Photo-Editing Software

This portal page includes a short list of top-rated photo-editing software, plus a chart listing software titles along with editors' and readers' ratings on a 5-point scale, with links to full reviews. The… reviews are fairly long and detailed, certainly enough to give typical users a good handle on where a program does well, and where it can stand some improvement. Top programs are honored with Editors' Choice recognition. Among those are Adobe Photoshop Elements, which is hailed as top photo-editing choice for nonprofessional users, and Google Picassa, which earns kudos for its photo organization as well as its basic photo-editing features.

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Adobe Photoshop wins the 2009 Editor's Choice award from American Photo (which shares this site with Popular Photography magazine). Editors applaud the program's revised interface and say that it makes the… "world's most powerful digital imaging program" faster and easier to use. The article also highlights four other imaging programs, but three are specialized programs that are either plug-ins to Photoshop or Apple's Aperture image-editing software. Apple's iPhoto, which is part of Apple's iLife suite, is also honored.

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Macworld looks at photo-editing software from the Mac user's point of view. Coverage is spotty at times. Some reports on major programs are of older versions that have long since been replaced or… significantly updated. On the other hand, Macworld looks at many lesser known image-editing utilities that don't get tons of coverage elsewhere. Reviews are relatively detailed, illustrated and include ratings along with lists of pros and cons.

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Owner reviews give prospective photo-editing software buyers good insight into how well a particular program performs in the real world and in everyday use. Most major programs get enough feedback for… ratings to be meaningful, and reading through the individual reports -- though tedious at times -- can give a good impression on where a program impresses, and where it disappoints. Some write ups are brief, but some go into great detail, even comparing software to competing choices. Among photo-editing software with lots of feedback, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom scores particularly well, with most owners granting it either 4 or 5 stars out of 5.

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This report rates 10 photo-editing software programs for beginner to semi-professional use, with separate reviews plus a comparison chart. Each program is given an overall rating based on scores in seven… categories including ease of use, importing, editing, organizing and sharing of photos. However, testing is not explained or documented, so this review is most useful for those who want to compare features between programs.

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