Another very important category of programs is that of photo editors, i.e. programs for editing and retouching photos in order to make them better or more artistic. Photo retouching techniques are used to embellish landscape photos in travel magazines or even from fashion magazines to show more beautiful models.
Photo editing is a job for many professionals and also a hobby for many people, amateur photographers or graphics enthusiasts.
Since there are many easy and almost automatic photo editor programs available, everyone can have fun, even without having any experience.
In this article we will see the best photo editing and graphics programs and the most valid free photo editors, in some cases very similar to Photoshop.
READ ALSO -> Top 20 programs for editing and managing images and photos
The best free programs for photo editing and graphics
For this guide we will report only the programs offered for free for Windows, so you can do photo editing without spending even a euro and avoid relying on crack sites to download pirated versions of Photoshop (better leave it to professionals given the cost).
1) Paint.NET
Paint.NET is perhaps the program that comes closest to Photoshop while remaining clearly easier to use ; we can download it for free from here -> Paint.NET .
The sidebar tools are those used daily in photo editing, accompanied by vignettes that describe the commands.
The menus are well designed and easy to find and, in general, it is easy to open an image, make some basic changes, corrections or photo editing activities and then save it in one of the many supported formats.
The most expert in digital graphics will find many of the Photoshop tools, even if the latter remains the most equipped.
The program also offers drawing and vector graphics tools.
The selection of effects and their configurability is rather limited compared to other programs even if you can install many additional plugins to add new ones.
Paint.net is not a program that can replace Photoshop for expert users, but it is the best professional photo editor for beginners and for those who need to make small changes to their photos from time to time.
Paint.Net requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher to function properly on the PC: we can install it from here -> Microsoft .NET Framework .
For Paint.Net we can read the guides below, so as to make the best use of it:
- Create pop art photos and portraits to print to make posters
- Correct the colors in the photos (hue, saturation, curves and levels)
- Correct damaged photos with scratches or smudges after scanning them
2) GIMP
GIMP is the most popular open source program that can replace Photoshop in virtually any aspect; we can download the program for free from here -> GIMP .
Gimp was even born in 1995 from a student's project and the program has since been improved in the continuous development of volunteers and enthusiasts.
Beginners will find themselves very bad but the more experienced, after a first acclimatization, will be able to try all the power of this software and carry out all the professional photo editing operations.
GIMP can read a myriad of formats, including Photoshop PSDs, Windows icons (ICO), PS and EPS files, PDF and AutoDesk FLIC files.
Each filter is configurable at the highest level of detail and many effects can be applied to each image being edited.
The color menu is another strong point, to change hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, levels and more, with a rich set of tools.
Then there are tons of painting options, selection tools, level controls, and much more.
All this makes it without a shadow of a doubt the best photo editing program available for free .
3) PixBuilder Studio
PixBuilder Studio is a basic photo editor, along the lines of Paint.NET but with more advanced features, and can be downloaded from here -> PixBuilder Studio .
The program can read Photoshop PSD formats and many others, including icons.
PixBuilder is very convenient in its selection options on images, to modify a part of them, rectangles, polygons, magnetic polygons, single rows and columns, colors and more.
With a set of brushes you can draw on photos and apply various effects.
Not a little thing PixBuilder Studio is a light program, which consumes little memory and works well even on older PCs.
Unfortunately, there are few standard effects, even if it supports Photoshop's 8BF filters which must be configured manually, which is not easy.
4) Hornil StylePix
Hornil StylePix is a free program, very light, available both in portable version and with installation and can be obtained from here -> Hornil StylePix .
The features offered are very similar to those of Paint.net and contains basic photo editing options and many advanced tools for experts.
It supports many image formats but not the Photoshop .PSD.
You can open multiple images together in the interface, view thumbnail previews, watch photos in slideshows, apply many preset filters, use drawing tools, add text to images and much more.
5) PhotoScape
PhotoScape is a program different from the previous ones, much simpler to use; we can download it from here -> PhotoScape .
It is not a real photo editing program but it allows you to have fun creating collages by combining images, create GIFs, edit images with basic tools and print photos in different ways.
Of Photoscape I wrote in other articles in the guide to Combine images for printing in a page which is its most particular and most useful function.
6) Photo Pos Pro
Photo Pos Pro is another free program for photo editing on images with basic options and the possibility of applying changes to multiple images together.
We can download this program from here -> Photo Pos Pro .
The interface very similar to Photoshop and the numerous tools available make it one of the easiest programs to use if we have already used Photoshop in the past.
7) FotoMix
FotoMix is a program that I had already described in the past and can be downloaded from here -> FotoMix .
This program is among the best for making high-level photo-editing and photo-retouching on your computer, with one of the most simplified guided procedures that you can find.
Fotomix makes digital graphics professionals feel even the most beginners.
Other programs and guides to manage photos and graphics
Below we have collected other useful guides and programs that we can use when dealing with graphic projects or we have to quickly edit photos.
1) Irfanview is the best photo browsing program that also contains all the main basic photo editing tools.
2) If we want to add Instagram effects to photos we can read the Programs guide to add photo effects and photo filters on Windows .
3) Three other programs to edit and fix photos for free on Windows PC are described in another article.
If instead we look for guides on some operations to do with photos, we can read one of those listed below:
- Fusion of photos and perfect photo montages
- Correct red eyes and light from photos taken with the flash
- 13 best Picasa features to view photos from your computer.
Do not forget also the numerous online photo editors or web applications to add effects to images and apply professional-level changes, collected in two lists of sites:
- Photoshop online and other web-apps to retouch photos and edit images
- 10 free photo editing applications to apply edits and effects to photos via browser.
