best free photo software?

[Giorgio]

im sure its been asked hundreds of times, but whats the best FREE Software for photoediting? anything close to photoshop?

[LondonerUpNorth]

The GIMP in my opinion is one of the best.
http://www.gimp.org/

[Giorgio]

thank you alot. iv downloaded it and i huess i have to kinda learn it.

[LondonerUpNorth]

Yeh, it's got almost all the facilities of photoshop but (like photoshop), it takes a while to get the hang of. Just mess around with it and check out the help for specific tools. It's a good program.

[Cipiripi]

best free photo software?

for Mac, iPhoto 5

[divi0013]

i would say gimp, i've never used it but i hear it's really good

[crazyjoeda]

for Mac, iPhoto 5

I agree nothing else comes close.

[STR]

The GIMP in my opinion is one of the best.
http://www.gimp.org/

Agreed. I use it all the time.

[Medofish]

Best free software for panoramas? Both, vertical and horizontal?

[Mr.Gunther]

Picasa is a good one from Google

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

[Nick in Atlanta]

Gimp is good, but very complex, at least to me. Everything that dramatically changes photos has many steps and uses a lingo that can be confusing. I've looked at a lot of Photoshop how-to books and it does seem to be very similar to Gimp, and the price is right. FREE!!!!

Give it a try, but make sure you have at least 384mbs (I had 128 and added 256) of ram or even 512mbs.

[Nick in Atlanta]

Picasa is a good one from Google

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

I had the first version of Picasa and found it too simple with very few tools. Did you have the first version and do you find the new version to be more versatile?

[Soulbrotha]

infranview

[Giorgio]

thanks guys.

im using gimp and trying to get used to it. it has heaps of features. i just hate all the windows. i wish it were one whole interface

[LondonerUpNorth]

Yeh that's a bit annoying, but on the other hand if you've got two screens like me, it can be useful. Stick all the toolboxes on one screen and the workspace on the other.

[Giorgio]

i guess im just used to the one window type thing. im sure when im used to it it will be great :okay:

[Nick in Atlanta]

There is a tutorial on www.gimp.org, I believe, that tells you to read this first or something of that nature. It shows you which windows are the most important and tells you to make them smaller windows and move them to the sides of your monitor. I did that and it helped organize my screen a lot.

[Phobos]

infranview
I use that too and I'm very satisfied with it.It's a very small program(less than 1MB)and it has many features.It also converts file formats with a perfect image quality.

[Nick in Atlanta]

Thanks for the info on Irfanview. I used it last night and it is definitely much easier to use than Gimp and does more than Picasa, but after loading all the plug-ins I can really get it to do a little more sophisticated work. I'm going to mess around with it for a while before I decide whether to go back to Gimp.

[RLJSlick]

im sure its been asked hundreds of times, but whats the best FREE Software for photoediting? anything close to photoshop?

http://www.faststone.org/

[Nick in Atlanta]

I downloaded a shareware version of Helicon Filter 3.10 a few days ago and I have begun to test it out. Has anyone had any experience with this photoediting software and what is their opinion of it? I do know that it was just released in August.

It seems to have a basic version that you get to keep for free and an advanced version which you can turn on for free for 30 days, when you need to pay $20 to keep the advanced tools. The basic/advanced features can be switched off and on so you can see what you get if you buy it after 30 days. Any opinions on this program would be helpful.

By the way, I've got Gimp 2.2 which I'm trying to learn from one of the few books about it that are available. It is only 800 pages long!!!

Soulbrotha has recommended another free program called Irfanview, but I have found that it is not as flexible as I would like. It seems like it's better at altering many photos rather than having the features to really bring to life one photo at a time.

If anyone downloads Helicon 3.10 send me a PM or use this forum to tell me how good you think it is. Sorry, but you'll have to look for Helicon 3.10 on Google because I forgot the links I used to find it and download it. :)