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Photo Bleg
Monday, July 14th, 2008Does anyone know of a free or low-cost shareware photo editing program that includes tools for dodging and burning?
iPhoto is great, but it doesn’t have either. Neither does the software that came with my new camera. I’d rather not buy Photoshop just for that.
Also, if anyone knows of a good graphics program–also free or low-cost shareware–that’d be swell too. I’m looking for something that will let me add graphics and lettering to photos, create hi-rez graphics for printing or Cafe Press–that kind of thing.
You could use the Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/). Basically an open-source Photoshop.
There are editing tools with Photoshop Express. Not sure about dodge or burn, but it does have the virtue of being free. It’s at http://www.photoshop.com/express.
I’ve heard that GIMP is a nice, free alternative to Photoshop…however, I’ve never used it. Here’s the link:
http://www.gimp.org/
Hope it helps…:)
Gimp is good + free, and Paint Shop Pro is good about $70 for it.
Both have many tools very similar to Photo Shop, but you get to keep your nuts with the purchase price.
GIMP for the win
GIMP and Paint.net r the 2 to check out. I use them both. For quick stuff i use paint.net and if i really need a lot of options for something, i use GIMP.
http://www.getpaint.net/
http://www.gimp.org/windows/
+1 Gimp
If you’re on a mac, here’s a review of a few cheaper photoshop competitors: http://jonwhipple.com/blog/2007/10/29/image-is-everything/ It’s a little out of date, but gives a good overview.
If you need to cut photos, 5 Clicks is a good program.
Gotta go with GIMP! I use it at work for various tasks, mostly fixing issues with digital copies of company logos.
Oh shoot thats right. Hes on a Mac. Gimp will work on that but paint.net wont. Some of my Mac friends like something called CinePaint.
http://www.cinepaint.org/
Another vote for GIMP. I also highly recommend openoffice.org for an office suite. No reason to pay out the nose for MS Office when something just as good for 90% of us exists for free.
http://docs.gimp.org/en/
go to section 1.3.2 to see how to dodge and burn in gimp.
Another vote for the GIMP! I’ve been using it for years. It’s not intuitive to learn. But it does everything you want it to do. And it’s open-source freeware. Can’t beat that.
Definitely GIMP. It is great. The only issue for me is that it had a bit of a high learning curve. No more so really than Photoshop, but it’s easier to find Photoshop tutorials to walk you though things.
If/When you start shooting in RAW format (seriously the best thing you can do to get better quality photos), I highly recommend Bibble for RAW processing. It’s not free, but it is wonderful. Then GIMP fills in when you need something a little more.
GIMP will work on OS/X (http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/), and meets your requirements, though I have only used the Linux version, so YMMV. On the plus side, it’s free, so it won’t cost you anything to try it.
Here is a link to a linux distribution called ArtistX that has just about every free image, video and audio editing program known to man. All you have to do is download the ISO file and then burn a bootable DVD. With this DVD in your drive you can reboot the computer and it will actually startup this version of Linux and run everything from RAM and the disk. No installation required. It’s a nice way to try out a new software.
http://www.artistx.org/site2/
Gimp is OK but suffers from the insane complexity and the arcane usage structure of Photoshop. All image viewing and many image editing tasks can be done with Irfanview. (http://www.irfanview.com/) The program has plugins for .mov files and other videos, although VLC is the hot-setup there. Want to do a screen-shot? Press Print-screen key, open Irfanview and v the desktop image into Irfanview. Use Edit/crop to get what you want and then Image/resize-re-sample to make it the right size. You can correct colors as well. There is a basic text inserting tool that gets the job done and the very very very best thing is that the macro feature is actually usable by someone without a CS degree. If you need to take a directory full of images and resize them, Irfanview is the deal. For dodge, burn, and clone I still fire up my 6.0 Photoshop but I boycott Adobe for most everything including Foxit for pdf files.
Gimp - since you’re using a Mac get gimpshop. It’s an easy install and works great. I would use it for everything but it doesn’t yet handle grouping layers.
As for your *second* question, it really depends on whether you want to edit bitmap or vector graphics. The best free bitmap editor (Adobe Photoshop replacement) is GIMP (www.gimp.org), but it does not do vector graphics. If you need a free vector graphics editor (Adobe Illustrator/CorelDraw replacement) you should get Inkscape (www.inkscape.org). Finally, while we’re at it, if you’re looking for a free and open source DTP (desktop publishing, like InDesign or Quark) program, try Scribus (www.scribus.net), and if you need a free and open source office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, slides), get OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org). All of these programs exist for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
If you have a digital camera and you don’t like the software that comes with it, you should consider trying to use Picasa directly to import photos from the camera rather than the supplied software. Seeing as you just got a brand spankin’ new camera, it may not yet be supported by Picasa, but it’s worth trying.
Ok, it’s not free, but once you start getting a huge number of photos something like Aperture or Lightroom will be your best friend in terms of their ability to organize things. Both are nondistructive (as I understand photoshop could be). I use Aperture and it’s truely amazing. The latest version comes with a free dodge and burn plugin. Plus both Aperture and Lightroom will be able to read and process raw images that your Canon can spit out.
For a vector graphics editor, try VectorDesigner. I’ve heard that some people like Inkscape, but you would need to run it under X Window.
Speaking of which, doesn’t the GIMP also need X Window? It’s not a huge deal, but perhaps Radley would prefer a native Mac application.
I use Pixelmator, but I don’t think that has burn and dodge tools like Photoshop. (According to the Pixelmator team, you can still get the job done.) What about Photoshop Elements 6? Does that have burn and dodge tools?
Try Graphic Converter.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned GIMP.
As if Photoshop wasn’t free already…
use GIMP - it’s free and almost as nice as Photoshop.
A second vote to at least look at Irfanview. Strength is speed and simplicity; weakness is probably in photos. I don’t think it has burn/dodge yet, and it’s certainly missing a tone curve and an unsharp mask. (It got a histogram at the last release, which release added Paint capabilities, and it’s due for a new release soon, so I’m hopeful.)
PhotoImpact was better than free when I bought it, due to rebates. (Bonus rebate for buying ANY digital camera within 30 days, including the drugstore $15 special.)
I wish I had RAW mode on my camera (Canon Powershot A series - at least it has manual exposure) but I don’t.
Use Thumbsplus, by Cerious software. You get a 30 day free trial. It’s easy to use and has a heap of effects. I mix this together with Gimp, and with Inkscape, and have a very powerful editing suite that I love.
You can’t dodge and burn with Thumbsplus, but it does so many other things that you’ll wonder how you lived without it.
Your best bet is Graphic Converter. It’s shareware designed specifically for Mac users and has been around for over a decade. It is always being updated and is a powerful graphics editing tool. It can also utilise PhotoShop plugins. Tried and true, it’s the best one out there, unless you’re going the Photo Shop route.
A few free image editors I use:
FastStone Image Viewer
Irfanview
Picasa 2
I’m with almost everyone else, GIMP is the way to go. I run it on 2 machines, and Photoshop CS3 on a third. Photoshop is easier to use, but GIMP works well and is free.
PIxelmator is a great photo editing app when you’ve got a Mac and dont want Photoshop.
pixelmator.com
Try Paint Shop Pro X2 by Corel - has dodging and burning and plenty more. Can be had on sale for under $50 and is well worth it. It can be downloaded for 30 day free trial.
http://swellshot.blogspot.com/2008/06/post-draft-intro-to-photo-editing.html