If you can't afford to purchase software, you can still
find free software to create and edit images. Some of this software is
developed by individuals, and some is feature limited or an earlier
version of a more advanced program. In some rare instances, there are no
strings attached, but most often you will need to provide information
to the company by registering, or endure ads or "nag" screens.
© The GIMP
GIMP
is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for
Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the "free Photoshop," it does have an
interface and features similar to Photoshop. Because it's
volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates
could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for OS X
without significant problems. GIMP is not compatible with Mac OS 9 and
earlier.
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© Seashore
Seashore
is an open source image editor for Cocoa. It is based around The GIMP's
technology and uses the same native file format, but was developed as a
Mac OS X application and not a port of The GIMP. According to the
developer, "It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both
text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel
editing." Although it does not yet have a lot of features and
development has been slow, many users prefer it over running The GIMP
because it doesn't require X11 to run, and is therefore much easier to
install.
Pinta
is a free pixel-based image editor for Mac OS X. One of the most
interesting aspects of Pinta is that it is based on the Windows image
editor
Paint.NET.
Pinta offers the basic drawing tools that you'd expect from an image
editor, as well as some more advanced features, such as layers and a
range of image adjustment tools. These features mean that Pinta is also a
viable tool for users looking for an application to allow them to edit
and improve their digital photos.
Pixen is a free (donation-ware) graphics editor for Mac OS X. It has been specially designed for
pixel artists,
but is also suitable for other types of pixel-based illustration and
animation. It offers layers capabilities, animation features, a tile
view, and features for working with restricted palettes. You can even
assign a separate tool and color to the right mouse button.
Image
Tricks is a fun and easy to use free image editor for Mac OS X. It is
an application that encourages experimentation and offers the ability
for a wide range of effects to be combined and applied to pictures. It
is an ideal application for less experienced users to achieve creative
results, thanks to the range of filters and masks that are available.
There is also a paid Pro version that offers more filters, though you
can see the effects that they produce in the free version, without
saving them.
GraphicConverter
is a multi-purpose graphics tool for converting, viewing, browsing, and
editing hundreds of image types on the Macintosh platform. If there is a
file format or image processing task that your existing software can't
handle, chances are that GraphicConverter can do it if you're willing to
tackle the learning curve. GraphicConverter is a worthwhile tool to
have on-hand, but needs some serious work in the usability department.
GraphicConverter is not free, but you can use the shareware without time
limitation if you don't need batch processing features.
Technically,
Picasa does not meet my criteria for a photo editor because it does not
allow you to do pixel-level editing. However, I have received so many
reader suggestions for Picasa, that I am including it here as an
honorary mention. Although it does have some basic editing functions, it
is primarily photo organizing software, and as such it is listed in my
Top Digital Photo Software for Family Photos list.
Reader-recommended
Chocoflop has been discontinued, but it still available for free and
runs on Leopard. Chocoflop offers non-destructive image editing,
painting and selection tools, dozens of adjustment filters and effects,
RAW support, rich text, and CoreImage filters support. Currently the
only documentation for Chocoflop is a sparsely-populated wiki or the
user forum so learning it may be a challenge if you have little photo
editing experience.
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