What software is best for photography editing?

I am looking for the best software for editing digital photo's. I also want to start making birth announcements. Is there a program that does both?

If you want the best, Photoshop CS3 is the best. But CS3 is too bourgeoisie for my needs, sort of like having a champagne taste on beer money. If I could afford it, I'd have it. But an older copy of CS2 I got from a friend updating to CS3 works really well for me. You can also use Gimp, it's a better bargain being free, but in my opinion too hard to use. Another great option is using Photoshop elements 6, at a lower cost and you still get plugin support and most other features the creative suite has.

The best editing programs have all the tools, some of which you may never need. Having all the tools makes the learning curve steeper as there's more to learn, but has more capability.

The industry standard is Photoshop, but its expensive. Elements is a good intro and will probably be all you need, but if your really serious and want to edit photos professionally then it has to be Photoshop.

Any of the photo editing programs can do birth announcements, after all its just pictures with text and they can all do that, but some of the Desk Top Publishing packages try to make it easier with 'wizards' etc., but they won't have anything but rudimentary tools for improving your pictures, they make layouts easier though.

Chris

Adobe Photoshop is THE program for Photo Editing and Retouching.
it is expensive.
they made a lesser version known as Photoshop Elements that is much cheeper and easier to use.

Adobe Photoshop CS3
Yes, it's expensive, but it's the industry standard and well worth the investment.

(Photoshop Elements is a watered down version, which is good for the hobbyist or beginner)

http://www.brentpennington.com

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 will be fine and do everything you want. Cost $100, believe me... a BARGAIN... for what you get.

steve