Open Source One

There are several free photo editing software options available today. Some of the most basic free image editing software comes already packaged with some operating systems. Mac’s iLife package includes Apple iPhoto software that allows you to perform basic tasks like cropping, removing red eye, and improving the color and contrast of photos. For Window’s users, the standard package includes Windows Photo Gallery, which provides simple editing tools to improve the quality of photographs. Both free software options also help you organize your photos and share them via email.

Picasa

If you’re looking to upgrade from these basic free editing options, Google’s free Picasa photo editing software is an excellent choice. Picasa is user friendly and offers a wide range of editing tools to help improve your photos. The software includes a retouch brush for editing just part of an image, a great editing option typically not available in free editing software packages. Another great editing tool included with Picasa allows you to remove scratches or blemishes from photos, making it possible to touch up scanned photos. Picasa also includes basic editing tools that allow you to crop photos, adjust the exposure and color, and eliminate red eye. Picasa is an excellent option for organizing your digital photographs, and also makes sharing photos easy with integrated options for uploading photos to the internet, creating slideshows and movies, and sharing photos via email. Picasa is available for both Mac and Windows users.

Picnik

Picnik is another excellent option for free photo editing software. Picnik provides basic editing options for cropping, resizing, and rotating photos. Picnik includes the same editing format as Picasa with the additional benefit of being able to overlay text on a photo. One option Picknik is lacking is a photo organizing option. However, it offers many benefits as a photo editing tool and integrates directly with the internet, making it an excellent option for bloggers or anyone wanting to edit and upload photos to any number of social networking sites. Picnik is the default photo editor for the social networking site Flickr, and new plug-in options allow you to take screen shots of entire webpages. Picknik is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux users.

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

An even more sophisticated free editing software option is GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program. In addition to basic editing tools, GIMP also offers an option to correct the distortion caused by the camera lens, and includes a cloning tool. GIMP is available to Mac, Windows, and Linux users, as well as those using OpenSolaris and FreeBSD operating systems.

Photoshop Express

Adobe’s Photoshop Express is another free photo editing software option that includes basic editing tools mentioned above plus up to 2GB of photo storage space.

IrfanView

IrfanView is a tried and tested free image editing software option famous for its ability to save rotated JPEG files without reducing the resolution. IrfanView also allows you to make slideshows and edit video as well as still images.

The options available for free image editing software make editing and uploading digital photos a fun and economical task.

For more information on photo editing software, visit http://www.pfe.com