If you are blogging or using social networks like Facebook or Twitter – you will eventually need some kind of photo editing software. Head and shoulders above the rest is Photoshop – Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation software, and is the flagship product of Adobe Systems. It has been described as “an industry standard for graphics professionals” and was one of the early “killer applications” on the Macintosh, later also for the PC. (We will talk about PC freebies later.) Photoshop will also set you back about $700…
If you can’t afford to purchase software, you can still find free software to create and edit images. Some of this software is developed by individuals, and some is feature limited or an earlier version of a more advanced program. Here are 5 freebies we like and 1 awesome program that under $100 for you to checkout. Enjoy.
1. Photoshop.com
Photoshop.com is the new companion Web site to Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7. The goal of Photoshop.com is to extend the capabilities of your Elements experience by giving you a place to store and share your creations. They offer templates and tutorials that can be delivered to your software on a regular basis. It will let you backup and store your images and videos online, as well as allowing you to access these items anywhere you are.
There are two types of memberships to Photoshop.com. The first is a basic membership and it is absolutely free. It gives you 2GB of storage space where you can upload, view, edit and access your images anytime you have an Internet connection. You do not have to purchase Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements to join, and if you want more storage space, you can purchase up to 100GB for an annual fee.
2. The Gimp
The GIMP is arguably the most powerful free photo editor available today. With that comes the Photoshop comparisons. Often lauded as the “free Photoshop,” the GIMP does offer many features similar to Photoshop, but it has a steep learning curve to match.
From the Developers:
“GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
“It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.
“GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
“GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.”
3. Seashore
Seashore is an open source image editor for Mac OS X’s Cocoa framework. It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. It is based around the GIMP’s technology and uses the same native file format.
However, unlike the GIMP, Seashore only aims to serve the basic image editing needs of most computer users, not to provide a replacement for professional image editing products. Seashore was created by Mark Pazolli who led the project until the end of 2009.
4. Chocoflop
ChocoFlop allows you to edit your photos or design stuff using Apple’s CoreImage technology. It takes advantage of the power of your graphics card (GPU).
Because of this it can show real-time previews of filters and keep modifications live for as long as you want.
This means that you can add for example a blur filter on your text and keep everything dynamic. You can change the strength of your blur filter at any time or edit your text, the blur will apply on the updated text. That’s called non-destructive image edition and it really saves you a lot of time.
*This is BETA software. It may not always work as expected. You might want to work with copies of your images.
5. Picasa
This third version of Google Picasa is earning enthusiastic reviews for its improved image management and editing features, along with a basic movie editor and a lot of web synchronization. It even has a face-recognition feature that helps you find photos with people in them. The Mac version has now been released, joining versions for Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Linux. Older versions of Picasa run on earlier Windows operating systems. Reviews now give Picasa 3 the edge over other free photo software and say it may well be all you need — unless your collection gets too big.
6. Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 **
This is not free but great for any budget!
Reviews say Adobe Photoshop Elements just keeps getting better, holding its lead over Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 — partly for ease of use.
The newest version of the #1 selling consumer photo-editing software, Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 combines power and simplicity so you can easily tell amazing stories with your photos. Bring all your photos and video clips together in one convenient place where you can easily find, view, and manage them; protect them with automatic online backup and 2GB of free storage; and then dive right into a full range of creative activities. Make your photos look extraordinary with editing options that let you recompose photos to any size while keeping key subjects intact; combine multiple exposures into a single, perfectly lit shot; and quickly preview a range of adjustments before choosing the perfect one. And share your stories in unique photo books, scrapbook pages, slide shows, and interactive online experiences.
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Have an amazing day!
Lennie
Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, blogging, Chocoflop, facebook twitter, free, free software, Gimp, mac, Macintosh, photo editing, Photoshop, Photoshop.com, Picasa, Seashore, social network
