Digital Photography

Adobe Photoshop

The most costly of widely available digital photography software, Photoshop is one of the most powerful software applications on the planetlet alone for digital photography. Its range of features is so extensive and powerful that not even the busiest professionals could say they regularly use, and are familiar with, all of the tools and controls. Ease of use is not the first quality that Photoshop is noted for. However, what experienced users most appreciate is the ease with which Photoshop can be customized, so that working with its numerous features can be highly streamlined and efficient.

The power of Photoshop is also greatly increased by the numerous software plug-ins that are available for it. These can extend its every featurefrom specialized saving of JPEG files, to lens-distortion correction, and an almost infinite number of filter effects. Its ability to manipulate numerous layers and masks is also unrivaled by any software. As a result, despite limitations that remain unimproved after many revisions, such as limited brushes and tonal controls, Photoshop continues to top any recommendation list.

Beware that Photoshop, like any other image editor, benefits from having access to ample amounts of RAM.

Other image editors

Corel Painter for Mac and PC offers many paintlike effects together with image-editing tools, some of which are more powerful than those in Photoshop. Corel PhotoPaint is part of a suite of graphics software and offers very good power for the money. Equilibrium DeBabelizer is designed for image processing in batches, and its tools for making global changes to an image are extremely powerful. Finally, Binuscan PhotoRetouch can apply changes such as contrast or levels through precisely localized brushes; the DigiCam version is a cut-down, lower-cost option worth exploring.

Digital asset management

When you build up a collection of more than a few hundred images, you will be very grateful for software that helps you organize it by presenting each folder's contents as a series of thumbnail images. You will also be able to add captions, including camera details. Some will help you build webpages, too. The fastest and easiest to use is Camerabits Photo Mechanic; while Extensis Portfolio and FotoWare FotoStation are large and powerful, they are fairly costly and much slower than Photo Mechanic. All work in Windows XP and Mac OS X. Lower-cost options include ACDSee, Adobe Album, and Corel Photo Album (PC only).