Part of the fun of taking digital photos is editing the final version using software to get the exact final result you want. There several great free software programs from the simple to the advanced that can help any amateur photographer. Here's my top four picks for free photo editing software, based on what type of editing you want to accomplish.
Ifranview - both Editor and Viewer
Probably the quickest to learn and easiest to use for basic cropping, adjusting colors, and basic special effects is called Ifranview. It's been around for years and if you just want to crop, or rotate, change the format, or fine tune the color balance of any digital photo, this is an excellent choice. Extremely simple but also easier to learn than any other photo editing software. It's small in size, fast in operation, and can be used as a slide viewer too.
Photoscape - Free Easy To Learn Photo Editor with Lots of Features
If you want to get down to pixel editing and making advanced changes Photoscape is a very good choice. It is loaded with features and also very easy to learn. Photoscape has several modules for different editing chores that include a viewer, editor, batch processor, converter, layout print tool, screen capture, combining photos, and even a face search feature. This is a great photo editing software for kids, ages 8 and up.
GIMP - Only For the Serious Amateur
For the serious amateurs who need powerful photo editing functions, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a raster graphics editor that provides high-end functionality. Much like the commercial Adobe Photoshop software, you can do many sophisticated editing tasks with GIMP. In development since 1995, it is available on just about any platform including the MAC OS. The features are extensive which means there is a serious learning curve too. But for serious armatures it's a great choice and can provide many of the same abilities of popular and expensive popular photo editing software. But there is also a ton of tutorials and help forums that can get a new user up to speed quickly.
Picasa - Best Combo Photo Editor And Online Sharing
And if you want to both edit and share your photos online, Google has an online application called Picasa. One of the many new online applications Google has brought out in the past few years, Picasa has many features and is very easy to learn and use. You can edit your photos, then organize into web albums and share with anyone online with the Picasa Web Albums application. This also gives you a great way to backup photos just in case disaster strikes your home computer. You can also order hard prints and even different items with photos printed on them as gifts.
All of the software above has some good features and provide the novice with a good free solution for photo editing. You can find their website by searching by name at Google (too many links to put in article). All of the software programs have a lot of support and it's fairly easy to find any answers to questions online. Some provide tutorials, some don't even need tutorials they are so easy to learn and use.
With the holidays rapidly approaching, it's time to get out the digital camera and start taking pictures. Even when you don't get the perfect photo, you can go in and make any changes or improvements with this great list of free photo editing software.
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