Paintshop, Photoshop, Gimp, Picasa, etc.

I personally use Paintshop Pro XI for image editing. I organize my pictures with Picasa. I try to keep it fairly simple and low-cost.

I read a lot and get quite tired of seeing so much emphasis on Photoshop. I'll try and stay positive but after trying Photoshop and Photoshop Elements I found them difficult to use and way too expensive. I'll date myself...but remember the stranglehold Lotus 1-2-3 had on spreadsheet software? I'm hoping Photoshop goes the same way and that photographers realize that they can create wonderful images using software that's free or that costs $100 or less. By the way, GIMP, or the GNU Image Manipulation Program is a free download and is quite powerful.

I don't play a lot with my digital images and approached it from the same viewpoint when I worked in a traditional wet darkroom. I guess if the picture is there that's enough. I've seen way to many mundane, bad images "Photoshopped" to death and turned into "art".

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2007

Most of the time I sharpen, re-size, correct and balance color and use curves to get to my final print. I do calibrate my monitor with an $89 Pantone Huey and download and use the Epson printer profiles for my Epson 2400. I print almost exclusively on Epson Archival Matte and have been working a little with Velvet Fine Art paper as well.

I'm making these comments to point out that options are available and to emphasize that simplicity has it's place in a highly technical field. Sometimes as photographers we like to brag about how difficult, time-consuming and expensive a shoot was. I've been learning that the opposite generates good results for me, and it may for you, too. Hey...take a bunch of pictures without looking through the view-finder the next time you're out with your camera. The image above is an example.