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Software

No matter what you want to do with your photos, there's a software solution to handle the job

IMAGE MANAGEMENT

These applications excel at importing and organizing your photo library, but they do a lot more, including RAW processing and the essential adjustments you'll make to most images.

ACDSEE PRO 5
ACDSee has a variety of features to help you import and organize your images, and add ratings, keywords and color labels to make it easier to find your best shots later. It also has tools to correct lens-perspective distortions and ACDSee's Lighting and Contrast Enhancement for HDR effects from a single image. List Price: $139.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM 4
Lightroom was designed for photographers as a RAW workflow solution with everything you need to manage, optimize and output your photos in a streamlined, clutter-free workspace. New in version 4 is support for GPS metadata for finding images by location, as well as the ability to import and organize video clips. List Price: $149.

APPLE APERTURE
Apple's pro photo application offers a streamlined RAW workflow for Mac users, with a complete toolset for organizing, processing and exporting images. In addition to global adjustments, nondestructive brushes allow you to apply most image enhancements to specific areas of an image. It supports your HD video clips, too, and you even can make multi-media slideshows with your clips right in Aperture. List Price: $79.

CAMERA BITS PHOTO MECHANIC
Photo Mechanic is a unique application in that it's strictly focused on photo management—no image enhancements here—but it has some powerful tools toward that end, like the ability to import from multiple flash cards simultaneously. It also allows you to really dig in and edit IPTC metadata. For pros who manage large photo libraries on a daily basis, Photo Mechanic may be the app you didn't know you needed. List Price: $150.

COREL PAINTSHOP PRO X4 ULTIMATE
Don't let the name fool you—this is a photo application, and it's a good value, too. In addition to a broad range of native capabilities for managing and editing your photos, it includes Nik Software's Color Efex Pro 3 filters built in. Also new in this version are nondestructive Adjustment Layers and a cool Selective Focus tool for simulating the look of tilt/shift lenses. List Price: $99.

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