Photo editing software is essential to making digital photography more rewarding. Software programs range in price from free to hundreds of dollars. The first thing to decide is exactly what you need the software to do.

For many, simply organizing all those digital image files is a nightmare. For others, editing and enhancing photos is a real need. Software that will perform both duties is even better.

Manage and Edit Pictures

Our friends at Google have a handy free software program called Picasa™ that makes photo management a snap. It will quickly find, organize and label every picture on your computer. Basic edit tools clean up and enhance photos. Share photos, create movies and slideshows and more with this easy to use editing program.

Another popular photo editor is Preclick. It has many of the same features as Picasa with free and $20 upgrade versions. For photo file management and basic editing tools, these two software programs deserve a close look.

The Best Image Editing Software

The standard and industry leader in editing software is Adobe PhotoShop CS. It will do just about anything you could want or imagine. But for the average user there are two problems. The first is cost. At around $600 it ain't cheap. The second is its complexity. Quite simply, learning how to use PhotoShop isn't easy.

Many experts feel Jasc Paint Shop Pro has nearly the same functionality as PhotoShop and is easier to use. For about $130 they throw in Corel Photo Album to manage and share photos. For those who like the Windows look and feel, Microsoft Digital Image is a close runner up for under $100.

Free Photo Editing Software

GIMP is open-source software with features similar to PhotoShop. Free and shareware software programs that feature painting as well as photo edit functions include Ultimate Paint, VicMan and Pixia.

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