Image editing software can cost quite a lot of money. What if you could use free and open source software to achieve the same goals? Today I thought I would do a overview of 3 very capable image editors that are free and open source. And they all work on both Linux, Windows and Mac OS.
This is very useful for creators on Steemit that want to do some editing to images they're gonna use in their posts, both for those that just want to add some text and logo and for those that want to do some more advanced editing.
I'll be using the same image in all the screenshots below, and you can see the original at the top of this post. Image is from Pexels, which is a great site for free stock photos. Highly recommended if you need a image for your posts!
1. GIMP
Website: https://www.gimp.org/
GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is probably the best known free open source image editor out there. It is a full-featured image editor, and the most often recommendation for people looking for free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
Some of the features include:
- Customizable Interface
- Photo Enhancement tools
- Digital Retouching
- Good support of different file formats
When you first open up it can be a bit confusing, since all tools is independent floating windows. If you want a single window, you can easily change this by selecting the Windows menu in main window and selecting "Single-Window Mode". This is the mode I prefer to run.
You'll get the hang of it pretty quick, at least the basics. Take some time to learn where different tools are and how to display different tool boxes. If there is something you want to do but don't know how to, GIMP has a pretty decent tutorial section on their website. I recommend checking those out, it covers the basics, some photo editing and a bit of programming.
2. Pinta
Website: https://pinta-project.com/pintaproject/pinta/
Pinta is the simplest of the three editors I recommend here today, but it's still powerful enough to do most of the things one need. At least that is my experience. Pinta is my go-to image editor when I just want to put something together quickly.
It has all the features you need:
- The most common drawing tools
- Over 35 adjustments and effects
- Multiple layers
- Full history so you can go back and undo changes
- Customizable interface
Pinta is also, at least partially, translated into over 55 languages.
My take on Pinta is that it's more than Paint, and less than GIMP. The perfect choice for a lot of simple tasks, which if we're honest, is probably what we need an image editor for 90% of the time. Pinta also has a good tutorial section on their website that is worth checking out.
3. Inkscape
Website: https://inkscape.org/en/
Inkscape is an open source editor for vector graphics, like Adobe Illustrator. Vector graphics are used in design of logos and other things that needs to be scalable. Vector graphics can be scaled to different resolutions without loss of quality. I included this in case some of you need software to create logos or other design for your branding on Steemit. Or, if you out source logo design, you can use Inkscape to edit the project files if you want to do simple changes to your existing design.
Some of the features are:
- Flexible drawing tools
- Decent selection of addons
- Good file format compability
- Powerful text tool
Check out their website for list of full features.
Inkscape isn't the best image editor for those quick and dirty edits, but it's really powerful if you want to do more serious designs. I've just played around with Inkscape on a couple of occasions and am nowhere near an expert. What I use it for is what I mentioned, doing small edits to existing design where I have the project files and can do edits without loosing quality. If you want to learn Inkscape, check out the learning section on their website. They have both written tutorials and user-made video tutorials.
Bonus choice for those on Windows
I would like to end this post with an image editor that only runs on Windows, but could be good choices for those of you on Windows.
Paint.NET is pretty good in my opinion. Downside for me is that it only runs on Windows, so it's been a few years since I tried it last. I'm sure it's only better now that more development has gone in to it. According to their website it "features an intuitive and innovative user interface" with a lot of the tools you would need for most image editing. They have a good tutorial section and a active online community.
It could be worth checking out if you're a Windows user on the hunt for an image editor.
Thank you for checking out this post. I'm sure that one of the image editors mentioned in this post will fit your needs if you're looking for a free image editor to use. There are also a lot more options out there, a quick search on Google should give you even more to check out if you didn't find one that fits your needs here. I can only recommend the ones that I personally use and love.
