Choosing the right software for working with camera raw images is challenging.
Photographers have many options for working with digital pictures. Those who work with raw images have more options for improving photos, but they also have the challenge of finding a software program that is effective and easy to use.
Adobe Lightroom
One of the most complete and efficient software programs for working with raw images, Lightroom makes it possible to open, convert, edit, organize and print your raw images. It does take time to understand the features in Lightroom, but with all of the free tutorials online it is well worth the time.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is a professional grade image-editing application. It offers more tools than the average user may need and it also offers many plug-ins that provide additional editing options. There are many free tutorials on the Internet to help users take full advantage of this powerful program. Photoshop does not offer organizing and tagging of images. Photoshop is considered by many in the industry to be the "best" image editing program.
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Elements is downgraded version of Photoshop that offers tools to work with raw files in a more user friendly form. There are not as many tools for editing, and the learning curve is not as steep. Ease of work flow and photo manipulation makes this a good choice for the average user who wants to learn enhance camera raw images.
GIMP
Free software that has many of the photo-editing tools offered in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. It does not have the speed offered with the more powerful programs, but many users will not notice the difference. GIMP uses layers similar to Photoshop, but finding all the tools can be difficult.
Picasa
Used for organizing and editing photos, Picasa is free software from Google that offers basic photo-editing, organizing, slideshows and printing. Picasa also offers facial recognition.
