Photography Program

Photoshop CC, $9.99 a month. https://creative.adobe.com/plans/photography?sdid=KKQIY&kw=semgeneric&ttsrccat=sem-ww-di-ps-brand&skwcid=AL!3085!3!54675422778!b!!g!!photoshop%20cs%20upgrade&ef_id=UwUz1gAAASzZTiBO:20141101190153:s

GIMP is free and has everything you mentioned. I thoroughly recommend it.

Rebecca,

Looking at your images, I think starting with GIMP is the way to go. It's free as mentioned above and very powerful. I would learn how to use GIMP and then when you realize that it's somehow limiting you, get Photoshop Elements 12 or by then 13,which is now almost as powerful as the full Photoshop program, $700 or so. Here are a few Youtube videos to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOSmn-NeqBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atk3glHaMjo

I know signing up for Photoshop CC is ONLY $9.99 a month. but that's still $120 a YEAR! And next year,another $120! Not a big fan of that marketing ploy.

Rich

Thank you, all three of you for your advice. I will definitely look at GIMP and see what that is like, previously I had used ACDSee and I loved it! I had tried adobe and found it to not be very user friendly, you know I believe sometimes these programs are like an old comfortable pair of slippers and when they disappear or in my case perhaps the dog chewed them up you find yourself looking for a new pair and expecting them to be just as the last pair and forgetting that they still need to be broken in! Thanks again.... Rebecca

Rebecca
GIMP does take some practice but is well worth the effort. I use it for everything from cropping and correcting photographs/scans of paintings and for drawing digital images from scratch. I wouldn't be without it.

Thank you all again and I have looked at one of the you tube video's and while it looks a bit daunting I know I will prevail! Just have to break in the new slippers!

Google Picasa is also free and a good and it is pretty intuitive.

Why do you need to be able to resize?

When I do a job for someone, say, senior pictures, I size everything to 5 X 7 or 7 X 5, that way when they take their memory stick to print out their photos they are all the same size, if they would like something on a larger scale, they can come back to me, after browsing their photo's and I will print larger size pictures for them. I try very hard to help out those who really cant afford to go to a "professional" photographer.

Rebecca,

What 5 things do you want to do most,other than re-sizing?

Picasa is good too and will almost everything that needs to be done, on a basic level. I don't use Picasa, but I think that it's a first level kinda program and then GIMP goes up from there. Photoshop Elements 12,which costs anywhere from $50-$70, is more of a complete program and something most photographers use all the time and has no limits for them and their artwork. PSE 12, also takes some learning, but the videos on Youtube are extensive,both from Adobe and also from others that teach the "how to's". The nice thing about PSE 12, is that once you learn it, you're ready to jump up to the full Photoshop version,since all the tools and functions will be there and then a few new ones.

So, it really depends on what you want and need to do,

RIch

That is actually cropping to a specific ratio as compared to resizing. Semantics sort of but I ask because you never want to upsize images here.

I use Adobe Lightroom 5.... thoroughly enjoy it!

Well I have had Photoshop CS5 for many years ,and I detest monthly statements so PS CC is out for this old country boy. I also use Lightroom 5.1 ,but if I didn't have any I would probably go for PH Shop Elements @ $99.00 and learn all I could about it and maybe later pick up Lightroom 5
Randall

Randall,

Photoshop Elements 13 is now released and usually is cheaper at Sam's or Costco. It's now $89 on Amazon. There is also a new plug-in, XXL2 that makes this PSE13 as powerful as the full blown CS6!

http://www.rangefinderonline.com/gear/software/Software-Review-Ele-8086.shtml

"But with a cost of $49.95 for a huge gain in functionality, I don’t see this as a big issue. With the street price of Photoshop Elements at $60 as I write this, you end up with a Photoshop competitor for $110."

I've seen PSE12 at Sam's @ $49!

Rich

I have the older PS Elements (11) and it works great for all of my needs. :-) The price was pretty reasonable too like Rich mentioned for 13 above.

Lara,

Yepper! I really don't know what can't be done with PSE 12 or now PSE13,especially if you add that new plug-in from XXL2!

I know I hardly use 10% of my CS6,maybe even less and I'm happy with my images. Most people will find PSE more than enogh to do almost everything they want. If you, NEED CC and want to pay $10/mo.than fine, but knowing Adobe, it won't be $10/month for long............

Rich

Rebecca - I use Picassa - & love it. Easy peasy...
It'll do what you want, & you will enjoy the effects. No learning curve.

Zoner is also another easy to use program that does almost everything

What Rich says. PSE13. I don't know anything about that new plug in yet, but I going to check on it as soon as I log off here. Les

Corel, is not expensive, and it is more user friendly than Adobe. It also does equally good work.

Thank you all for all the wonderful information.