Best free photo processing software

Moderator Location : UK Spotter Watch Member : No

Had a trawl through previous threads and most photo processing software, recommended on here, seems to be aimed at RAW.

Can anyone recommend a good free editing package for JPEGS?

Only have a Cybershot H-5 not a DSLR so I'm not going to spend any money, but would just like to tweek my photos a little bit more than the supplied software can manage.

Many thanks in advance. Cheers

Location : Brize "Mostly" Spotter Watch Member : NO

Goose, give this a try......http://www.gimp.org/windows/ it's both free and open source, although I have never used it I do know several Togs that use nothing but. It does apparently take a little getting used to but you can download manuals and tutorials to get you started.

Good Luck!

Location : Theydon Bois. Essex

Goose,

Gimp was recomended in a recent edition of Which Magazine. I downloaded it (was a bit worried about typing GIMP into the search on my work PC)

Bought a book and got to say it confused the hell out of me. May try again soon. Saying that its the first one I have used, so perhaps should have stuck with it.

Location : Derbyshire.

Picasa is free,and fairly easy.(Must be if i can use it) Smile

Sooty.

Moderator Location : Between Coventry and Leicester

Download this . Helicon filter. been useing it for about 5yrs now. very good for an allround package does everthing. and verywell. wil do al the basics. add copyrights very easy sharpens with a brush so you can just paint on the area you want to sharpen if you so wish. does borders resize and lots more all you need really . will take a while to work it out the same as other software. but i found it easier then most . does a good noise reduction filter also . lots to explore and the best by far.
you can even+&- expouser on jpegs .

http://www.heliconsoft.com/downloads.html

Admin Location : East Midlands Spotter Watch Member : Yes

Goose.It is best to play with all these 'freebies' yourself and find what you feel comfortable with.I have versions of Photoshop and Lightroom, I also have Rawshooter elements, Irfanview, Picasa and GIMP.I also purchase Digital Photo magazine £4.99 a month. They provide useful hints & tips in how to manipulate photos, but they use Photoshop (Full Version), as many of their tutorials are no good if you have Elements or any of the Photoshop CS versions.I am now shooting in RAW, have been for a few months, and at the moment Photoshop is far better at manipulating RAW. I struggle in using Lightroom from the online tutorials I have found and patched together.I may have to conceed and purchase the full version of Photoshop and look at purchasing the £45, 3 disc tutorial of how to use Photoshop from Digital Photo, as Disc 3 is purely about manipulating RAW images and how to rescue images from the worst settings, including how to sharpen severe blurred images. (Full version of Photoshop is required for that process).

Moderator Location : Between Coventry and Leicester

Must add that Helicon supports all RAW formats also.

Admin Location : East Midlands Spotter Watch Member : Yes

Latest version of Helicon is on a limited time period, with either a yearly fee, or a one off payment.

Location : Nr Gatwick, Surrey

I have and use Irfanview as this will open .raw files, whereas some editing software will not. Rgds Dave