Best free photo-editing software

GET YOUR PICTURES LOOKING THEIR BEST, FOR FREE.

GIMP WWW.GIMP.ORG

GIMP (THE GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the best free photo editor around. It’s packed with the kind of image-enhancing tools you’d find in premium software, and more are being added every day.

The photo editing toolkit is breathtaking, and features layers, masks, curves, and levels. You can eliminate flaws easily with the excellent clone stamp and healing tools, create custom brushes, apply perspective changes, and apply changes to isolated areas with smart selection tools.

GIMP is an open source, free photo editor, and its community of users and developers has created a huge collection of plugins to extend its utility even further. Many of these come pre-installed, and you can download more from the official glossary. If that’s not enough, you can even install Photoshop plugins.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2019 WWW.ASHAMPOO.COM

IF YOU’VE GOT a lot of photos that you need to edit in a hurry, Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2019 could be the tool for you. Its interface is clean and uncluttered, and utterly devoid of ads (although you’ll need to submit an email address before you can start using it).

Importing pictures is a breeze, and once they’ve been added to the pool, you can select several at once to rotate or mirror, saving you valuable time. You can also choose individual photos to enhance with the software’s one-click optimisation tool. In our tests this worked particularly well on landscapes, but wasn’t always great for other subjects.

If you want to make manual color and exposure corrections, there are half a dozen sliders to let you do exactly that. It’s a shame you can’t also apply the same color changes to a whole set of pictures at once, but this is otherwise a brilliant free photo editor for quick corrections.

GIMP IS AN OPEN SOURCE, FREE PHOTO EDITOR, AND ITS COMMUNITY OF USERS AND DEVELOPERS HAVE CREATED A HUGE COLLECTION OF PLUGINS TO EXTEND ITS UTILITY EVEN FURTHER.

IMPORTING PICTURES IS A BREEZE, AND ONCE THEY’VE BEEN ADDED TO THE POOL, YOU CAN SELECT SEVERAL AT ONCE TO ROTATE OR MIRROR, SAVING YOU VALUABLE TIME.

Canva WWW.CANVA.COM

CANVA IS A photo editor that runs in your web browser, and is ideal for turning your favorite snaps into cards, posters, invitations and social media posts. If you’re interested in maintaining a polished online presence, it’s the perfect tool for you.

Canva has two tiers, free and paid, but the free level is perfect for home users. Just sign up with your email address and you’ll get 1GB free cloud storage for your snaps and designs, 8,000 templates to use and edit, and two folders to keep your work organised.

You won’t find advanced tools like clone brushes and smart selectors here, but there’s a set of handy sliders for applying tints, vignette effects, sharpening, adjusting brightness, saturation and contrast, and much more. The text editing tools are intuitive, and there’s a great selection of backgrounds and other graphics to complete your designs.

Fotor WWW.FOTOR.COM

FOTOR IS A free photo editor that’s ideal for giving your pictures a boost quickly. If there’s specific area of retouching you need doing with, say, the clone brush or healing tool, you’re out of luck.

There’s a foolproof tilt-shift tool, for example, and a raft of vintage and vibrant colour tweaks, all easily accessed through Fotor’s clever menu system. You can manually alter your own curves and levels, too, but without the complexity of high-end tools.

Fotor’s standout function, and one that’s sorely lacking in many free photo editors, is its batch processing tool – feed it a pile of pics and it’ll filter the lot of them in one go, perfect if you have a memory card full of holiday snaps and need to cover up the results of a dodgy camera or shaky hand.

SIGN UP WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND YOU’LL GET 1GB FREE CLOUD STORAGE FOR YOUR SNAPS AND DESIGNS, 8,000 TEMPLATES TO USE AND EDIT, AND TWO FOLDERS TO KEEP YOUR WORK ORGANISED. [ WWW.TECHLIFE.NET ]

THERE’S A FOOLPROOF TILT-SHIFT TOOL, FOR EXAMPLE, AND A RAFT OF VINTAGE AND VIBRANT COLOUR TWEAKS, ALL EASILY ACCESSED THROUGH FOTOR’S CLEVER MENU SYSTEM.