Photo Browser Replacement

#1 crazy4laptops

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Posted 31 July 2010 - 10:56 AM

I just found something out that is hampering my photo review (hobby/advanced photographer)

Being that I don't have the time/money to buy/learn photoshop... I just need quick touch-ups and contrast adjustment mostly

Office Photo Manager 2007 does a pretty decent job because I'm just sharing the majority of my shots on facebook...

Well, it is only 32-bit (running win7 x64) and PM's performance is terrible with jpeg shots that are larger than 10mb (takes more than 5 seconds to render an image)

Now that I have a Pentax K-7 in my possession as a review unit, I have found that processed RAW to JPEG photos easily push 20mb... and PM has issues rendering them.

I'm tempted to try office 2010 x64, but what do you recommend for browsing large photos?

Even the experts started out as beginners

#2 Grr8008

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Posted 31 July 2010 - 11:25 AM

No problem!

Here are a few options for you:

http://picasa.google.com/intl/en/ Picasa is a great program for organizing.

http://www.getpaint.net/ Paint.net won't help you organize your pictures, but it will allow you to edit them in an almost photoshop caliber way. It's also very easy to use.

http://explore.live....e-photo-gallery I haven't tried it, but there is no harm to it, and it sounds like it fits the bill perfectly.

This post has been edited by Grr8008: 31 July 2010 - 11:26 AM

#3 smax013

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Posted 31 July 2010 - 01:05 PM

crazy4laptops, on 31 July 2010 - 10:56 AM, said:

You could look at Photoshop Lightroom. It is basically designed specifically for what it seems you are looking to do...organize/process and do basic editing (contrast, exposure, etc) stuff. It ain't exactly cheap, but it also is not near as expensive as Photoshop (it is about half the cost).

#4 Adama

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Posted 02 August 2010 - 08:47 AM

smax013, on 31 July 2010 - 01:05 PM, said:

crazy4laptops, on 31 July 2010 - 10:56 AM, said:

Hi Smax,

I think that you actually have to have Photoshop to be able to use Photoshop Lightroom, but I could be wrong...

#5 Adama

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Posted 02 August 2010 - 08:59 AM

crazy4laptops, on 31 July 2010 - 10:56 AM, said:

Hi crazy!

How are you!?

I see you're looking for an alternative to Photoshop. I think I've talked about this program before, Photo Plus, by Serif. It's a company from England and they're well known and recognized the world over for their wonderful photo editing programs.

The newest version is Photo Plus X4. This is how I got my start using photo editing progrs 3 years ago... I started with Photo Plus X3 (which I loved) and I've never looked back. It's basically not expensive (not hundreds of $ like PS anyway) and it's easy to use.

I highly recommend it for people who want a wonderful alternative to the uber expensive Photosop. You can edit large size photos with all types of formats, do HDR, create 360 degrees panoramas, restore old photos, remove backgrounds, work with layers, contrast enhancements, etc., etc. I think you will really like it.

Good luck!