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 Extensis Portfolio 8: If you have a large photo library, getting to the right shot can be a pain. You open one program, find the image you want, save it somewhere, then open another program and import that image. Portfolio 8's floating Express Palette makes the process less arduous: You can call it up within any app and use it to search. New features worth the upgrade include Scratchpad Galleries, into which you can dump a temporary edit and print those pictures.
About $200.
Corel Paint Shop Pro X: This enduring image editor offers lots of power for its price, but has lacked the aesthetic appeal of its more expensive counterparts. The first release from new owner Corel brings an unexpected elegance to the program. Its interface has been streamlined for easier navigation and editing, and new users will appreciate its extensive help: Click a tool and a sidebar tells you what it does, how to use it, and what to do next. Experienced photographers can turn off this feature and get to work. About $130.
 iView MediaPro 3: One of our favorite things about this software is that it integrates so well with other programs. It offers a valuable workflow alternative, for example, when Photoshop CS2's Bridge isn't enough. An XMP upgrade allows embedded metadata (star ratings, keywording) to be seen in other XMP-enabled apps. You can even alter capture data (the time you took the picture or the f-stop) to keep it private. As before, MediaPro 3 is a great tool for culling a shoot. A full-screen editing mode lets you compare up to four images at a time, zooming in on them simultaneously -- even with most RAW images.
About $200.
DxO Optics 3.5: Unlike the one-size-fits-all automatic image correction of lesser software, this program uses a highly sophisticated process to fix problems endemic to digital shooting. These include not just noise and other digital artifacts but also vignetting, optical distortion, and chromatic aberration. When DxO Optics was first introduced you had to purchase specific modules for each lens you planned to use it with, in combination with your particular digital camera. This new version and its marketing scheme eliminate that complexity. You simply pick an edition based on your camera model and you get all the appropriate lens modules you want. (Visit dxo.com for specifics.) Along with the simplified pricing, we like it that you can now adjust cropping after distortion correction, better for perspective control. And you can now perform all fixes on RAW images.
About $80 (Starter), $150 (Standard), and $300 (Elite).
Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006: Our favorite new Image Suite feature is the filter set. Red, orange, and yellow filters simulate the tonal changes you get with on-camera filters, including darkening blue sky for more dramatic clouds and lightening colors for better separation. The program now archives video clips and RAW files (Nikon and Canon only), and its image browser is improved (you can mouse over a thumbnail for a larger preview). About $100.
 Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0: Elements 3.0 was a great leap forward: a better tool layout, a more intuitive workflow, and an integrated organizer. Version 4.0 isn't as dramatically different, but it adds cool features. Its "face finder" tool lets you organize and keyword pictures by searching for any that have faces in them; you can then drag and drop the names of family and friends onto them. And it will automatically find and fix red-eye as you import pictures.
About $100.
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