Inexpensive Photo Editing Software


We have a client who would like to purchase Photoshop to edit their product images however they don’t want to spend the money. Besides Photoshop, what image editing apps do you recommend in the sub $200 market?


10 responses to “Inexpensive Photo Editing Software”

  1. The Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/)? It’s free and meant to be a photoshop clone. I wouldn’t know since I started using Gimp as soon as I got into image editing, but it feels pretty simple to me. On the even better side, because it’s an open community, there are heaps of free tutorials that show you really simple and really cool effects.

  2. Thank you to everyone for the recommendations. I had forgotten about Paint Shop Pro and did not even know Corel had bought it.

    As far a Gimp goes. I’ve never tried it. I should download and give it a whirl.

  3. Adobe has a cut-down version of Photoshop that is, to most people, identical to regular Photoshop and is less than $100: Photoshop Elements. They pulled out what I think are the exact right things to pull out of regular Photoshop to create it. Elements doesn’t have CMYK, the more advanced typography controls, etc. The net result is a $100 Photoshop that is much like Paint Shop Pro, but still from Adobe and works like Photoshop.

    For free, there’s GIMP and a more PS-like adaptation of it called GimpShop. There’s also Paint.NET, which is a bit simpler and still free.

    For Illustration purposes, Inkscape works pretty well and for digramming things like flowcharts, Dia. Both of those are free.

  4. Interesting twist. I have used Paint Shop Pro for many years and initially quite liked it and found it quite easy to use. However, I have upgraded many times to newer versions and with each version, I seem to like it less and find it harder to use. I came to this page looking for a possible replacement for Paint Shop Pro, now that I see yet another version is out.

  5. I need a simple software for editing,fixing redeye,cropping,and lighting (darker>lighter) the pictures…I do not need any Albums or Folders that grab every picture on my hard drive and stick in albums or folders that most all of them do… Would like to have control over what happens with the four items mentioned…Thank You for any
    assistance….. William

  6. What about Serif Photo Imaging applications?

    I have already bought two versions starting with PhotoPlus 8.0. and also their AlbumPlus 4.0 which is a Picasa type application.

    Highly recommendable.

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