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Digital photography has exploded the possibilities available for capturing, sharing and manipulating photos. The increased attention has peaked the interest of many amateur photographers and the market is responding accordingly. There are many software products available for download as well as purchase. These products offer various ways to edit and organize your photos as well as provide instruction. I offer the following review of products that I found to be of good quality.

Kodak Gallery is a free online site for editing and storing photos. They also offer a number of services including gift ideas, personalized products and online tutorials. Shutterfly and Winkflash are very similar to Kodak Gallery offering a number of products such as greeting cards, calendars, mouse pads, etc. that can be personalized using your enhanced digital photos! These sites offer printing services and allow you to create a slideshow to be shared via email. You are able to set various controls such as whether or not the recipients can view, print and or order any photos. It is always recommended regardless of which site you use that photos be back up on a disc incase of any server problems.

Before we move on to reviews of software products that have a variety of features that cover the photo taking process from start to finish. I can not resist mentioning, Tourist Remover Software. In the same way that HDR photos can take all the best bits from multiple exposures of the same subject and combine them into a single photo, FutureLAB's cleverly named Tourist Remover Software can remove tourists your travel photos. Simply snap a few shots of a building, statue, etc., happy tourists and all. Their software will combine all of the un-touristed sections of each picture into a single tourist-free photo.

Many software products are being offered that have camera control and recovery tools. I suggest the following software as I find it to be reasonably priced and of good quality.

Digital Camera Photography Professional Edition by Tradetouch Inc.

Features include:

Camera Control Tool which shows the user how to set capture time, control a remote camera, reduce the camera's shudder etc.

Photo Management Tool allows you to classify your photos, record the time, and present them in an album or other format.

Advise and Teach Skills such as adjusting light, choosing shooting time, and managing instruments.

Photo Edit Tool will help you cut or add something fun to photos, change color, compile several photos into one etc.

Recover Tool allows you to recover deleted photos from your PC's disc or camera's RAM.

Drivers for your camera are included with this software.

No Installation or Hard Disk space used, Browser based interface is extremely fast.

Digital Photos for Dummie by Atari

Digital Photos is interactive software for editing, printing, and organizing your digital photos. The popular For Dummies series is available for your computer. This is user friendly software that can help you with your everyday computing digital photo needs. Features include:

Educational Features will help you take superior photos by showing you how to adjust the ISO, focus manually or use auto focus, balance your white and colors and catch a moving target.

Printing Tips such as advice on what printers and paper are best for photo printing.

Photo Enhancement Tools which include instruction on how to avoid over compression and how to use the best formats when saving photos for different uses.

Automatic Storage of your photos, simply plug your digital camera into your computer and the software automatically transfers, classifies, and saves your photos.

Creating Fun Keepsakes using your software's wizards, you can create your own digital photo albums and put your albums on Web sites. You also can add transitions and music and turn your pics into slideshows. Or you can print your photos and design your own gifts.

Specialty software is also available! For example;

Secrets to Kids' Photography by Select Soft Publishing

This software introduces professional secrets that can mean the difference between taking an ordinary snapshot and capturing an incredible photo. An instructional video guides you through a real shoot. The user learns about different kinds of poses, how to give instructions, composition, creating a work area, equipment and props, high-key lighting etc.

Secrets to Fashion Photography by ARC Media

Allows you to follow along with the instructional video as experienced top fashion photographer Desmond Williams guides you through a real fashion shoot covering a wide range of assignment types. Learn about working with models, creating poses, makeup, equipment, lighting effects, marketing etc.

Digital photography has exploded the possibilities available for capturing, sharing and manipulating photos. There are many computer software products available for download as well as purchase. These products offer various ways to edit and organize your photos as well as provide instruction. Photography software enables amateurs and professionals to get the most out of their camera and pictures!