What digital imaging software should I purchase?

There are several software packages for imaging editing available on the market today. First assess how much time you wish to devote to enhancing or creating images and then look at this link to help decide which software package fits your needs: http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/products/aabyb_imageedit.htm

All our DPA members use Photoshop. So if your serious about photo editing and want one program that does everything plus, as your skill level increases your software matches your current needs, then the answer is Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard, though it is expensive and has a long learning curve. A good alternative is Adobe's Photoshop Elements 6.0 which has several of the features that are included in the full version of photoshop and is reasonably priced at $100. Product Info: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/main.html

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/products/aapr_pselements.htm

Why should I choose PhotoShop?

Photoshop is the industry standard used by many photographers and graphic illustrators. PS supports standard ICC color profiles and color management capabilities; image layers with masks, styles, shapes and adjustments; a huge resource of online tutorials and online forums; many books and web pages are devoted to photoshop and several software vendors make plug in's for added function and features.

I'm having trouble selecting and drawing with my PC mouse.

Many photo and digital artists use the Wacom digital tablet. The Wacom tablet includes a wireless stylus and mouse. The stylus is used like a pen to draw or make selections in an image and as a brush to paint in your image. The tablet comes in several different sizes and prices depending on your needs. The vendor site is at www.wacom.com

What should I look for when buying a monitor for digital imaging?

The monitor is a important feature in your digital/computer setup. The judgement used to enhance images is based on what the eye sees in sharpness and color from the monitor screen. CRT or LCD monitor? Which way to go? Some experts feel the latest Viewsonic LCD's -VP930 monitor with a contrast of 1000:1 and 16.7 million colors are excellent. Toms hardware has a good review: tomshardware.com Tom Hardware site is an excellent technical resource for learning about pc hardware.

A 19 inch or larger monitor allows more room on the screen for viewing images and working with imaging editors software palettes. Monitor control adjustments that include color temperature and intensity, including the ability to alter red, green and blue phosphors for color management and Kelvin white point setting and gamma. The choice of a CRT or Monitor is up to what you feel will work best for your work. The critical part is getting a colorimeter and monitor calibration for to create precise ICC display profiles for you CRT, LCD or notebook display.

Why can't I match my monitor display colors to my ink jet prints?
Most likely it is because your monitor has not been calibrated and ICC profiles are not in place for all input/output devices, such as your scanner, digital camera and printer.

A monitor must be calibrated to remove color cast and set a known white point. After calibration a monitor profile is needed with a color management system. There are numerous articles on the Internet that provide more detail on how to set up CMS in photoshop in more detail. This is a good link to start off with Computer darkroom

How do I organize and manage all my digital photos?

A database system that allows keyword assignment to different images is one way to manage your photo's files. If your creating CDs to store your images, then having thumbnails and a search capability to quickly find which Cd has a particular image makes it easy to locate. A external USB hard drive are priced reasonably well as a option to back up your photo files too. Two software packages that offer these features plus many more are Photoshop Album at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopalbum/main.html and Thumbsplus by Cerious at http://www.cerious.com/

Which ink jet printer should I buy?

There are many excellent printers on the market today. The Epson printer seems to have the edge for photo quality and many of our DPA members own one. For printer reviews look at this site: http://www.steves-digicams.com/.

Where can I find information on restoring old and damaged photographs?

One book that we can highly recommend is Photoshop Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eismann. More information on this book can be found at www.digitalretouch.org. Another web site that has tutorials and a forum on this topic is at www.retouchpro.com.

Please explain image resolution and resizing?

This link will help aid in understanding resolution of a image, resizing a image, resampling a image to a lower or higher resolution and about the photoshop image size box - http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/resolution/