When My Pics Looked Bad, Someone Said I Needed Photo Software

Have you got a new digital camera? Disappointed with the pictures? Yeah, me too, but my story has a happy ending. I was given a camera for Christmas by my aunt, who splashed out on a small Nikon DSLR, bless her. But my pics were awful until someone told me to get some proper photo editing software. That’s when I started searching, and searching, and getting more and more confused by the minute. Then I had a major breakthrough.

I came across a fantastic index to photo editing software (and other photo products) called Photo Software News. It has got dozens, no, hundreds of packages on it, from about 200 different vendors. Some are a bit expensive. I suppose they’re for pro photographers. But guess what? Some of them are entirely free! I downloaded a “secret” list of the top 50 free photo software products and now I’m gradually working my way through them.

When I was browsing the site I came to realize there’s a lot more to this topic than just photo editing. For example, the section on Panorama Software is enormous, with programs for stitching images together to make very high-res prints even from a low-res camera.

The best thing about all this is that my pictures really have improved a lot. I used some photo editing software that was recommended on the Beginners section of the site and the colors now look a whole lot better. Then I got a free photo organizer, so I can find the photos quickly (I’ve taken about 2 thousand in under 3 weeks) Now I am thinking about getting some specialist software to reduce the grainy effect you get in low light. They list 8 or 9 different products for that, so I guess I’ll easily find one.

If you’re really into photography there’s a start page with a separate web address linked in the resources box below which takes you to all the best photo sites on the web. It’ll get you to other, much bigger directories, or take you straight to the best sites, which the other directories don’t. I wish my aunt had a computer so she could see all this stuff. Meantime, I will just have to get her some prints, but at least they’ll look good so she won’t regret buying me the camera. Thanks Auntie!

To find my way around all the best photo sites on the web I had used PhotoStartSheet.