Best Photo Editing Software?

Just being really honest, there is NO competitive software to Photoshop. It does not exist. Photoshop, is the best. Many people might not like it, because there is a lot to learn. If you don't know how to use it, Photoshop can feel pointless. If you take the time to learn it, there is nothing you can't do with Photoshop. With every other software out there, it will have so many things Photoshop can't do. Adobe Lightroom is also good. It's less expensive, less intensive, and I've known photographers with small businesses who love it.

P.S.
S H. makes a great point! Macs are most definitely the best for any kind of editing.

Photoshop. Any graphics professional can tell you it's the standard--as are Macs.

Hey MB, yah I love my MAC as does my Husband. He does video/editing and with photos. His hobby. Me, I do some. Working on my MAC is SO much better than my Dell PC I had.
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Adobe.
Photoshop.

It is a LOT to learn. The software is expensive. The books on it are THICK.
It is good.
Pros use it too.

I would also recommend, having a MAC computer.
These are the best, for graphics/editing/video, and downloading whatever. Very easy.
Also, much better to do these things, on a MAC than a PC.
Mac's are made for this.

Its not just about your camera or software. But, also having the right computer, to do the work on.

I use Photoshop CS5 and LOVE it. I do digital scrapbooking (I design kits), as well as do photo editing, and I love what I can do with it with photos.

I have heard that Adobe Lightroom is supposed to be better for photo editing. I just bought it, and it has a ton of options and looks like it will do more photos faster, good for batches...but I'll need to learn how to use it before I can say if I think it edits photos better than photoshop. Just from what I've read, many are saying it's better than Photoshop for photos. Since I don't have time to learn, I am using photoshop right now for editing. I LOVE it. It's really fun to play around with photos. People comment a lot on how professional my photos are and wonder how I do it...it's photoshop:-) It's so fun to have the freedom to do so many things to the photos.

If you are a student, you can get a major discount on Photoshop CS5. If you are not a student, it might be too expensive for your. But Photoshop Elements is really good too. Lightroom (also by Adobe) might be more affordable. You can look it up and see reviews about it.

I've got Adobe Photoshop CS5. The best thing about it is the unlimited amount of features and functions the program offers. The worst thing about it is the unlimited amount of features the program offers.

I am NOT a porfessional photographer nor an artist/graphic designer. Learning how to use anything other than the simple things has been tough for me. My husband has taught himself, simply by taking the time -- hours and hours -- to "study" it and try out the different functions (and combination of functions.) I've always thought I should take a class at the local community college to learn how to us it correctly. But I can get what I need done (or ask my dear hubby!)

Since you are more of a professional, these may not be issues for you. However, if you ever want to take on staff, keep this in mind. Some of the advanced corrections you may wish to make really requires an artisitic talent and creativity.

In my job (several years ago), I did a lot of marketing and publicity. Adobe Photoshop was my salvation! There are a lot of tools, but once you figure out how limitless the possibilities are, it's amazing. Love, love, love it. (Truth be told, it's the only thing I miss about my job.)

I was an Adobe Photoshop snob for years...until I had a job where they only had Corel Paint Shop Pro. I initially turned my nose up at it, but it's all that was available so I had to use it for my very heavy image-editing job. I ended up loving it. It's great for web design and doing quick edits - much more user friendly than photoshop and lots of quickie cheats and things that do a lot for images.

It's true that I only have Photoshop on my computer now, but I will say that I learned to absolutely love Paint Shop Pro and miss it sometimes. For batch editing and brainless quick-fix photo enhancements it can't be beat - even by Adobe.

Hahaha that's really funny what S.H. said about Macs. I am a pro and hate them. I had to use them at past jobs and much prefer PCs. The "better at graphics" thing is an old and obsolete argument. Use whatever you have but make sure you have a correctly calibrated monitor, backup drives and a fast processor.

I use Memory Manager by Creative Memories. I love everything about it. It's a competitive software to Adobe photoshop but a fraction of the cost. Check out a consultant in your area and have them give you a demo/overview of it.

I recently took a one-day (all day) photography class and the instructor recommended Adobe Lightroom. She said that Photoshop is meant for graphic designers and Adobe Lightroom is meant purely for photo editing. I don't really have experience with either, but just letting you know.

Photoshop is probably the best. I've tried a handful of others and didn't like them but didn't spend too much time with them. The hard part about PS is figuring out what the important stuff is and ignoring the other stuff. What's important depends on what you're using it for. Ignore most of the filters. I.e. making a photo look like a watercolor and then printing it on an inkjet may be fun, but it looks like junk.
For photo finishing, here are the important tools/functions.
Rectangular Marquee tool (the select box)
Clone Stamp tool (to remove distracting elements like lint specks)
Image>Crop
Image>Image size
Image>Canvas size
Image>Adjust>Curves (to subtly brighten highlights and darken shadows)
Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask (set low - amount 40, radius .4, threshold 0. This adds a bit of definition to edges and brings everything into better focus)

Used well, these tools are the equivalent of a very professional darkroom. But by all means, play around with Layers, Free transform, Gradients, etc. You'll have a blast.

I love photoshop!! I worked in a photo lab and did lots of photo restoration it was my favorite to use for a viriaty of images we used lightroom for our photography studio because we could work muliple images at once but overall photshop was the one I used the most