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Forum Member
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/29/2008 11:22 PM
Posts: 758, Visits: 509 |
| Hi everybody.
I use Irfanview and it's a pretty good photo editor but I need something more basic - such as fast, easy cropping and brightening slightly underexposed photos. Google turns up so many freeware photo editors that I thought I might save time by asking here for recommendations (freeware only).
Thanks.
El Technosaur
Prez, CEO & Janitor
Gypsy Roadshow UnInc. |
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/29/2008 11:22 PM
Posts: 758, Visits: 509 |
| Okay... since nobody offered any recommendations, I spent a few hours sifting thru photo editing freeware and here is what I have found so far. Please note that while I selected these freeware apps and am now working with them, this is Not a recommendation. I might later uninstall one or all for whatever reasons (and if/when that happens, will post the reasons). According to Ad-aware and SpyBot, there is no spyware in these freeware apps.
DCEnhancer. This appears to be exactly the small, handy, photo tool I wanted. As a former journalist, I'm partial to natural, unposed photos and circumstances don't always allow the ideal shot. This app allows me to do onscreen with digital photos the tricks I used to use in the darkroom to compensate for things like underexposure or marginal framing - lots of sliders that allow you to see the adjustments as they happen (not guess, apply and guess again). http://www.mediachance.com/digicam/index.html (Lots of other interesting software and some more freeware at this URL that I have not had time to investigate.
FotoAlbum from www.fototime.com is freeware I stumbled across and snatched. Based on preliminary usage, it's a very handy tool for assembling photo albums. This is the freeware version of a more advanced commercial software. The site is also offering a 30-day trial for posting and sharing photos. Appears to be a very well done site, which to me is an indication the software/freeware will be equally well done.
Pixia - wow! This is Not the small handy tool that I wanted. It is big and complex but very interesting and I'll be spending some time learning this Japanese freeware that seems to have stimulated a lot of users to contribute improvements. http://www.tacmi.co.jp/pixia or http://www.ab.wakwak.com/~knight/ (1st URL requires Japanese language pack, second offers English)
xnview, which is similar to Irfanview. I've worked with XnView before and rate it equal to or better than Irfanview. http://www.xnview.com
El Technosaur
Prez, CEO & Janitor
Gypsy Roadshow UnInc. |
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Forum Advisor
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 1/1/2004 11:06 AM
Posts: 992, Visits: 1 |
| Sorry, Technosaur - I'm a Photoshop guy!
That's a great post back for the curious - thanks!
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Senior Forum Advisor
Group: Senior Advisor
Last Login: 8/8/2008 7:33 PM
Posts: 1,436, Visits: 775 |
| Ditto on the PhotoShop thingie. I got lucky and the guy wanting me to work on his web page took the liberty of making that purchase.
Best of luck on that mission Technosaur!
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Senior Forum Advisor
Group: Senior Advisor
Last Login: 12/23/2006 5:15 PM
Posts: 2,647, Visits: 645 |
| I can't really think of any freeware image editting apps that are better than Irfanview. I've tested that Fotoview app that you listed, and it was pretty good. But not good enough for me to place it ahead of Irfanview. I've also tested the new Adobe Photoshop Album, which is very good, but not free.
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/29/2008 11:22 PM
Posts: 758, Visits: 509 |
| Vector, I agree that Irfanview is good, maybe the best freeware available. I think XnView is a bit better at some things, Irfanview at others. But neither is especially suited to quickly evaluating 50 to 100 exposures of a scene to decide which to discard and which to save to disk for more intensive editing. DCEnhancer is handy.
El Technosaur
Prez, CEO & Janitor
Gypsy Roadshow UnInc. |
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Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/23/2007 10:28 PM
Posts: 1,085, Visits: 122 |
| I use Photo-something-or-other (Adobe, but can't remember) that came with my digicam. It has a bunch of bells and whistles, which I do not know how yo use, but it's great for making pics optimized for Web Use, and I've created a few CD-Cover Designs for songs that were on cassette tapes of my Dad's band, that I made into CDs.
Very good software, can't remember the name. I'll check and post back.
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i havent been here in a while... |
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Staff News Reporter
Group: News Reporter
Last Login: 5/25/2005 6:42 AM
Posts: 499, Visits: 5 |
| Techno, I've got Adobe PhotoDeluxe somewhere, which came with my old camera and which I've never needed because of Photoshop...You could have that if you'd like...
Eliot, Someone bought you photoshop as part of a design contract? Holy cow I've gotta hang with YOU!
pho3nix |
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