Post Processing Software?

Lightroom is more for what you do with the finished images than creating them, and Adobe has gone to the cloud model and rentals - you don't own it any more. The editing tools are relatively simple, and aimed at a different type of photography than we do.

I won't say what I think about Adobe in a family-friendly forum.

If you can grok Lightroom, download the Gimp. I don't normally recommend it, because unless you know postprocessing it's not user-friendly. But it's Open Source, free, and at_least as powerful as Photoshop. If you can use Photoshop, you can use the Gimp for a bunch cheaper.

I left Photoshop for the Gimp at PS5, more than 10 years ago.

I got used to using Nikon View NX with my D5000, and upgraded to NX2 with the D7000. Now that's all I use for adjustments, even with my Canons. It is pretty much as basic as it gets.

I own Lightroom, but it's too slow for me. I can't tolerate waiting for slow, bloated programs. I bet the GIMP, being open-sourced and likely quite efficient, is fast, right? Maybe I'll try it some day, but NX2 is free and does the job for me.

I use Paint for my overlays.

I use ezgif.com (web-based) for my animations.

I'm going to have to get more comfortable with GIMP, since Photoshop went cloud/subscription-only. When I next upgrade my PC, I doubt I'll be able to get the old Photoshop license transferred to the new machine.

It looks like GIMP has plenty of features, but after using Photoshop for years (for typical photos and also astrophotos that often need extensive post processing), GIMP takes some getting used to. Some operations seem slower than Photoshop, like drawing a rectangular selection? Also, GIMP doesn't seem to like opening 16-bit/channel TIFF files -- I think it converts them to 8-bit. Somewhere, I heard that GIMP was soon going to have 16bit/channel support?

That's the very reason I started with GIMP a few years ago. Now that I'm comfortable with it, I'll even use it for processing art prints.

I have refrained from comments so far because this is a trigger issue with me. There are things that I would like to do in post processing but can't. I feel that the program instructions and help sections are so bad that I'm hoping the writers have their own special place in Hades.
I hear good things about GIMP and I don't doubt that the users are telling the truth. And I downloaded a copy for the specific purpose of making a circular crop. I would like to make composite photos that appear as overlapped coins like some of the auction advertising shows.
The first thing I did was go to the help section to find circular crop - and this should be one of the most basic and common of actions done in post processing. GIMP doesn't even have an alphabetized list of topics. How basic is that? Every modern technical manual written for the Western world has an alphabetized index. Not GIMP.
I know that if I set aside six weeks to discover all the features of their wonderful product, I would have only a 50/50 chance of cracking the code. So I quit. Just like with all the other programs. In fact, I've done this so often, that I created a folder for post processing programs that fall short of my needs. It's appropriately named "Crop Circles."
If someone wants to take on the Herculean task translation product instructions into user instructions they should be prepared to dedicate a great deal of time.
My frustration is compounded because I see it as one more supply side product that cares nothing for the consumer's wants or needs.
"Any computer glitch that is too troublesome to repair will be marketed as a feature."*
*The programmers mantra.

The Gimp (it's not an acronym, just a name) is not for the faint of heart. It's advanced graphics software for people who do graphics professionally, and requires a steep learning curve even for experienced Photoshop folks. It is not for beginners. I've been using it for ten years and barely know enough to do what I need it to do.

Circular crops in the Gimp are the last - and most difficult - thing necessary for coin photography which I learned. To this day, I do not like doing circle crops in the Gimp. That's why you don't see me post round images.

Thanks SD, I use Irfanview mostly. Cropping a circle should be no harder than clicking on a circular crop icon and then clicking on your photo. You could use a three point method, center and radius, chosen size or fixed size. Simple and popular but not available. And that is why I wish bad things on the program writers. It's not your fault and I appreciate your help.
Don't hate me, this stuff makes me irrational. I am not in my happy place. I need a cookie.