# Can anyone recommend me to a good FREE photo editor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038 "2004-12-21T20:26:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/1 "2004-12-21T20:26:41Z")
I have tried a couple from [downloads.com](http://downloads.com), but they keep coming up short, and I don’t even need anything complicated. It has to be something that can open gifs jpegs, and bmps, and it HAS to be free. It’s for my company, and when my computer crashed I lost the old one, and they are not hurrying to get me a new one. But I NEED one. I work for a not-for-profit, FYI, so you’re helping the needy! Please? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/2 "2004-12-21T21:01:31Z")
Why not download [Picasa](http://www.picasa.com/content/download.php?tid=Y2NpZD0zNTU4JmN2PTE%3D). It has quite a few editing capabilities, and it is extremely user friendly. You’ll find it very useful…And Free is a good price. ---
**Author:** ![Alvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/3 "2004-12-21T21:04:38Z")
[GIMP](http://www.gimp.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/4 "2004-12-21T21:11:03Z")
I second Picasa. I used to be a big fan (and paid supporter) of ACDSee… but now, Picasa’s the fourth thing I install on every computer I use. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/5 "2004-12-21T21:15:59Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Why not download [Picasa](http://www.picasa.com/content/download.php?tid=Y2NpZD0zNTU4JmN2PTE%3D). It has quite a few editing capabilities, and it is extremely user friendly. You’ll find it very useful…And Free is a good price. 4,395 posts? That’s quite a bit. Anyway, thank you, just downloaded it! ---
**Author:** ![FyreFiend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/919ad9/32.png) [@FyreFiend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FyreFiend)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/6 "2004-12-21T21:18:13Z")
> [@Alvis](#): > > [GIMP](http://www.gimp.org/) While I use and love The GIMP it is pretty complex. If someone wants to just remove red-eye and shrink a photo it’s overkill ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/7 "2004-12-21T21:30:14Z")
Ok, here’s the problems. Picasa doesn’t seem to want to let me open the ‘share’ drive on our server, without moving the files over. And I can’t figure out how to download GIMP, or actualy, which link it is. There seems to be a bunch! I use PSP at home and I have quite a bit of editing capabilities, do I don’t mind complex! Please help some more! ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/8 "2004-12-21T21:39:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Ok, here’s the problems. > > Picasa doesn’t seem to want to let me open the ‘share’ drive on our server, without moving the files over. > > And I can’t figure out how to download GIMP, or actualy, which link it is. There seems to be a bunch! > > I use PSP at home and I have quite a bit of editing capabilities, do I don’t mind complex! Please help some more! [http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html](http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html) You’ll want to download GTK+ for Windows and The Gimp for Windows (assuming, of course, that you run Windows), as well as the GIMP Help, just in case. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/9 "2004-12-21T23:43:52Z")
I’ll second GIMP. It’s one of the rare wonderful things in the world that is still done out of love and pride and just for the thrill of the hunt, and not commercialized, exploitized and leeched of value in order to maximize someone’s profit. And it’s useful. And if you need help using it, you will find plenty of it here. Just ask. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![intervega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ea924/32.png) [@intervega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/intervega)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/10 "2004-12-22T04:19:33Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I have tried a couple from [downloads.com](http://downloads.com), but they keep coming up short, and I don’t even need anything complicated. It has to be something that can open gifs jpegs, and bmps, and it HAS to be free. It’s for my company, and when my computer crashed I lost the old one, and they are not hurrying to get me a new one. But I NEED one. I work for a not-for-profit, FYI, so you’re helping the needy! > > Please? If you have XP [Paint.NET](http://Paint.NET) is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows XP. [Paint.NET](http://Paint.NET) is jointly developed at Washington State University with additional help from Microsoft, and is meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with all Windows operating systems. The programming language used to create [Paint.NET](http://Paint.NET) is C#, with GDI+ extensions. [Paint.NET](http://Paint.NET) has many of the powerful features that expensive commercial applications have, including the ability to use layers. This is the second semester that [Paint.NET](http://Paint.NET) has been a project at Washington State University, and we have the goal of adding as much functionality as expensive commercial applications provide, but of course, for free! In the spirit of all this freedom, we welcome any suggestions, as well as provide the source code free of charge for anyone who wishes to tinker with it. Please explore this website, download the software and try out many of the things you would do on those expensive commercial programs [Get it Here](http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/) ---
**Author:** ![intervega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ea924/32.png) [@intervega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/intervega)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/11 "2004-12-22T04:25:25Z")
PS: It works with windows 2000 98 & me not sure ---
**Author:** ![Stealing\_Light](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@Stealing\_Light](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealing_Light)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/12 "2004-12-22T04:35:19Z")
I really like IrfanView, 'cause it’s easy and simple and opens up very quickly. It’s great for just opening easily and resizing, plus it has some other effects. I got it from [Downloads.com](http://Downloads.com). ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/13 "2004-12-22T04:35:42Z")
Picasa is evil (well I think so anyway). It places a picasa.ini file in every directory it finds an image. That sucks when it also does it to your webserver directories. Maybe there something to turn it off, but I couldn’t spot it. Evil I say, evil. Try [http://www.irfanview.com](http://www.irfanview.com) depending on what you need it to do. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/14 "2004-12-22T05:50:34Z")
Since you’re looking for advice and opinions more than hard facts, I’ll move this thread to the IMHO forum. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/15 "2004-12-22T05:54:15Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > 4,395 posts? That’s quite a bit. She said that like “I’m not sure I trust the advice of someone who has nothing to do but post to the SDMB all day every day.” Irfanview is a great program for what it does, but it’s not an image editor. What it does is display (very quickly), and let you crop, rotate, resize, etc., but not actually do paintbrush-type editing. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/16 "2004-12-22T06:40:52Z")
Except for [paint.Net](http://paint.Net), which I haven’t tried, The GIMP is the absolute winner, hands down. I just can’t believe it’s free. ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/17 "2004-12-22T07:01:36Z")
Have you ever got a photo CD from Wal-Mart? It comes with Microsoft Picture-It Express, which is fairly simple to use, and is how I made these: One of my wallpapers: > **[EXS](http://exs.cx)** > > Votre magazine de presse My sig elsewhere: > **[EXS](http://exs.cx)** > > Votre magazine de presse ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/18 "2004-12-22T13:51:04Z")
[PhotoFiltre](http://www.photofiltre.com/) is an excellent program. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-me-to-a-good-free-photo-editor/281038/19 "2004-12-22T14:20:41Z")
I have Win98, so this GIMP thing sounds pretty good. I’m going to go download it right now. I need to be able to work with all of our images, all over the share drive. As for editing, I don’t do a lot, but whenever anyone needs even the most minor of adjustments they have to come to me because apparently they can’t remember simple instructions. (Right-click. Select Copy. Alt-Tab. Select Paste.) > [@CurtC](#): > > She said that like “I’m not sure I trust the advice of someone who has nothing to do but post to the SDMB all day every day.” 😃