How To Choose The Right Photo Editing Software?

There are many photo editing software available in market with full fledge advertisements that can attract any buyer and convince him/her to pay for it. And sometimes we waste our money by buying software we really do not need. Since we often upload several tricks on how a webpage can be customized as well as how to use different animations which make use of photo editing software. But we have never talked about which particular software to use. We always try hard to educate our readers and to empower them with appropriate knowledge. And today, we are empowering you with the ability to “choose” the right photo editing software for you.

 

Identify your need:

Before selecting particular software you are required to identify your need. I.e. what do you want your software to do for you? Whether you want it to transform a raw into a masterpiece or you want it to just resize the image with some brightness adjustment? Or you want it to provide you some options that can help you make a choice?
If you are a professional user such as web developer or photographer, you should prefer complete professional softwares such as Adobe and GIMP. Such softwares are very costly. So, if you are not a professional user you can go for any cheap software. Since, they also provide with wide range of options which can be enough to meet your requirement. Also, if you are a naïve you should start with some easy to use software and then move on to harder softwares.

Features’ Check:

Many people may still find it difficult and may be stuck with ‘What actually needs to be checked?’ So, to help you find out your need, we are giving a features list below. You may have a comparison table designed for you and then mark the ticks or crosses for the respective choice.

1. Is it easy to use?
2. Does it provide the very basic features of resizing, cropping and removing red eye?
3. Does it allow you to adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, hues and color-saturation levels etc.?
4. Does it allow you to change colors to gray scale, and black or white etc.?
5. Does it allow you to preview changes without modifying the original image or not?
6. Whether there is an automatic image correction option available or not? If yes, then find out how good is it?
7. What are the available special effects or ‘filters’ available? Do they satisfy your need?
8. You may need to look for the available templates and their quality.
9. Does it provide you with ‘layers’? Layers let you stack different photos or multiple copies of the same photo.
10. Does it allow you to save the same file in different formats or not?
11. Can it import photos directly from different devices like scanner, digital camera, mobile phone devices, removable media and even still images from video?
12. What options does it provide for sharing? E-mail, online galleries, printing projects, mobile phones etc.
13. Does the product come with photo organizing capabilities? Are you able to quickly view thumbnails?
14. Can you search for images by keywords or rating?
15. Is it well into your budget?   

System Requirements:

Check the system specifications before you finalize your decision. Some softwares are very heavy and require even up to GB for their program files. Secondly, do not forget to check the compatible operating system. Prefer the one which is compatible with most systems so that you are not bound to use it, just because of operating system. If you are a web developer, it is also important to note that your photos can be well integrated with every browser and do not take too long to upload.

Trial Versions:

Before buying any software, no matter how eye catching it is, make sure that you have tried its trial version and it fulfills your need. It’s a better approach to try three or four software to help you choose the right for you. May be you are surprised with some easy to use additional features in any software which were not in the one, you were going for. Else you can wander in the help section of each, to get to know the possibilities.

Which one is our Favorite?

Normally the best photo Editing software that works just fine and smoothly on any Operating system is Adobe Photoshop 7.0. The more upgraded versions like Photoshop CS5 offers more options but we normally use Photoshop 7 for designing templates and creating Icons at MBT. You can even use Photoshop online! Hope this little suggestion helps you in choosing the right Magic Design tool for your online projects.

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Guest post by Aiman Khan. MBT's Regular Guest Poster