[Apet-Sure]

She's quite a good photographer, she's looking to get rolling with a photo editing suite, I believe she's just using the built in Windows 10 tools at the moment.

Since you have shown her RawTherapee, I assume she shoots RAW at least sometimes. If she's just getting started with PP, she might want to get used to editing jpg's first. In addition to the software mentioned above, I'll mention PhotoFiltre (www.photofiltre.com). I use v7.2.1. It's my go to editor for jpegs. Free for non-commercial use, and pretty powerful but easy to use. It does layers and masks, can display multiple files at once, and has a broad range of editing capability. It also takes PhotoFiltre compatible plug-ins. Every once in a while a help screen will be in French, but I seldom use them.

For a step (really several steps) up in capability I use Gimp 2.8. Still free (no usage restrictions). My version doesn't do RAW, but I think I read a future version will. Great documentation, including e-magazines, and an active user base. Still seems simpler to me than RawTherapee.

I have heard good things about FastStone as jlstrawman mentioned. His post reminds me that I want to try it. But I've been using PhotoFiltre for years, so if my workflow ain't broke, why try to fix it?

[Steve.Ledger]

Asking for my Mom. She's quite a good photographer, she's looking to get rolling with a photo editing suite, I believe she's just using the built in Windows 10 tools at the moment. I use RawTherapee, and having coached her through a number of software packages, I'm not sure it's something she'd have a very good go at. I was wondering what the go to software packages are at the moment that allow for useful editing/levels correction of photos, but aren't "off the deep end" like RawTherapee or Photoshop.

If she's shooting JPG, then you just can't go past FASTSTONE Image Viewer. It has everything you need, including pretty decent noise reduction.
It's not great with RAW however.

If she's shooting RAW, I'd avoid RT - it's pretty good, but way too complex for beginners. Photoshop is also too overwhelming just for RAW developing and is why Adobe created Lightroom for photographers. So for RAW, my vote goes to LR.
I don't believe Lightroom is difficult to learn at all, but it does need a fairly well specc'd PC to fun fluidly.

You could also try her on Serif's Affinity Photo for Windows, there's a free BETA to try out right now.

[kjphilippona]

As Steve.Ledger pointed out, Lightroom does need a powerful PC. I tried running LR5 on my Celeron powered laptop with 8gb ram and spent more time waiting for things to happen. I invested in an IBUYPower machine with an 8 core I7 processor, GT9700 graphics processor and 32gb DDR4 ram. I can run Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 14 at the same time

[Skodadriver]

I still have and use Picasa on my Win 7 laptop, and I'm pretty sure it can still be downloaded.
Uploaded photos go to my old, and now useless, Picasa albums, and also to Google photos, which has a few adjustment tools.

I tried LR and Elements, both were way too complicated for this old guy.
I bought PaintShop Pro X7, only messed with it a little and do not like it, also too complicated.
Fast and easy touch ups are all I want or need.

I use Picasa 3, simple to use and relatively intuitive.
Plus I believe it is still a free download just not supported.
A great starter.......then move on to better ones if required.
I really need to move on.....and start using RAW. Maybe mañana.

[joebarfly]

I've been using Zoner photo studio and have been happy with it. Fairly simple to use but has all the advanced features I would ever want. Includes RAW development and is compatible with plugins.

http://www.zoner.com

[Tas]

Asking for my Mom. She's quite a good photographer, she's looking to get rolling with a photo editing suite, I believe she's just using the built in Windows 10 tools at the moment. I use RawTherapee, and having coached her through a number of software packages, I'm not sure it's something she'd have a very good go at. I was wondering what the go to software packages are at the moment that allow for useful editing/levels correction of photos, but aren't "off the deep end" like RawTherapee or Photoshop.

I'd like to recommend consideration for On1 Photo RAW: ON1 Photo RAW – ON1, Inc.

The program is due for release next week, but if you buy the program now you get the current On1 Photo 10 that can be used as a stand alone or plug in for other programs like Photoshop. The On1 software is not subscription based, you buy it, you own it and it comes with tuition videos on it's release.

I make this recommendation after having used the On1 packages since Perfect Photo Suite 6 back in 2012. Over that time it's gone from some cool plug in tools like Nik software to what looks to be a really good program for filing/sorting, basic post processing, more advanced processing (including layers) plus resizing. The new program looks to be a big step forward from the current program and will function non-destructively in RAW as you only create a different file type on exporting. The new program looks far simpler than the previous versions hence I thought I'd add it to the substantial list of recommendations you've already received.

There's a lot of 'pro' features in the program too so the best way to see if you think it will work for your mum is to check out the videos at the link above, they'll give you a better idea than I can detail in text here.



Tas

[paulh]

For someone's mom, I would highly recommend Picasa. Incredibly easy to use, and produces good results. Second choice would be Faststone - both free, by the way

[arkav]

If she's shooting JPG, then you just can't go past FASTSTONE Image Viewer. It has everything you need, including pretty decent noise reduction.
It's not great with RAW however.

+1

I use FastStone to view/cull my photos and to do basic editing of JPGs. It's my workhorse and I do about 95% of my editing with this program.

If I need to do something with a RAW image, I launch a RAW developer from FastStone. I've got a number of different programs installed, but most of the time I'll use either PDCU, or DxO.

If I need to do something complicated with masking/layers, I'll usually use Photoshop Elements or Gimp.

[joebob]

Does anybody use Photoshop Elements any more?

I use Elements 14.

[eyrr]

Two important questions: what sort of subjects does your mother shoot, and what does she want the photo editing suite to do for her?

FWIW I've used Picasa with Jpegs for years. I'm just finishing the month long free trial of Lightroom (for RAW) and am now trying Faststone. I'd also recommend she start with Picasa if it's a good fit for her needs and expectations. The Windows 10 32 and 64 bit versions do still seem to be available.

I like Faststone's interface much better than Lightroom's. Lightroom (paid) however can do things like purple fringe reduction and corrections tailored to a specific camera and lens that Faststone and Picasa (free) can't.

Paid software downloads - either one time or monthly - cost considerably more in Canada if they're priced in American dollars because of the unfavourable exchange rate (plus service charge for the exchange), so I'd hold off on those for now. Most paid software offers a free trial period. If there's something she needs or wants to do that the free programs can't provide, she can try out a few of the paid programs to see if any are a good fit.

The most useful advice I can offer is to show her where to find the exif viewer and how to use it (if she doesn't already know). "What went wrong here and how could I have shot this better?" is worth a lot more than clever software fixes. (That said, software fixes have their place. Lake Ontario does not slope and I strongly prefer that my pictures reflect that...)

[boriscleto]

I was wondering, for those who still recommend Picasa...

Where would you download it if you don't already have a copy? Google doesn't offer the download anymore...

[eyrr]

I was wondering, for those who still recommend Picasa...

Where would you download it if you don't already have a copy? Google doesn't offer the download anymore...

Download Picasa 3.9 Build 141.259 - FileHippo.com

http://windows10portal.com/download-picasa/

[paulh]

Download Picasa 3.9 Build 141.259 - FileHippo.com

Download Picasa - Windows 10 version. Free Latest Picasa for Windows 10 (64 bit/32 bit) | Windows10Portal.com

You can find even very early versions of Picasa here: Download Old Versions of Picasa for Windows - OldVersion.com