‘Adobe Photoshop’ has become the industry standard for editing photos. It was developed in 1987, in 2003 a new version called CS was introduced with the last CS6 version sold in 2013. Since 2013 you cannot buy ‘Photoshop’, you have to rent it with a monthly fee of about NZ$15 a month.But amateur photographers do not need the expense of the full version of ‘Photoshop’ as it is filled with dozens of menus, which you will never need. ‘Adobe Photoshop Elements’ (PSE), which began in 1996 is a cut down version of Photoshop with all the key menus that are needed for most everyday editing. Photoshop version 15 is the latest version and you can buy it online for about NZ$179

Adobe Photoshop Elements download

Make sure your computer has the correct operating system and hardware to operate the latest PSE and download the appropriate version for ‘Windows’ or ‘Mac’. Your computer software will do basic editing and there are several free editing software programs – but I find PSE is best as it is more consistent. Free software packages keep changing, with the result that you can spent more time learning about the changes, than concentrating on your photos.

(‘Adobe Premier Elements’, is software for editing videos. If you own a Mac computer you will not need ‘Premier’ as Macs come with iMovie to edit videos.)

Another option to consider is Affinity – instead of Photoshop of Photoshop Elements. Affinity works like Photoshop – but costs about NZ$ 79 as a one off price – rather than NZ$179 for Photoshop Elements or $20 a month for the full version of Photoshop