If you are a budding photographer looking for the best way to improve your photos, start using and mastering an image editing program.  Even photos that are captured perfectly in camera can benefit from some image editing to bring out their best.

Here are a few free options:

• Picassa
• Iphoto
• Gimp
• Snapseed - for your phone or tablet.
• Canva - a great alternative to Photoshop for making basic designs.

Here are some premium options:

• Adobe Lightroom CC
• Adobe Photoshop Elements
• Adobe Photoshop CC

If you really want to go the extra mile you should also look at using plug-ins, such as Topaz, On One, and Nik.  I will discuss these in future posts.

What software do you use and what would you like to learn about it?  Please share this article and post your comments below.