa has three editing screens for Basic fixes, Tuning and Effects.

The BASIC FIXES screen includes the most commonly used features. Click the STRAIGHTEN button and a grid appears over the picture. A simple lever allows for quick and easy correction. An I'M FEELING LUCKY button automatically corrects the colour balance, contrast and colour saturation. You may add FILL-LIGHT using a lever, and RETOUCH pictures by copying spots from one part of a photo to another.

Use the TUNING screen to add HIGHLIGHTS and SHADOWS, change the COLOUR TEMPERATURE and to automatically correct lighting problems.

The EFFECTS tab provides a range of special effects that include B & W, SEPIA, WARMIFY, TINT and GLOW. FOCAL B & W allows you to transform a colour photograph into black and white while leaving a key feature of the picture in colour.

Picasa provides a facility to apply automatic fixes to a collection of pictures in a single step.

GIMP 2is a powerful open source graphics editing tool. It is available as a free download. GIMP 2 features a comprehensive toolbox to touch up, correct colour and light, and to transform a picture completely. A whole range of FILTERS, editing tools and LAYERS may be used to fix and transform photos and any other graphics.

Expect to spend several hours to find your way around GIMP. It is not quite as simple to use as Picasa, but the time will be well spent. Full tutorials and help screens are available for download from the GIMP site.

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X1 is a commercially available product that retails for about $60. Paint Shop Pro was formerly Jasc software and the earlier editions were available for a free 30 day trial. Corel have not opted to continue with this tradition, so you will have to pay to use it. This latest edition of Paint Shop Pro is the simplest version to use to date and has a very powerful AUTO-FIX button that will correct most problems.

The features include a full range of editing tools that allow you full control over what you do with your pictures.

Adobe Photoshop has set the standard for photo editing software. It is also easy to use and includes tools to organise your photos. Again, there are many automatic tools for correcting single or multiple pictures. Adobe Photoshop is available for about $100.

For most purposes, Picasa 3 provides enough functionality for almost any purpose. The main drawback of Picasa is that it does not have a facility to resize photos, something that can be achieved easily using any of the other products. However, its unsurpassed ease of use and other features make Picasa a real winner.

For professional work, GIMP 2 provides everything that is needed to manage your pictures at an unbeatable price. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo and Adobe Photoshop are both easier to use than GIMP at a cost. The functionality of both of these products is fairly comprehensive.

Many photo editing software packages are good. The one that is best for you is that one that manages what you need to do most effectively.

The best free photo editing software

Most digital cameras come with free software to allow editing of digital photos. Most of these are extremely limited in what you can do. For a simple, easy-to-use photo editor have a look at Picasa2 - a totally free product available from Google.

The free offerings from Kodak and Adobe allow for pictures to be cropped and rotated, correction of colour balance, bightness and contrast and little else. Picasa has some additional features. Pictures can be straightened - anything from 0 to 360 degrees. Straightening a picture is simply controlled using a single lever.

Picassa allows for pictures to be converted to black and white, sepia, soft focus, tint, soft focus, filtered black and white, and focal balck and white. All very useful functions. The tuning option makes provision for fill light to be added, highlights and shadows may be accentuated and the colour temperature adjucted.

Of course there are a number of even simpler adjustments that can be applied automatically. Redeye makes it simple to elimitate the annoying red eyes common with flash photography. I'm feeling lucky allows Picasa to make the decisions. Auto-contrast, auto-colour and the fill light lever complete the offerings of the editor. Use the collage function to create a collage of your photos.

To start, Picasa2 will search your computer for all pictures. Picasa creates a gallery that is quick and easy to navigate through. Information about the camera used and date are maintained and a facility to add additional albums and sort by category is included. Finally, it is easy to share photos, upload them to the web and to upload a slide-show for your web-site.

I have been using PaintShop Pro for many years. It is still one of the best photo editors available on the market. It is not a free product but allows for complete professional editing of photos and graphics of any kind.

Gimp is an open source product that can do everything that PaintShop Pro can do - perhaps even more - for free. For professional work, Gimp is highly recommended. My own experience with the product is limited. For my purposes, Picasa is usually enough. But if you need to seriously touch up a picture, airbrush a face, change the perspective or almost anything else then Gimp is the answer.

Picasa is great for the layman and for enhancing and cropping your pictures with great ease. Gimp is a professional graphics editor offering much more functionality. Picasa allows you to become familiar with all its features within a few minutes. A very cleverly designed application that can be used by anyone from a professional to an amature.

Expect to spend a couple of hours exploring Gimp's rich array of features and learning how to use the product. Once mastered, you will be able to produce truly professional pictures.