Digital photography & design software: Picture editing software

Anything like this?

by MarkFlax  - 3/19/09 12:59 PM

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2840/blisspip.jpg

The PIP isn't hovering in the sky, but I could have placed it there.

If you're using a Windows PC you already have the tools to do what I did. MSPaint to open the image, then open another MSPaint window, open the image again, resize it, copy it, and paste into the first MSPaint window.

If you are using a MAC I am sure it will have similar utilities included.

That rough example took me two minutes.

Mark

(NT) Glad I could help.

by MarkFlax  - 3/21/09 4:54 AM

Photo Editor

I have used Picasa for years and it does everything..and its free

Free or cheap photo editing software

I am a DSLR user as well as a point and shoot user and recently I finally bought into Photoshop CS3 after years of using free or cheap software. I have had the pleasure of using Microsoft "Picture it 9" for the last few years. I have created many interesting photo's and have done most of my adjustments using this program that came with my computer software. If you are not shooting in the RAW mode, this has got to be one of the best means of getting a job done with out having to read a 200 page manual. If you are into cutting out pieces of one photo and pasting them to another, this program makes it very easy. There are also many effects that are included. I can go on for 10 mins. on this one. There are also other decent programs out there like Picassa by Google which has a very cool browser. I did purchase ACDSEE PRO 2 which also has a free or cheap program available. I would suggest any of these for you to try and pick your favorite from there. If it was not for a screw up on ebay allowing me to get CS3 for under $80 , I would still be on free or cheap ware.
Let us know how it goes from here.

Free Photo Editor

The best and easiest I have found is called IrfanView. It is promoted as a 'universal viewer' program, but includes extensive editing capabilities as well. Check it out via www.irfanview.com or cnet.download.com .

I use Gimp for editing photos and

Paint.net for creating and modifying the graphics of a photograph.

http://download.cnet.com/Paint-NET/3000-2192_4-10338146.html?tag=mncol

The sharpen feature is a must in Gimp. The simplified interface in Paint.net is easier to use then gimp for graphical alterations but Gimp does have a few filters that Paint.net does not. They work well together as a combo. I use Picasa but find it to be of poor quality in general. Flickr also has some image editing and modifying add-ons as well but these are on line features not stand alone PC based applications.

Note: recently I had numerous problems installing Windows .net 3.5 on my PC through Windows updates so Paint.net would not install. These problems maybe resolved.