Title: Best photo editing software

Searching for the best photo editing software isn't always an easy task. Most people you talk to will suggest Adobe Photoshop CS3, however if you are not a professional photographer and don't have an extra $700 lying around, you may want to look into other options.

Beginner Photo Editors
Starting at the basics, you will want a program that is easy to use. Typically, beginning programs include helpful wizards to walk users through common tasks, and they should include tutorials or handy on-screen tips for getting started. Most of these programs feature templates that you can build upon. Once you have progressed past this stage and want to design your own templates, it's time to move on to a more advanced editor. Typically these programs range from $50 to $150.

Budget Photo Editors
Prices range from free to about $60 for Windows software and up to about $100 for Macintosh software. These programs are usually shareware or freeware and they're generally not available in retail software stores. Most of the time you will have the opportunity to try it before you buy it.

Digital Photo Software
Many times digital photo software is lacking painting and drawing capabilities and are intended primarily for importing, enhancing and correcting digital images. Many of these programs also provide features for organizing, printing, and sharing your photos. It is recommended to use this software in conjunction with another photo editor.

Web Graphics Software
Web graphics software has many of the core image editing, but it is designed for working with graphics for the Web. The capabilities with the web software include animation, automatic HTML generation and export, button designers, image optimization, image slicing, and image mapping.

Other Options
Thumbnail browsers allow you to browse and sort through your image collection. They offer file management, image manipulation, and some basic image editing features.

Illustration software offers drawing capabilities for creating simple, non-photographic designs, technical diagrams, and illustrations such as logos and stylized art.

Graphics suites software and include image editing, illustration, page layout, Web design, and typography functionality in one package.
Art-oriented software programs are designed especially for painting, drawing, coloring, and creating original art work.

Photo Editing Options
Now that you know what category you fit into, you need to look at the various options out there. As I stated earlier, Adobe Photoshop CS3 will be recommended by many people. However, if you don't know much about Adobe Photoshop CS3, you will want to take a course. Photoshop is a complex, high-end photo editing program and requires a lot of knowledge to use.

Paint Shop Pro is another popular program, though it is not as recommended, it has made large advancements over the last few years. Many users say the look and features are comparable to Adobe Photoshop and it is easy to use.

Microsoft has also released a photo editing program, Microsoft Digital Image Suite, however it has been announced that it is being discontinued as it can be found in the new Microsoft Vista. It still has some work to get it to the levels of the other photo editing software, but customer's have reacted favorably so far.

Ulead Photo Impact is another Corel product like Paint Shop Pro; however, it is not as desirable. The installation of the software requires a lot of hard drive space and it is only available on Windows. It has received positive reviews for the easy of animating .gif files and quick adjustments to color.

Adobe is currently working on an online version of Photoshop. It is being called Photoshop Express and being tested with Shutterfly and Photobucket. Whatever route you go with the software, be sure to get one that fits all your needs and doesn't frustrate you after 10 minutes!

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