Best free photo editing software: 10 top programs you should try

Best free photo editing software: 10 top programs you should try

  7:59:00 AM    Unknown

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Adobe Photoshop has been the grand daddy of the imaging world for years and its blend of tools make photo retouching, image creation from scratch and straight-up image editing the complete package for keen amateur photographers and professionals.
But although the cost of using Photoshop has come down, you have to pay a subscription for Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography Plan. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives that won't cost you a cent, and while they might not rival Photoshop for outright power, they bring simplicity, speed, convenience or one-click effects that you just don't get with Photoshop.
We start off with some of the more contemporary takes on digital imaging, but if you use Windows and you prefer a traditional, no-frills image editor, you'll find those on our list too.

1. Picasa

Fast and efficient photo organising tool with rather good non-destructive editing
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Easily overlooked, Picasa is Google's free desktop image organizing and editing software. It connects to Picasa Web online albums, making it easy to share photos with others straight from your desktop, but you can also use it purely as a desktop application. Picasa can display all your photos in one place, linking to any or all of the image folders on your computer via its Folder Manager. You can create albums ('labels'), add keywords and apply a range of non-destructive image effects and adjustments – in other words, Picasa doesn't modify the original photo, it just shows 'virtual' changes which you can undo at any time. Picasa is not really a Photoshop replacement, and its quirky interface takes a little getting used to, but if you value speed and simplicity over in-depth editing tools, it's brilliant.

Source : http://www.techradar.com