There is a lot to be said of commercial software packages such as Adobe Photoshop when it comes to editing your images.  There are many plugins available to increase workflow efficiency. If you are a professional photographer you will be sure to have this as part of your imaging tool kit.  But, the downside is the hefty price tag that goes along with it.

If you can’t justify an arm and a leg to purchase Photoshop there are some great free alternatives.  One such package that I have been using for a few years  which gives you a lot of the same features is the Gimp.  The freely distributed GNU Image Manipulation Program is suitable for tasks such as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.  It is available in many languages and works on lots of operating systems including, linux, windows and Mac OSX.

There are many tutorials available to get you started regardless of your experience level.  Or if you already understand the concepts behind Photoshop then many of the same concepts can be applied to the Gimp.

There is however one major consideration when choosing the Gimp.  The Gimp currently only supports 8Bit TIFF files.  While this will be more than adequate for most users, professional photographers who are trying to bet the best from their images and display the full gamut of colours may find this to be an issue.

I have found this piece of software to be a great asset in my software toolkit both for photo editing and website development.  I would recommend to anyone who needs a fully functional editor at an affordable price.

• Visit: The Gimp