MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I have found in recent years that I need more and more to learn to use some sort of image manipulation program.
Is there a relatively easy program to learn? I am not incompetent with IT, but I also have no natural interest in it, so something that allows me to do what I need with minimal amount of fuss would be welcome.
I have downloaded GIMP in the past, but it just looks very complex to me, and I run out of will to live very quickly.
I find that programs have "their way of doing things". If you understand "their way" then the program seems easy, if you don't then you'll always struggle.
I don't get on with GIMP (ooer missus!) but find Photoshop to be OK, or at least the photo side of it, I'm useless at graphics.
A lot does depend on what you want to do of course. Adjusting levels, removing colour casts, etc. is all relatively simple.
Photoshop is great, but it's a bit like Matlab if all you need is a calculator. It's also ridiculously expensive and subscription based.
Lightroom is more useful bit of software if you just want to do what you'd normally do in a darkroom. It still has the cut/clone tools but they're not as refined as the full version. Costs about £120
ACDSee is similar to lightroom, but somethings work in a different way so you might like one or the other. Costs about £80, but they have frequent sales.
Photoshop elements is nice because you can find online tutorials for most things you want to do. The tutorials aren't bad either. Full Photoshop is way to much for most people
Pixelmator and Affinity Photo are Photoshop-ish and much cheaper - about 20 quid and 50 quid respectively IIRC.
On Windows? paint.net
Basic editor for basic stuff. Does the job and is free (all I used on the recent "photoshop" thread)
For me:
Photoshop 5
Picasa
XaraX11
Gimp
and
Wax Crayons 🙂
On Windows? paint.net
It's what I use (for some laughable value of "use"). Years ago there was a thing called Paint Shop Pro, Paint.net feels like an updated version of that.
Gimp is not very intuitive. The layout on Photoshop is not too dissimilar, but it's miles better in my opinion. And if you don't know how to do something, Google it - you'll find several guides for every task. In that sense, you can look past how many features it has, the ease of use is in the shared knowledge.
Photoshop Elements is basically a stripped down version though, and might be ideal for the same reasons.
Personally I have often given up on 'simpler' programs, because I didn't know how to use them, and found it difficult learning how... And sometimes they don't actually have a feature you require.
If it's really simple stuff though, try something like Paint, as suggested.
Adobe used to have their full suite of legacy software (CS2) free for download. Think they stopped doing it though.