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Need recommendation for EASY to use photo software

post #1 of 10
12/30/05 at 12:54pm
Thread Starter 
Hi guys,
My 66 year old father is a digital camera novice and a computer newb (he plays games and does email, but that's about it).

He wants to start playing with pictures and got an ad from Adobe for a $40 Photoshop program.

I wanted to check with the experts for a recommendation for a good basic, easy to use photo organizing/editing program. He doesn't need advanced features, and the key is SIMPLICITY and a good user interface.

Can anybody help me?
Thanks-
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post #2 of 10
12/30/05 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 
CNET recommends JASC Paint Shop Photo Album or Adobe Photoshop Album. Does anyone have experience with both to say which has the easier/more intuitive interface?
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post #3 of 10
12/30/05 at 4:34pm
google picasa - its free, easy to use and pretty cool - it also has an excellent UI. May not be what he's after if he wants something for real image editing (a la photoshop), but has all the basic retoching features etc.

http://picasa.google.com/index.html
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post #4 of 10
12/30/05 at 4:47pm
i'll second picasa, that is if he doesn't want to use Photoshop. There are many many tutorials on photoshop out there and it is a very very powerful program once you figure it all out. But, if you don't wanna put that much into it, then definately picasa
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post #5 of 10
12/30/05 at 6:28pm
Thread Starter 
It doesn't have to be the cheapest, just the easiest to use. Is the Photoshop Album pretty easy, or are you talking about the Elements?
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post #6 of 10
12/30/05 at 7:53pm
Download Picasa and have a look at it, I think its just what your dad is after. Its what I use for all of my photo organisation etc (currently got about 1000 images sitting on my laptop)

Picasa is definately a photo organiser with a few touch up features, its the kind of product you'll get with photoshop album.

On the other hand what Canusa is talking about is Photoshop proper. This is a serious editing tool and really something that is only used by pro-photographers for image editing and retouching. It is almost certainly not what your dad is after and anyway is $500 or something like that. Photoshop elements is like the consumer version of photoshop, alot cheaper and missing most of the higher level features and is aimed at those who are fairly au fait with digital cameras and want to do something a bit more advanced with their images.


I have through assorted relatives used a large quantity of crappy photo organisation software that has come with cameras etc (Olympus Camedia comes to mind) and other better software (iPhoto) however Picasa is the easiest to use and has the nicest interface of them all. The fact that its free is kind of a bonus.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1752155,00.asp
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post #7 of 10
12/31/05 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
eskimo socks, thanks for the link to the review, sounds great. That sounds like what he needs. I've got him looking at the tour and downloading it and I'll go check on him tomorrow to see how he's doing with it.

Thanks for all the help! You don't know how much it means to help me help an older techno-phobe find something easy and free to boot!
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post #8 of 10
12/31/05 at 2:19am
Microsoft Digital Image Suite or Adobe Photoshop Element....

A little more Advance than go with Corel Paint Shop Pro (aka: Jasc Paint Shop Pro)

More advance, Adobe Photoshop CS
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post #9 of 10
1/3/06 at 10:08pm
If all he wants to do is look at pictures, maybe crop and resize them, and some limited amount of effects and retouching, check out IrfanView. Simple to use, small, loads fast, and free.
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post #10 of 10
1/8/06 at 2:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by eskimo_socks
google picasa - its free, easy to use and pretty cool - it also has an excellent UI. May not be what he's after if he wants something for real image editing (a la photoshop), but has all the basic retoching features etc.

http://picasa.google.com/index.html
Just dl'ed this today, and I love it. All my photos from my 20d just look so much better now.
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