I use Irfanview more than anything, especially to size wallpaper. I found the instructions lacking for some things like cropping. I still have Roxio and will continue with it for "fixing" photos until it is no longer supported. Then I will go with Irfanview for everything. I don't do a lot of pictures anymore, there is no one who shows an interest in them besides me. I don't even take a camera with me on trips anymore.

fFor photo editing I have found that "Photoscape" is without question the most powerful and most user friendly program that I have ever used. PHOTOSCAPE is a free download from Google and it is totally free of spyware, malware or the other none sense we commonly find with free downloads. to find a download site just put the name photoscape in your homepage search bar.

I use photoshop. I don't know if photoshop elements has this option. I recommend making a copy of your file, then working off the copy. First, convert the copy of your photo to grayscale: Open the copy of the image, then select IMAGE, then MODE, then GRAYSCALE Doing that will then activate the DUOTONE option. Re-select IMAGE, then MODE again, but this time choose DUOTONE. When the window opens up, it'll have two basic selections: PRESET which will have "Custom" in the window, and TYPE which will have "monotone" in the window. You can select "Monotone", "Duotone", "Tritone", or "Quadtone" as your type. That controls how many levels of additional color (1, 2, 3, or 4) you want to add to your grayscale photo. Under "preset" you can select from numerous types of preloaded toning combinations. The name implies the type of tone it will impart to your grayscale photo. For a "chocolate" look, you might want to take a look at "brown 464 bl 1" or something in that group. You can also tweak the tones to your liking. Best, Mongo

Thanks, sheeisback. Yes, I'll be the one doing the editing. DD has her hands full, as does DSIL, tending to babies. DD called a professional photographer today, so the heat is off trying to get good newborn pictures for the announcements. I have a little breathing room to look at various editing programs. I've begun to understand the concept of layers. I played with Pixlr Editor for a while yesterday. There aren't a lot of tutorials online for Pixlr. Some of the best I found were for grammar school children (hmmm...I think that says it all). Haven't tried Gimp yet.