cheap or inexpensive software for photographs

[Alameda]

I've been using Thumbs Plus for years as my basic program. It allows me to easily catalogue things and do some basic processing. I've been using it for around 20 years, since version one..
http://www.cerious.com/thumbnails.shtml

I was looking at some other programs like Qimage
http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/index.html

and Focus Magic.
http://www.focusmagic.com/index.html

Does anyone here know anything about them? They look pretty interesting.

[Major Nikon]

1. Gimp is pretty popular

I don't use it, but from what I've seen it looks impressive for free software, or even pay software for that matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP

[alfredo]

2. I use GIMP and I like it.

[ManiacJoe]

3. FocusMagic is a great sharpener.

For a pixel editor, similar to photoshop, I really like PaintShop Pro now by Corel. Much cheaper than Photoshop and uses many of the same plug-ins.

For cataloging, Adobe's Lightroom seems to be king and it has a great editor built in. ACDSee Pro would be another good cataloging tool with a reasonable editor. (I don't do much cataloging.)

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Another PaintShop fan.

I think it works great at a fraction of PhotoShop's cost.

[Alameda]

7. I've used PaintShop in the past, but...

there are some things about it I don't like. It is as complicated as PhotoShop, in fact there are or were few differences. At one time I had a legal copy of PS, but I didn't keep updating it so lost it. I hate the cost of the program. It's price is highway robbery IMHO. I've had PSP in the past, but am looking for something else now.

I find many people use PS, for what I don't know. Few really need to use it. I'm not saying it isn't a great program, but for most it's overkill, and the learning curve is high.....very high.

For most of what I want ThumbsPlus works.

If I want to get into pixels, Painter works great. What looked good about Focus Magic was the possibility of filling in things....you know...focusing after the fact.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. PaintShop certainly does a lot more than it needs to

for my purposes, but the features that I do use work really great. I guess it's not for everyone. I always found it a lot more user friendly than PhotoShop.

[Alameda]

9. It used to be more user friendly than PS, but I found it got pretty complicated

I don't want to spend all my time learning to use SW over and over again. I can't say how many programs I've gained mastery over, only for them to morph into something else. Something else that wasn't as good as the original one. It gets tedious. I'm not opposed to learning, it's just one gets to feel like a modern day incarnation of Sisyphus.

[Sherman A1]

4. Thanks for Posting!

Appreciate all the links I will have to check them out!

[justiceischeap]

5. Maybe check out Snapseed too

It's a Nik Software product recently purchased by Google. I think it's free... can't recall. Not only does it do effects but it also "tunes" images.

http://www.snapseed.com/home/

[Whovian]

10. Adobe Photoshop Elements is pretty good for the price.

Has a lot of the full featured Photoshop at a fraction of the price and easy to work with. You can buy it on line (Version 11 from appx $75-130). I have used earlier versions and was very happy with it.

[GoneOffShore]

11. Try Graphic Converter -

It's shareware $39.95 from Lemkesoft -
http://www.lemkesoft.com/content/193/key-features.html

I've used it on and off for years.

[klook]

12. Photoshop Elements

-- I got it free with a printer and ignored it until a Mac OS X upgrade rendered my Photoshop CS2 inoperable.

I've also used Pixelmator, an amazing Mac app that, for only $15 (and there's a free demo version!), is a viable substitute for Photoshop. Only reason I use PE instead of Pixelmator is that I'm more familiar with the Photoshop Way. But if Apple & Adobe leave me out in the cold again, I'll seriously consider using Pixelmator exclusively.

[sir pball]

13. If you have a Nikon

The free ViewNX software is pretty useful for basic editing (and more if you shoot raw).

The GIMP is useful (after the learning curve) for online content but not so much if you want to print, at least if you're worried about color management. GraphicConverter is a great cataloging/midweight editing program especially for the price. It all comes down to what you want to do; cropping with some basic sharpening and color/lighting corrections is a different beast than processing film scans for poster-sized gallery displays.