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buddawiggi | August 14, 2009 03:51 PM | in Software | about Photoshop

What are some quality free alternatives to Photoshop that we can download?

Has anyone used or know about any of these?
http://www.lifeclever.com/10-free-web-based-alternatives-to-photoshop/

tags: photoshop , adobe

voted interesting: jasoncalacanis M$1.00

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BEST ANSWER chosen by asker | robbrown | August 14, 2009 04:55 PM

A lot of people like the features and functionality of Photoshop, but few people like the price tag. You're not alone thinking about free alternatives to Photoshop.

The ones that you pointed to at lifeclever are all online apps. You don't need to download anything and while they all work with a certain degree of success for quick edits, they're not ready for prime time as a photoshop replacement.

Here are my suggestions for free photoshop alternatives:

1)
Gimp is free and really quite good:
http://www.gimp.org/

Here is a Gimp Vs. Photoshop article:
http://thephotofinishes.com/gimpps3.htm

2)
I suggest looking at Photoshop Elements. It has most of the features of Photoshop but costs under $130. I've seen it as low as $99.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/?promoid=BPDEM

Here is a Photoshop vs. Elements chart to show you which features you're missing out on:
http://simplephotoshop.com/photoshop_elements/photoshopelements_vs_photoshop.htm

3)
Photoshop Express is Adobe's free web based version of Photoshop. It's exceptionally good at quick edits, previews, etc: https://www.photoshop.com/express/

There are also a large number of other free online image editors:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=Online+Image+Editing

Of note, Picnik has a full API so it can be easily integrated with other online systems or even your own webware: http://www.picnik.com/info/api

4)
Paint Shop Pro has been around for a long time and is favored by some for the $150 cost and features that are similar to Photoshop Elements. It does not work on a Mac, but works very well in Parallels or VMWare.

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1184951547051#versionTabview=tab1&tabview=tab0

Paint Shop Pro started to gain popularity years ago when Adobe did not offer Photoshop Elements and the cost of Photoshop made purchasing it prohibitive for a lot of home page webmasters and the like.

Asker's rating:

Thanks Rob and everyone! I'm learning how to use Gimp and Picasa now!

voted helpful: buddawiggi, churchcr, psionandy, hishaman

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wdawe | August 14, 2009 04:14 PM

I've used picnik to edit Flickr pics and it works well enough but if you want free industrial strength photo editing then you should give Gimp http://www.gimp.org/ a try.

http://www.gimp.org/images/frontsplash.jpg

http://www.gimp.org/screenshots/windows_crop.jpg

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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churchcr | August 14, 2009 04:20 PM

I've used Picnik and Photoshop Express, they're both OK, but really basic. That article is limited only to web-based products. Even though I have Photoshop Elements, I find myself using Picasa a lot more.

http://picasa.google.com/

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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geekmiser | August 16, 2009 07:03 PM

i'd like to give another plug for Picasa. if all you want to do is manage your photo library and make really basic edits, nothing beats it. it will even auto-resize your pics when you email them out for you, without mussing up the original. and it integrates nicely with gmail and many online photo reproduction websites so you can order and pickup or mail prints.

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darq | August 14, 2009 05:25 PM

If you are looking for a quick edit, I've recently fallen in love with a web-based editor called Phoenix. It's part of a larger set of imaged editing tools from Aviary.com

Check it out here: http://aviary.com/tools/phoenix

source(s):
http://aviary.com/tools/phoenix

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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re1980 | August 14, 2009 05:44 PM

Here are some freeware programs to try. The only one that may be closest to Photoshop is gimp. They're fine for amatuer use.

http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?id=60,142,0,0,1,0
http://www.vicman.net/lightartist/index.htm (adds lighting effects)
http://www.getpaint.net/
http://www.tucows.com/preview/194908 (VicMan's Photo Editor)
http://www.gimp.org/ (apparently, this is supposed to be good)

source(s):
past personal research/use

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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lobo7922 | August 14, 2009 06:57 PM

The best option is The Gimp, the GNU image editor, its very easy to use, and you'll get very good results.

Here you can find several alternatives to photoshop:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-free-alternatives-softwares-to-adobe-photoshop/

And some more here:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/photoshop-alternatives-another-14-free-image-manipulation-tools/

Web based image manipulators are good as long as you have a good connection and you recall to save often.

source(s):
www.gimp.org/

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-free-alternatives-softwares-to-adobe-photos...

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/photoshop-alternatives-another-14-free-image-m...

tags: images, photoshop, free, gnu

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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hellcaretaker | August 15, 2009 02:32 AM

Coreldraw if u seek above photoshop
gimp and paint.net if u seek for free alternative
and picnik.com if u seek online alternatives

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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zeeshan | August 16, 2009 06:51 AM

dear buggawiggi, there are actually many good alternatives to adobe photoshop present. My personal favorites would be THE GIMP, Paint.Net, Seashore (mac only), PIXIA.

I am pasting the link below, here you can get information about them and can also download the software's as per your requirement. Need any help plz feel free to tell me.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-free-alternatives-softwares-to-adobe-photoshop/

Meanwhile, take care, Cheers, Peace & Keep Smiling. :)

source(s):
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-free-alternatives-softwares-to-adobe-photos...

voted helpful: buddawiggi

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