The shift from film to digital happened quickly, as most things technology related tend to do. Years ago when I bought my first point and shoot digital camera, I was excited that during my procrastination, Olympus released  This .2 Megapixel enhancement meant that I could print a file over 10% larger than the 1.8 version and made printing an 8×10 a possibility for me.  Fast-forward to the present, my iPhone has a 2.0 Megapixel camera and a “professional quality” camera such as the Canon Powershot G6 (7.1 Megapixels) can now be had for around $200 (less than I paid for my original Olympus).

Digital photography allows us to point, shoot, then easily post photos on our blogs, email to friends and family, share on social networks, and create online photo albums, all without ever having to use annoying digital scanners.  But, you can take it further.  The pointing and shooting delivers the digital photographer the raw material ready to adjust, tint, dodge and burn into perfection.  Below are some of the tools of the trade.

Long considered the industry standard, Adobe Photoshop is a fantastic photo manipulation tool.  The limits of Photoshop lie only in the user’s ability or imagination.  The drawbacks are: a fairly high cost ($699 for a full license of Adobe Photoshop CS4) and a steep learning curve.  If you can get past these two barriers Photoshop is a fantastic tool.  Learn more at Jack Nack’s Blog and at Information Contraband.

For those of you lucky enough to be reading this on a Mac, you know that OSX comes bundled with iPhoto.  iPhoto allows a fair bit of adjustment to your digital photos, an extremely user-friendly method of publishing photos to the web or even creating reasonably priced photo albums (printed – old school).  If you are a Mobile Me member – your publishing with iPhoto is even easier.  While a wonderful application, iPhoto has its shortcomings.  It is perfect for mild retouching but for someone seeking a more professional tool, Aperture 2.0, Apple’s answer to Adobe Lightroom, may be worth a look.  Apple includes many Aperture tutorials on thier site – and with just a bit of pointing and clicking, you’ll be on your way to professional retouching.

So whether you’re new to digital photography, or you’ve been enjoying it for a while – check out how some of these tools might enhance your photos and the fun you have with them.