Image Editing Software

Getting the perfect image has never been easier. Customers have more choices than ever, but must define their needs. Do they want to invest effort into learning high-end programs? Are they creating images for brochures, Web sites or newsletters? Armed with these answers, you'll make sales. Do you know the differences among image-editing titles? Do you know the features separating the "pro" and "amateur" software?

Features and Benefits of web image software are: After a day of taking digital pictures at home or the beach, users can quickly reduce sun glare, eliminate red-eye and erase the unwanted thumbs that usually show up in a photo or two. Three distinct tiers of image-editing software programs are available. The entry-level tier is usually priced just under $ 50 and is capable of performing basic image enhancement, such as adjustment of brightness and contrast, removing red-eye and doing other relatively simple editing chores.

Image-editing packages around $ 100 offer a few more robust features to make some of the more repetitive tasks of creating brochures and flyers easier. The target for these is the small office/home office customer. At the high end, which can cost $ 500 and up, products such as Adobe Photoshop are meant for professional photographers or graphic artists. This is one of the hottest-selling software categories, thanks to the huge popularity of digital cameras, the Internet, scanners and desktop publishing.

Points to Remember: - Basic image enhancement: Helps eliminate red-eye, sharpens colors, or adds text and special effects.

Why It Matters: This helps turn bad pictures into good ones. It also helps enhance scanned logos and homemade clip art for use in newsletters and Web pages.

- Web graphic optimization: Helps create graphics for best loading and visibility on the Internet.

Why It Matters: This is an important feature for nearly everyone. Most businesses are now putting their sales and marketing materials on the Web.

- OLE 2.0 support: Program supports Microsoft's Component Object Model, formerly known as Object Linking and Embedding. Why It Matters: This is a must-have feature for Windows 95 users. Graphics that are OLE-compliant can be opened in an OLE application, such as Microsoft Office applications, and edited immediately.

- File Formats: The program is capable of reading, importing and exporting most image file formats.

Why It Matters: Most image-editing programs can handle the common file formats. It is important to make sure you know the common formats used: TIF, JPEG and GIF. These formats can be read and edited by nearly every available package.