Hi Everyone,

Great responses! Thanks to all for taking the time to respond. When I originally asked the question I was only thinking of what I considered to be traditional image editing, e.g. skin smoothing , blemish removal, stray hair removal, straightening horizons, exposure control, lightening, darkening, object removal, color enhancement, color correction, etc.

Your responses made me feel better though because I use a couple of additional programs based on what I think needs to be done. I was wondering if I was using them because my image editing program wasn't robust enough or if I just didn't know how to use my image editing program which to me meant I am wasting money. But I think I use them not because my image editing program can't do what they do but because they do it easier than if I tried to do the same thing in my image editing program.

Anyway here are the 3 or 4 programs I use most often.

Breezebrowser Pro - This program has RAW conversion for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta and Pentax and it can read embedded jpg Fuji and Sony dsc. I also use it for image organizing and culling and iptc/XMP editing. It also offers automatic web page building in a variety of templates including some with PayPal compatibility and a host of other features. There is also a cousin program Download Pro which will integrate with BreezeBrowser.

Luas Art - A plugin I use mostly for exposure issuse but it also has some artistic image illustration capability.

Focus Magic - A standalone program and a plugin I use for image sharpening.

And finally I use Corel's Paint Shop Pro for image touch up work. I don't use Photoshop primarily because I can't afford it and because it has functionality I would probably never have time to learn to use or even desire to use since I am not into what I consider to be image illustration.

Does any one else use Lucas Art for artistic effects? I'd like to grow in the artistic area. Right now I use PhotoShop Colored Pencil Filter to get some soft, pastel-like effects which some of my clients like. I'd like to be able to offer a water color effect, but am not happy with PhotoShop's watercolor. Lucas Art has caught my eye, but am open to other user friendly possibilities.