Looking for a Photo Editor/Recommendations

Hey everyone. I don't know if anyone's interested, but I'm looking for some help with getting my photos to ANet standards. Lacking photo-editing software, I don't have the capability to do it myself. I don't have much that I'm trying to submit because I can peg many of my photos that wouldn't make it regardless, but I have a few that I'm concerned are getting rejected simply because I'm unable to properly touch them up.

Do any of you with photos on ANet have any recommendations? Am I missing something regarding whether or not they really need touched up? How edited are the photos you submit? I saw the pre-screen thread, but I'm just wondering if there's any general advice you may have.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Yes, you really do need to do at least a little post-processing on your photos. For me, that usually consists of leveling the horizon, cropping as necessary, cloning out dust spots and perhaps tweaking the exposure and contrast a bit. I finish off with a little sharpening. Usually takes less than 5 minutes per photo.

I'm using Photoshop CS3, have been for a few years now (CS4 is the current version). It's a bit pricey, and comes with a bit of a learning curve. I would recommend you check out Photoshop Elements (I forget which version they are up to now, perhaps V7.0). It is easier to use, and comes with almost all of the tools you need for basic photo processing, but at a fraction of the cost of the full blown program (you should find it for less than $100). I used an earlier version of Elements for a couple of years after getting my first DSLR, and have quite a few photos on JP.net and A.net that were edited with Elements.

For a free editor, you might want to check out Gimp. I haven't tried it, but I've heard pretty good things about it. I don't know that it has all the features of Elements, and I don't think it comes with the same level of documentation, but it should work well for basic photo editing.

My fiance uses Gimp, and previously used Corel JASC Paint Shop Pro program. She says its reasonably intuitive, especially if you've used some sort of photo edit software in the past. If you want, email a shot to me at [email protected] and I'll have a look.

I sent you an Aer Lingus A330-300 photo. Thank you for looking it over.

I highly recommend Photoshop. If price is an issue than use Gimp.