I am trying to compile a list of freewares that one can use for editing photos. Please share what other tools are available free or at a small fees. I am sure not a lot of us (amateurs) need to use expensive photoshop for post processing. And we should not use pirated softwares. Also if the below tools are worth it, please donate to the developers. Hopefully, they can keep these free if they have enough to keep their passion alive.
Please also share your experiences in using them. Also, do note that we are capturing freewares and not sharewares or trialwares.
And do not recommend software that you have not used before, are buggy and contain adware/spyware or viruses. Also note that while this list is recommended by fellow CSer, as each computer has different specs and is setup differently, your experience may differ. So use at your own risks.
If you are recommending a software. Please use the below format to facilitate cut and paste.
[category] software title - url
List of freewares recommended by Csers:
Photo Management
My Photo Index -
http://www.myphotoindex.com/
Cornice -
http://wxglade.sourceforge.net/extra/cornice.html
Portable Cornice -
http://portableapps.com/apps/graphic...rnice_portable
XnView -
http://www.xnview.com/en/index.html
Portable XnView -
http://portableapps.com/apps/graphic...nview_portable
Faststone Image Viewer -
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
Full fledge Editor - trying to replace Photoshop
Gimp -
http://www.gimp.org/
Portable Gimp -
http://portableapps.com/apps/graphic.../gimp_portable
Paint.net -
http://www.getpaint.net/
Quick fix Photo Editors
Picasa -
http://picasa.google.com/
Photoscape -
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php
Fotografix -
http://lmadhavan.com/software/fotografix/
HDR
SNS-HDR Lite -
http://www.sns-hdr.com/index.html
Picturenaut -
http://www.hdrlabs.com/picturenaut/index.html
Luminance HDR (v2 is free but buggy) -
http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/
Watermark
Fast Stone Photo Resizer -
http://faststone.org/
Panorama
Hugin -
http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
Microsoft ICE -
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/ :light:
Noise Reduction
Picture Cooler 2010 -
http://denoiser.shorturl.com/
Portrait Retouch
CleanSkinFX -
http://www.mediachance.com/digicam/cleanskin.htm
Eliminate Hotpixel
Hotpixel Eliminator -
http://www.mediachance.com/digicam/hotpixels.htm
Dust Removal
Polaroid -
http://web.archive.org/web/20020612...roid.com/service/software/poladsr/pdsr1_0.exe
Raw to Jpg convertor
Easy2Convert Raw to JPG -
http://www.easy2convert.com/raw2jpg/
Instant Jpeg from RAW -
http://www.rawworkflow.com/instant-j...m-raw-utility/
RawTherapee -
http://www.rawtherapee.com/ {1 report of PC crash}
Data Recovery
Recuva -
http://www.piriform.com/recuva
Fisheye to rectilinear conversion
Rectfish -
http://www.acapixus.dk/software/rectfish/index.htm
Photoshop plugins - of course you must first have PS
Photoshop Action Exchange -
http://www.atncentral.com/
Gimp plugins
G'MIC, noise reduction -
http://gmic.sourceforge.net/gimp.shtml
UFraw, read raw -
http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/
Data Backup - use at your own risk.
Allway Sync -
http://allwaysync.com/, replication with another PC or usb storage.
Amanda -
http://amanda.zmanda.com/, opensource server/client backup
Monitor calibration
Hex2Bit -
http://www.hex2bit.com/products/product_mcw.asp
updated : 03/12/2011
key:
:light: newly added
