In March this year our creative theme will be digital image editing. Image editing software can help you adjust digital images in every conceivable way, from resizing a logo to restoring a treasured photo.
We’ll bring you video explainers for these applications:
- GIMP, a completely free image editor that’s suitable for beginners
- Corel PaintShop Pro, which can be purchased for a one-off fee and is suitable for beginners and enthusiasts
- Adobe PhotoShop, which is targeted at the professional market and paid for by monthly or yearly subscription as part of a wider ‘Creative Suite’ of programs.
GIMP
You can download GIMP for FREE right now for your PC or MAC: GIMP download
GIMP has been a ‘go to’ image editor for newbies for many years. As it’s completely free, you can download it now and start having a look around ready for March!
Corel PaintShop Pro
You can download a free 30-day trial of Paintshop Pro. If you plan to join us for the introductory explainers in March, you may prefer to wait until then before installing the trial.
PaintShop Pro has been available since 1990 and can be purchased for a one-off fee of under $100 / £100, with regular discounts being offered. It’s PC only (so not available for Macs). At time of writing the latest version is Paintshop Pro 2023 – There is no sign of a 2024 version just yet.
Adobe PhotoShop
So good, it’s a verb! You can download a free 30 day trial of the full Adobe Creative Suite (which is refered to as ‘Creative Cloud’). If you’ll be joining us for the digital imaging introductory explainers in March, you may want to wait until then before installing it. Note we’ll also be delving into After Effects later this year, which is part of the same suite. If you’ve already used a free trial you may not be able to do this again later in the year.
PhotoShop is the ultimate image editing toolkit, providing all the tools you could dream of and many more besides. In the last couple of years updates have continued the move towards AI-driven adjustment and creative features. This software may be overkill for occasional users – If you’d like to get a feel for PhotoShop without commiting to a monthly subscription, have a look at Photoshop Elements which can be purchased for a one-off fee of under $100 / £100. We’ll be introducing very simple PhotoShop workflows suitable for beginners in March.
Online image editors
As you might expect, it’s possible to make basic image edits online without needing to download a full application. There are lots of online editors available. One of our favourites for quick and easy edits is PIXLR.com, which includes plenty of functionality for free:
Other Options
There are many more image editors out there, all competing for your attention and offering a different mix of functionality and specialisms. Here are a couple worth checking out for their unique positions in the market:
LUMINAR NEO is a subscription-based, AI-driven editor. Results can be impressive, but make sure the types of images it works best with will match your own use-case. For example, it’s excellent at sky replacement, but how often will you actually need to replace a sky?
AFFINITY PHOTO offers similar functionality to Paintshop Pro, can be purchased for a single, low fee, and is part of a suite of creative programs available for PC, Mac and iPad:
There you go! Get downloading and see you in March 🙂
