Adobe Photoshop is a software which many consider to be the best tool for photo editing, digital image processing and even drawing. However, it doesn’t come cheap and if you’re just looking to experiment with your photos and learn the basics of editing, you’d probably want a more affordable tool to start you off. With this in mind, we’ve prepared a couple of free Photoshop alternatives for you today.
Photoshop Express Editor
Use Photoshop Express Editor to edit your photos.
Photoshop Express Editor presents a basic set of image processing tools and it’s available online for free. With it, you can crop your photos, resize them and apply some of the basic effects to them. You can even use the Dodge, Burn, and Highlight tools – these are not as advanced as the ones found in Photoshop, but can be very useful if you need to edit something really quick.
Sumopaint
Sumopaint allows you to use layers, too.
With Sumopaint you can do a bit more than with the Express Editor and you get to use layers when you work. One of the limitations of the free version is the lack of filters, as well as the slightly annoying ads that follow you wherever you go. However, this tool offers a lot even in its basic version.
Pixlr Editor
Aside from Pixlr Photo Editor, you can use the Pixlr Express and Pixlr O’Matic.
Pixlr Editor is very similar to Photoshop, and it’s also available in the forms of Express and O-Matic. With one of these two, you can add different filters, effects and frames to your edited photos.
Paint.NET
What started off as an upgrade for Paint, turned into a very powerful tool.
Paint is a software designed for beginners and those who need a free, yet useful program for processing images. It’s available for Windows OS and supports various effects and tools that can be used in many ways. It was initially designed as an upgrade for Microsoft’s Paint tool, but has since then evolved into something much more powerful.
GIMP
With a little patience, you can learn to use GIMP and edit your photos.
The last, but definitely not the least, is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, also known as GIMP. We’re talking about a fantastic tool that is, yes, free. Its user interface is not similar to Photoshop, so it may seem a bit complicated to all the new users, but trust us when we say that getting used it to it will pay off in the long run. This program is available for Windows, OS X and Linux operating systems, and there are a number of how-to videos that will help you learn everything you need to know about GIMP and more.
