PhotoEditing is an essential skill nowadays. With visuals always easier to digest by our brain, picking up images and creating visually appealing images can be great for your blog.
On a completely different scale, there are many people who need editing skills on the daily basis, even they are not into blogging or running a website.
School projects, presentation, and other job profiles frequently need us to play with photo editing skills.
So to make sure that you get the best out of your photo editing skills, I will go through the best free photo editing software of 2015. The software will help you to create a beautifully edited image.
Do you need a Free Photo Editing Software?
Free, in the correct sense, is using services without paying anything.
The term is vague and can lead to hot discussions. For example, Google provides free services to you.
But, in return they take in all your precious information for marketing needs, serving you ads, which you click to let them earn money.
Well, I am not going to go on the discussion of what constitutes the term “free” on the internet. Let’s get back to our photo editing software.
PhotoShop, the King of Editing Photos
PhotoShop is one of the most impressive tool ever created to edit photos or images. And, there is no one close to it(until now).
But, it does comes with some drawbacks.
- It is bloated and requires tons of hard disk space to install.
- It is complex to learn and you will need some time to get the hold of the tool.
- And, the most powerful drawback is that it is paid and not free.
And, that’s why many of us look for a free alternative to Photoshop.
Free Alternative To PhotoShop
Knowing how photo editing has reached a point, where everyone including bloggers, casual user, and students need access to simple editing.
Every tool that we are going to discuss is a good alternative to photoshop. And, I want to address two problems of my readers. First, those who are looking for the best free photo editing software 2015 and those who are looking for a free alternative to photoshop.
So, why the wait?
Let’s get started.
1. Gimp
Gimp is our number one best free photo editing software of 2015. It is open source and offers the best features you can get in a free software.
GIMP offers features such as layer support, clone tool, fuzzy tool and much more. It also offers tons of plugins to go with.
With a host of features available, it is not far away from photoshop in complexity. But, if you are looking for basic image manipulation, you can use it without any issue.
For heavy users, GIMP is also a great alternative to Photoshop and I have also used for many of my editing purposes.
The community of the GIMP is lively and has wide support for plugins. So, if you are looking to jump from Photoshop, now is the time.
2. Paint
The infamous paint cannot be ignored and it is one of the potential candidates for editing your images, and yes it is free of cost. It offers enough tools for cropping, cutting, editing some features such as contrast, brightness and other subtle features of the image.
And, it is one of the fastest editing tools out there. Go to Run> Accessories> Paint and you are now using the simplest photo editing tool you can ever imagine.
The main advantage of Paint is simplicity and the way you are exposed to basic editing features in no time. The disadvantage is more obvious, it doesn’t offer more granular controls and is not much of use for a heavy user.
3. Pixlr Editor
Pixlr Editor is one of the best free photo editing software. It is made by Autodesk and offers good features. The tool is available online and you don’t have to download or install anything to your hard disk.
The online editing features gives you a ton of advantage and improves your productivity(you should have enough net speed for optimal experience).
The interface has been ramped up lately and you will find it quite appealing.
There are tons of options to select and work with and you will be able to most of the photo editing work there. Another major drawback of the web-based editor is the lack of plugin support. This means that you are stuck with the options, and you might need to give it a skip if you are looking for more freedom and functionality.
4. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is an online editing service that let you do tons of things with your image.
PicMonkey name can give you a hint on what it offers. It offers a fun way of editing the images. You can add filters, hats and tons of other small things that make your image funnier.
Exploration is the key here. It does give you options to make things work your way. It offers basic crop features, resize, and anything a light editing would do.
But, if you are looking for features in the range of Gimp or Photoshop, you will be disappointed.
The service is not completely free and you would have to pay a subscription fee of $4.99/month for using royal features or items.
5. Google’s Picasa
Picasa is one of the old editing software tools currently available. If you are looking for a light-weight basic photo editing software, then Google Picasa can do the job easily.
Basic features such as crop, resize. editor adding filters can be done with the help of Picasa.
6. Paint.net
Paint.net is another old project that made to the ranks of GIMP or photoshop. It is available free to download and offer advanced features such as history tool, layer tools and more.
The Winner?
Choosing the winner is not a tough job. GIMP undoubtedly is the best free photo editing tool of 2015. It offers extensive control with granular controls.
The plugin market of GIMP is also great, and if you are stuck looking for a feature in GIMP base program, you can always check the plugin market.
Other options are a good alternative to photoshop, but they are limited and not updated frequently.
Do, you think, I missed something? Comment below and let us know. Also, share the article as much as you can!