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Photos that will be exhibited on a professional photography website or selfies that you want to post on Instagram both have one thing in common – they all need to be edited. Editing makes photos presentable to the world, and if you are looking to share yours with the world, you will need a photo editor. Finding the photo editing app that’s right for you can be a daunting task at first, but you need not worry.
We plan to take you through the 10 best free photo editors out there and help you decide the one you need!
10 Best Free Photo Editors for Windows
People often make the mistake of ignoring how important post-processing of images after shooting is. Many times you get that perfect click, but it’s just missing something, the lighting is off, or the angle isn’t quite right. This is why photo editors exist, to help you fix your images, that cherry on top. Editing a picture, however, can be taxing. Both for financial reasons or not having the technical ability for it. This is the purpose of this list, to help you find lightweight photo editors that are easy-to-use, free of cost, and possess adequate editing capabilities.
So without further ado, let us get into our list of the top 10 free photo editors you can get for windows!
1. GIMP
GIMP
GIMP is widely acclaimed to be the top-notch free choice when it comes to photo editors. Its popularity is a testament to its capabilities. If you are a professional graphic designer or photographer, then you and GIMP are going to get along great, as this editor has been finessed and tailored to fulfill the needs of advanced users. GIMP, short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is open-source, meaning it allows its users to save the innovative modifications they make to the source code.
GIMP’s features range from basic actions like retouching, cropping, adjustment, and enhancement tools to professional editing tools like layer masks, customizable brushes, face swapping, content-aware resizing, curve settings, etc. There are endless editing tools and avenues that you can take when using GIMP, such as graphic designing, artwork creation, and so on. When put together, all these top-quality features make GIMP a promising alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Furthermore, there are loads of plug-ins that you can get for free, and the interface is modifiable too.
As I mentioned earlier, GIMP is open source, meaning that there is a huge community behind it that is active and very welcoming. The software is updated regularly and kept in shape so users can continue using it free of cost.
One of the very few shortcomings of GIMP is that it has a steep learning curve. Inexperienced users may have difficulty getting started with it, but most Linux-based software is the case. The cluttered environment also doesn’t favor casual users, but the overall experience is totally worth it, in my opinion. So, if you want to get GIMP for free, all you have to do is click here.
2. Canva
Canva
A decent lightweight photo editor you can get your hands on is Canva. It features a convenient interface with drag-and-drop options that you can use to design all kinds of graphics like presentations, logos, business cards, and also print and share them.
Canva specializes in designing technical data visualizations by allowing the user to create graphs. Embedding and publishing your graphs in presentations or infographics is also possible through Canva. And of course, like all the other photo editing apps mentioned before, Canva is also equipped with impressive filters, effects, and other common basic features. It’s a decent choice for avid social media users, too, as it has loads of templates and editing options for social media posts like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube thumbnails. You can get Canva for free by clicking here.
3. Fotor
Fotor
Fotor is a lightweight editor and a great choice for casual users. It comes with a bunch of features that are solid for innocuous use. The software is equipped with features that are very enticing for younger audiences and selfie fanatics, such as Teeth Whitening or Wrinkle remover. It allows the user full control over the smallest details that can make up for the perfect selfie. Fotor also comes with an easy-to-use interface and simple settings configuration. The Touch-Up feature gives your pictures a total makeover by softening your skin looks, removing shooting imperfections, etc. There’s also Blemish Removal, Lip Tint, Blush, and many more useful tools.
Besides the aforementioned embellishment tools, Fotor offers powerful editing features like adding borders, impressive effects, collage creator, and batch processing. It is compatible with handling many file formats such as TIFF, GIF, JPG, RAW, and more. One of the downsides to Fotor is that you may not have all the wide-ranged, cutting-edge professional tools as Photoshop does, so multi-layered editing may be hard.
The Pro version upgrade for Fotor is free of cost. You can get it from its official website for both 32-bit or 64-bit systems.
4. Polarr
Polarr
Polarr brings a huge set of powerful and unique browser-based photo editing features to the user, embellished by its minimalistic, intuitive, and user-customizable interface.
In Polarr, you can use numerous effects that complement your creative and artistic designs. Polarr allows you to apply overall adjustments to your photos and graphics with tools like Detail, LUT, Noise, Color, etc. But another good thing is that it does not limit the user and provides a great number of editing possibilities, with tools such as Luminance, Radial, Masking, Depth, Brush that let you work your magic on specific parts of the photo. In addition to that is personalized filter and preset creation and management tools you can use to share and organize your photos. You can start using Polarr for free online or download it for Windows from this link.
5. Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express
Upon massive popular demand, Adobe decided to release a free variant of Photoshop called Adobe Photoshop Express. It features an easier learning curve as it cuts down on the complexities of Photoshop and meanwhile inherits lots of powerful tools from it as well. Loaded with numerous tools that will make your images stand out, Photoshop Express is one of the strongest free photo editors you can find out there.
Let’s dive into what you will be able to do with Adobe Photoshop Express. Obviously, you can perform all the basic actions like cropping, resizing, and organizing your images. Some interesting features that casual users love include red-eye removal, blemish removal, perspective correction, pop color, one-click automatic color correction, and more. Photoshop Express is also compatible with other Adobe products. The interface is appealing and intuitive, so beginners would have no trouble getting started with this photo editor. Another notable benefit of using Adobe Photoshop Express is that it is a non-destructive editor.
Having discussed the good, it would be dishonest not to mention some things that Photoshop Express lacks. The range of file formats it can handle is pitifully small, and there is no option to share your images to social media apps like Twitter directly. You can only input images within a select dimension range into the editor (Less than 16 megapixels and the picture width is limited to 8191 pixels).
All things considered, Adobe Photoshop Express is a decent photo editor with a few kinks that will hopefully that will be worked out in the future. Get it now for free from its official website.
6. Photoscape X
PhotoScape X
Photoscape X brings an endless list of cool features and one-click effects to its users, making it one of the most powerful free editors in the game. It is due to these one-click enhancement filters that I highly recommend it to beginners. It is much easier as an amateur to implement your ideas on photos using Photoscape X when the functionality is this easy.
This photo editor comes with thousands of effects, brushes, filters, smart tools, frames in addition to a color picker and a clone stamp tool. Batch processing helps users achieve their bulk editing goals, and the RAW file conversion is definitely appreciable for photographers. Photoscape X encourages creative design and editing through its collage, stickers, text, and merging options. These features are perfect for social media fanatics as they facilitate them with the tools needed to market their online presence fully. Photoscape X supports lots of different file formats, hence further expanding the realm of editing possibilities achievable through this software. If you are looking to obtain an extensive understanding of how different tools work in Photoscape X, there are loads of video tutorials up on their website that you can check out.
The only downside of Photoscape X is that it has some lag issues and doesn’t have any advanced features. If we have you interested enough, get this application from here.
7. Photos Pos Pro
Photos Pos Pro
Photos Pos Pro was created with a huge ambition to create the best photo editor for advanced users and beginners. In this attempt, the developers came up with two different interfaces the user can pick from.
The advanced interface consists of a wider range of tools and manual editing options, complex multi-layer editing, RAW file conversion, brushes, gradients, masks, textures, and stylization options. Post-processing is made efficient by adding a batch processing feature that saves a lot of time. On the other hand, the beginner layout is a lot less cluttered and offers automatic and quick edits for visually appealing results. Tons of enhancement options are distributed on creative filters and effects.
All in all, Photos Pos Pro is a pretty solid choice for beginners to use and experts to try out and see if it works for them. Click here to give a shot to this useful photo editor.
8. inPixio Photo Editor
inPixio Photo Editor
Another solid photo editor for beginners is inPixio; it’s free and has a super-fast installation process.
There are more than 90 filters for you to use, including image and color adjustments, blur, resize, crop, before and after tool, histogram, vignetting effects, and all that jazz. There are also impressive frames you can put on your photo among the visual effects. The website says that the program is particularly designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, and it certainly is true. inPixio is definitely a good choice for amateur and casual users. There is also a helpful guide to help you through editing your photos on their website. If you want to get inPixio for free, you can visit its official website.
9. Paint.NET
Paint.NET
This spot on our recommendation list rightfully belongs to the incredible Paint.NET. It features a clean interface that is easy to navigate around and lots of useful tools and plugins.
Like GIMP, Paint.NET also allows the user to play around with the interface and customize it to their preference. Paint.NET features layered editing, which makes it a slightly intermediate photo editor. It also provides a plugin that extends support for more file formats and adding more effects. Some file formats that are supported are JPEG, BMP, DDS, and TGA. Also, Paint.NET is Windows only, so you cant run it on any other operating system.
Some advanced features are missing, such as dodge or burn; otherwise, it’s a great photo editor. You can download it now from this link.
10. darktable
darktable
We want to end the list with an open-source and completely free photo editor called darktable. This application’s whole gimmick is that it specializes in simplifying the user’s work while bulk-editing and offers a powerful set of tools for non-destructive editing of raw camera files. You can use numerous tools to remedy graphical imperfections in your photos, such as Defringe, Spot Removal, Denoise, and so on. It contains all the necessary tools you need for quick edits as a beginner or some low-end studio work.
Get darktable for free from its official website.
Conclusion
In this list, I went over the 10 best free photo editors you can get for Windows. I mentioned software of varying capabilities and difficulties so all levels of users can get something out of reading my recommendations. Hopefully, you will now have a clearer understanding of which editor you should get for yourself.