Digital Imaging - making your images better

So now you have joined the world of digital imaging. What are the best options for image editing that will make your images look professional, a or at least good enough to go on the wall of you house?

No more blocking off your closet or spare room, trays full of chemicals, red light bulbs, or any of that messy darkroom stuff. Now you can manipulate your digital photos with a great array of software products right on your home or laptop computer. If you have a laptop you can take the darkroom with you to the mountaintop if you want.

Not only that but digital imaging doesn't have to cost you a fortune either. Of course you can go for the top end if you have the time and money. If you are creative, active in imaging creation, and can spend the time to learn the ins and outs of a very powerful but time consuming to learn program then Adobe Photoshop is the ticket for you. I have been using Photoshop for 8 years through four versions and it has been a great tool. However I have had to read books, take classes, and constantly referesh the knowledge bank in order to get the most out of it.

Now for most folks getting started using digital imagin you will want something much more user friendly to the avergae digital camera consumer. Our choice for the best software is JASC Paint Shop Pro 8. Click here for a full look at PSP*. This $95 software is easy to learn and full of powerful features. One of them is the One Step Photo Fix, which will have you correcting your digital images in no time. Got red eye? Got underexposure? Want to highlight part of your image? This will adjust and correct in one step.

Next in line would be Adobe's other imaging product Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 . For $90 you get an easy to use but yet powerful photo editing program that grows with your knowledge of its features.

Microsoft's Digital Image Pro 9 offers a neat tool called Smart Erase that will bring back lost pixels.