post processing noob

Hello everyone!

Am looking for resources to get started with the 'post processing' bit of photography.
Am an absolute beginner who never held a camera before, but am now totally loving my 5100 from the last 5 months

as you may understand, it took me a bit of time to read through the basics of photography, the 5100, the settings & a gazillion other things to just get started...
Needless to say i have never 'edited' a photo up until now
so i just picked up a 70-300 and realized am going to be needing some education on editing...

could anyone guide me (or direct me) where i can get started?
what software to get started with?

Welcome the world of Nikon! Well, i am no software guru when it comes to photography. If you have a windows computer, you can always start off with the Windows Picture Viewer. It has some basic editing functions. Learn about those first. From their, you can always download trial versions of Adobe products. But wait! Your D5100 comes with some decent photo editing software as well. Get to know that software first and foremost. Last bit of advice, shoot in RAW/Jpeg fine. With RAW images, you can manipulate all aspects of the photo afterwards. But, don't invest in anything until you get good experience using the Nikon software that came with your camera or until you try out trial versions of others.

Thanks D5100shooter.
The cam came with ViewNX software.
i did install it at that time and everything seemed very complicated & i haven't gotten back to it after that
is that the best place to start?
am assuming there would be some kind of tutorial along with it..

I can,t say it is THE best place to start, but it is a good start. look at this link: View NX 2 Help

Yes, it is a complicated bit of software at first glance. Though, i am sure you will figure it out after some practice. IF you want tutorials, you can perhaps check out YouTube.

There are a lot of online tutorials on youtube. Lightroom would give you more flexibility. I've used NX2 for a very long time but I prefer the versatility of Adobe CS5 lately.

I use Lightroom if I shoot in JPEG, in it your W/B can be fixed and CS5 for most other stuff...