It seems that software today is always incomplete. You might find an application that does perhaps 75% of what you want it to do, but leaves you flat in certain other areas. Another application may fill 20% more of the bill - but its still not complete. On the other hand, some applications such as Microsoft Word contains more features than you can possibly keep track of.
Photo editing software is in the former category. I have a set of core applications that I use in my digital darkroom, but none that does everything. I would like to share the list with you. If you have a favorite I haven't mentioned, please send me an e-mail and I will add it to the list sometime. But it seems that buying one application that does it all is not going to happen for a long time.
Back in the old days, I used to write all my own applications. Doing this, I always got what I wanted and when there was a bug I could easily fix it. But Windows programs today are very complicated and I just don't have the time to do the same level of work. After all, it might eat into my beach time!
My primary program for editing photos is Jasc Software's Paint Shop Pro 7. PSP has been the "poor man's" photo editor for many years. It is an excellent program with good documentation (you actually DO get a printed manual). PSP7 has all the features you would want, both advanced and basic, and is easy (well, relatively easy) to use. The high end of photo editing programs is Adobe Photoshop, but PS is very expensive; PSP7 attempts to emulate PS and does it very well.
Even better, you can download an evaluation copy of PSP7 right off the 'net, if you have a high-speed link. Go to http:\\www.jasc.com and click on Downloads.
As a second in this category, I would recommend Corel PhotoPaint - either standalone or as part of the Corel Draw package. I have used this for years and been very happy with it, but I found more features in PSP7. Go to http:\\www.corel.com and click on More Downloads in the Free Download area.
For general viewing of image files I use ACDSee. A similar newcomer is Irfan View. You can get an evaluation copy of ACDSee on the 'net, and Irfan View is free. Go to http:\\www.acdsystems.com.
For cataloging and organizing photos, I use Thumbs Plus from Cerious Software. TP is a very mature and stable program - it creates thumbnails of your photos and keeps them in a database so that you can view them quickly. As an added bonus, TP also has a good photo editor (for quick fixes), has the best crop tool in the business, and can automatically create web pages. TP is also available on the 'net as shareware. Go to http:\\www.cerious.com.
Now we come to the niche or fringe programs. These do limited, specific things, but do them very well. High on my list is Thumber, which allows you to add comments to JPEG files without losing quality, shows a lot of internal camera information from your photo, and also has an excellent web page generator. You can see the results of Thumber at my online photo gallery at www.bobseidel.com/photos. Go to http://members.tripod.com/~tawba/thumber.htm.
At http://www.mediachance.com you will find some small and interesting utilities. Clear Skin FX can clean up portraits. Color Cast FX fixes color problems. Digital Camera Enhancer cleans up problems in digital camera images. These are all free - they are bit quirky to use, but worth having on your tools list. (From the main page, click on Digital Camera Tools).
If you need links to these programs, see my webpage.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).