Photo editing for free

Today you get lots and lots of free editing software through with your digital camera or online which I don't know about the more expensive models but the cheaper ones the software is rubbish. So here in a first of freebies is my recommendations for photo editing software.



FotoFlexer

In recent times the amount of editors available online have increased, the effects they give are also excellent for people who want to have some fun with their pictures. A lot are available to everyone with NO sign up, NO downloads and my computer can cope with the application with out freezing (And my computer isn't exactly the fastest!). I mention FotoFlexer in particular because the features that attracted me to this one were; The amount of effects that can be applied, The range of tools that allow the user to edit individual parts of the image rather than the whole thing like the smudging tool and the range of distortion tools. Also the ability to layer images which is similar to Photoshop which obviously is very costly where as this nifty website does it for free. Lots of big name websites have teamed up with these editors including Photobucket, Flickr and Myspace.

Other editors include; Lunapic and Picnik

My rating: *****

Picasa2

This one is well known my many but still i haven't found much better from Google, it allows you to organise your photos easily and quickly. It then allows you to edit images and/ or combine them in a collage. The features for editing are good but out done by Photoflexer, the soft focus and choice of tones and the cropping tool is good too. All very simple to use and because it is a downloaded programme rather than running from your browser it runs quickly. Professional image, usable by anyone.

My rating: ****

Photoshop free trial

This is one of the best editors out there that money can buy, however I have only given it 3 stars, why? Well one is the cost, i still put it on this list as there is a free trial for 30 days. However it took ageeeeeessssss on my PC to download and get going and first you do have to register to get the trial. After getting setup it is more complex to use than the others i recommend and a lesser computer knowledged person may not be able to cope with it, only because I had some previous experience working with Photoshop was i able to use it. It is very commonly used by professional photographers to touch up there photos. The last reason this was given 3 stars is because it is only a trial and it always goes quicker than you expect. If you are using this editing software for fun stick to the first two.

My rating: ***

If you really want to create something unique a combination of these editors will definitely get you there sticking to the first two is probably the better option for most. Also while on the subject of photo editing don't ignore MS Paint if your running Windows! As simple a programme as it is I use it quite a lot for simple tasks like adding text and putting bits together, although you can only undo a couple of steps it still can solve problems that most other editors would make very difficult or impossible.

More information at
Photo editing software review - Reviews the top editing software on the market, Picasa is 9th being the only free one in the top 10.

Explanation of photo editing techniques at wikipedia - Helpful for beginners for an intro in what can be done