+InsaneNutter MVC Posted December 19, 2009 MVC Share Posted December 19, 2009 My Dad is very keen on photography, he has been scanning all his negatives and slides in from the 80/90's. VueScan does a pretty good job at producing a great scan first time, however he wants to touch the images up after scanning them. Can anyone recommend any user friendly software that might do such a task? I have been looking at Photoshop Elements which sounds like it could be a lot more user friendly than Photoshop. Is there anything else I should have a look at? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 I actually find Photoshop to be more intuitive than Photoshop Elements, but it is quite expensive for a software product. The benefit of Photoshop Elements is that you get an integrated photo library with tagging. Paint.NET has a friendly user interface and is, of course, free; its toolset is impressive for a free product. Avoid GIMP like the plague if you're looking for ease-of-use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strelok1911 Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Try Paint.NET http://www.getpaint.net/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridlas Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Try Paint.NEThttp://www.getpaint.net/ I'd second paint.net they've got some pretty cool guides for it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneNutter MVC Posted December 20, 2009 Author MVC Share Posted December 20, 2009 Cheers, it looks like Paint.net is rated highly.. free is also good (Y) Ill be sure to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Majesticmerc MVC Posted December 20, 2009 MVC Share Posted December 20, 2009 Another vote for Paint.NET. Its basically MSPAINT with a lot more added features such as layers, transparency and some basic things such as red-eye removal. Great software for the price too. If you're looking for a "basic" editor, paint.net is definitely the way to go. @boogerjones: I've never really had an issue with The GIMP, its what I use as my primary image editor since it's almost as functional as Photoshop, but a much more appropriate price. The main issue I find is that the user interface is very much oriented towards Linux shells, and then ported to Windows, and as a result is quite confusing, but once you get used to where everything is its as easy to use as Photoshop. I think things will change a lot when they introduce "single-window mode" in... 2.8 I think it is, which makes all the toolboxes and stuff sit in the same window. That will make it a lot less daunting to use I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argote Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 If you can afford Lightroom then it certainly is a great organizer/editor for photography needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted December 21, 2009 Member Share Posted December 21, 2009 Paint.NET is very good software. However, if you want to become proficient in graphics, you need to learn Photoshop. Yes, it's expensive, and yes it complex, but it's that good. You are going to find yourself limited at some point with almost anything else, including Paint.NET. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadeater Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Lightroom, ACDSee, or Paintshop Photo Express. You could try GIMP too, it's free, but it's not easier to use than Photoshop. Not sure how good Paint.net is for photo editing, it's more of an all-purpose drawing program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Not sure how good Paint.net is for photo editing, it's more of an all-purpose drawing program.Not at all true. It's fine for image touch-up, which usually involves little more than adjusting levels, curves, HSV, brightness/contrast, or sharpening/blurring filters and then resizing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
protocol7 Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) I haven't looked at it much, but doesn't Picasa have some basic retouching tools as well? It'll also allow him to organise his photos. Depends on how much work your dad wants to do with the photos. Adobe also had a cut-down free version of Photoshop Elements called Photoshop Album SE. Apparently it's very cut-down and they have since discontinued it in favour of Photoshop.com, but it's still available for download. Scratch this, you won't be able to register for the unlock code. Edited December 21, 2009 by protocol7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadeater Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Not at all true. It's fine for image touch-up, which usually involves little more than adjusting levels, curves, HSV, brightness/contrast, or sharpening/blurring filters and then resizing. Yeah, like Photoshop. But he said he wants something simple. Did you ever try Lightroom? You can move one slider, basically like "make this photo better" and it does the adjustments automatically. It's very depressing, because I used to do photo processing for computer-illiterate photographers, but now they've got all this automated stuff, they click on a button and it does everything for them. God damn Lightroom stole my job! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Yeah, like Photoshop. But he said he wants something simple.I think you misunderstood me. I was advocating Paint.NET, which I think is very easy to use for common adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argote Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Now that I think about it Picasa should work pretty well for his needs if you don't feel like splurging on Lightroom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneNutter MVC Posted December 22, 2009 Author MVC Share Posted December 22, 2009 Yeah, like Photoshop. But he said he wants something simple. Did you ever try Lightroom? You can move one slider, basically like "make this photo better" and it does the adjustments automatically. It's very depressing, because I used to do photo processing for computer-illiterate photographers, but now they've got all this automated stuff, they click on a button and it does everything for them. God damn Lightroom stole my job! :laugh: I downloaded a trial of Lightroom, your right.. it works amazingly well just by pressing one button! I can see how you would be out of a job with software like that!! My Dad appears to be pretty impressed by it too, which is great as its pretty straight forward to use and the built in help is good also. I think we could be on to a winner, cheers for the suggestions (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moya2t6 Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 You could try a 30 free day trial of Macromedia fireworks or even paint shop pro. I find them very easy to use, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrack Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Paint.NET is free, and has all the touch-up utilities you could ever need. However, each photo is going to take some time to touch up in this application. Google Picasa is also free, it doesn't have the impressive toolset that Paint.NET has, but it is a bit better for organizing large collection, tagging them, and doing very simple touch up (color adjustments etc.). I've heard good things about Adobe Lightroom and would like to get my hands on it. Yeah, like Photoshop. But he said he wants something simple. Did you ever try Lightroom? You can move one slider, basically like "make this photo better" and it does the adjustments automatically. It's very depressing, because I used to do photo processing for computer-illiterate photographers, but now they've got all this automated stuff, they click on a button and it does everything for them. God damn Lightroom stole my job! :laugh: They took yer job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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