Photoshop is the Best software available for Picture editing. The new CS2 has a lot of features and you can make your imaginations take form using Photoshop. For those who cannot afford Photoshop can go for GiMP the next best editing software next to PS.

The other softwares that I prefer and use are,
* PhotoFilter
* Az Paint
* Graphics Workshop
* PhotoPlus (Freeware)

Before You Buy an Image Editor
Image editors (also known as photo editors) allow you to create and modify bitmap-based graphics and photographic images. This includes tasks such as painting and drawing, color correction, photo enhancement, creating special effects, image conversion, and adding text to graphics. Your image editor is often the most frequently used tool for working with graphics so it should be flexible and intuitive. Many software programs are available for enhancing and otherwise working with bitmap images, but unless they can perform all of the tasks above sufficiently, they should only be considered as companion tools to your primary photo editing application.

Advanced Photo Editors
These tools offer the core image editing features along with additional high-end capabilities for professionals. Professional photographers, graphic designers, desktop publishers, Web developers, digital artists, and small business users all need to work with an image editor at some point. When choosing a photo editor for professional or business use, you need extreme flexibility, stability, and an intuitive interface which provides high-end features and a streamlined workflow. Automation capabilities are a big plus as well. I've selected what I feel are the best choices for image editors that meet all these requirements. These programs range in price anywhere from $100 US to several hundred dollars.
Most people don't need PhotoShop, but when you're working with huge files (typically 30 megabytes in my day job) you need PhotoShop.
PhotoShop 7 has dozens of new features, but these are the ones that I think are worth the upgrade:
File browser. This is an awesome upgrade ­ you'll find the image you need quickly and easily. When you select the Browse feature you'll be impressed by how fast it loads thumbnails.
Support for EXIF camera information. This is awesome. I have a Canon S200 digital camera. When I import a photo from the camera into PhotoShop it lets me see all of the data from the shot. It's amazing what information is stored in the file with the image, including date, time, resolution, flash (yes or no), ISO speed, f-stop, focal length and much more.

Healing brush. This is the most amazing tool. I am restoring several damaged photos and this one tool makes this work quick and easy. It enables you to fix scratches, wrinkles, and other damage while maintaining the look of the image. I used it to fix a wedding photo my daughter decided to play with.

Picture Package. This gives you the ability to print a wide variety of images on one page, saving you a lot of money and time. I have to admit I use this more for personal printing, but it's an amazing feature.

Encryption. There have been several product prototypes I would have loved to encrypt before emailing them. PhotoShop 7 lets you save an encrypted PDF of the image so you can send it via e-mail (a very insecure method of transferring information) without worry.

Web support. I'm getting ready to create a Web site for myself and PhotoShop is the only editor I'd trust to the task. It'll let me preview the image before saving it to see how big it'll be, as well as how it'll look when compressed. This is only one of the features you'll live with when you use PhotoShop for Web work.

Enhanced transparency support. PhotoShop has the best tools for making the background (or almost any part) of an image transparent on a Web page. This can be a tricky task but with PhotoShop it's easy.

One feature that is long overdue: Spellchecker. I can't believe how useful this feature is and how it was absent for so long. I've seen dozens of cases where jobs are rushed and the final work has a silly spelling error.

These are just a few of the many features that make PhotoShop the best image editor on the planet (I'm serious). If you don't believe me, try it yourself by downloading the demo from www.Adobe.com.

If you are serious about editing photos for print or the Web (and have $600 to spare) definitely get PhotoShop 7. It's worth every penny.

To run PhotoShop you need a relatively recent machine (Mac or Windows), 128mb of RAM, a decent video card, and about 320mb of disk space. If you're serious, you'll need a recent machine and an awesome video card

Well i tried different softwares so i cant make up my mind for just one. Photoshop is defenitely the best, it has got lots of tools and you can make everything with it. The only problem was that i dont know how to use most of the tools:(. I tried also Jasc Paint shop pro but i wasnt happy with him. I didnt find any tool which photoshop has got so i didnt used him a lot. Since i am doing web site for past few months(with DW8) i have found myself in Fireworks. Most of the web graphics i am doing with Fireworks and i cant complain.
Photoshop #1 if you know how to use all of its tools.
Well i might try with Gimp, i heard a good things about it. And its free.

I have heard of GIMP and Paint Shop Pro, but I am a Adobe Photoshop CS2 user. Once you learn it, it is a very functional program that has a tool for any need (or combinations of tools and filters). Basically, in my opinion, it is the best photo editing software. The best part I think, is the quickness while working on a project, it is easy to change layers, do what you need, use filters, and create a masterpiece. Its the best.

Photoshop is good, I had the trail thats all though, but there were still a lot of tools even though I didnt know how to use most of them. For me, and other people who use the free stuff, GIMP and Paint.net are the best in my mind.

I use GIMPshop because it is free and it is almost as good as Photoshop. Photoshop is a little stronger than GIMPshop, but you have to pay for Photoshop(if you want it legally) and GIMPshop costs you nothing.

Yep another vote for photoshop. The new iphoto allows you do some quite sophistacated editing and cropping. But I suggest using the help function if you find it all a bit to much. There is so much stuff online as well.

Replying to UltimateStar

The best free editing program and the one with the closest features to that of photoshop is "GIMP"!

Excepting the Photoshop CS3 Extended which is the best for me, and that's why I use it in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium packet, you can also try the Corel product which is very good for photo editing and any type of images, but I'm not very in it, because I haven't work since the last 2 years, but my colleagues praise it as a good tool:
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2:


This post has been edited by TheBlessedOne: Mar 17 2008, 06:35 PM