socialmedian: Free Alternatives to Photoshop With All the Bells, Whistles, Filters, & Layers

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Free Alternatives to Photoshop With All the Bells, Whistles, Filters, & Layers

Source: ReadWriteWeb

Jul 21, 2009

Summary

Let's face it: If cropping was all you needed to do, you'd just use MS Paint.

Photoshop, Adobe's industry standard for image editing, costs a whopping, unforgivable $600; and because there's no affordable and equivalent option for non-pro users, we're willing to wager Photoshop places high in the rankings for the most illegally cracked warez of them all. But when you need tools such as layers, filters, and other effects, 101-level apps such as Picnik and Picasa just don't cut it. So we've rounded up and road-tested seven free resources that pack the punch of Photoshop's bells and whistles without the price. You just might find your dream freebie below.

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First, here's the test photo we used on all the image editing resources listed here:

1. Photofiltre is a desktop app with a UI reminiscent of Photoshop and a pared-down set of functions. This app eliminates layers and some user controls for certain tools but leaves plenty of room to play with color, saturation, and effects.

The toolbar allows for certain types of painting and selection, but basically, users