10 Best Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13 (Software Bundle)
To download: USD 149.99

Adobe Photoshop Elements is a one-time purchase, and it contains enough features to gladden the heart of any amateur.

What’s new in Photoshop Elements 13:-

• A tool especially designed to create profile, and cover pictures for the most widespread social network today, Facebook.
• A tool that suggests ways to crop a picture.
• Photomerge Compose: A tool with the ability to pull elements from various pictures and put them together in a different picture, in a simple, copy-paste style, to create new, realistic-looking photographs.
• Guided Edits: A tool that allows users to very easily create grayscale (black and white) images that have a single color popping out.
• A tool that can remove unnecessary objects from photographs, and then fills in the background intelligently, based on other elements in the image.
• The availability of a number of filters (effects).
• Support for the new Retina HD monitors for Mac, and access to online Help resources.

For Lightroom Mobile, iOS 7 and above (syncs only with Photoshop Lightroom 5.4)

Lightroom Mobile
Free

Photoshop Lightroom is a part of Adobe’s Creative Suite of software, and therefore, in order to use it (just like in the case of Photoshop) one needs to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, and pay a monthly or annual subscription fee.

What’s new in Photoshop Lightroom 5:-

• The tool for image correction has been transformed into a brush, and the area within which image manipulation can be done is no longer limited to a circle.
• Synchronizes with the iOS application, Lightroom Mobile, which allows users to edit and organize photographs on the move.
• Upright: A tool that allows photographs to be straightened easily.
• Tools for highlight and shadow recovery, spot removal, noise reduction, and much more.
• Users can even develop their own preset effects or filters that can be applied to photographs.

The best part―it is completely free of charge, being part of GNU’s suite of free, open-source suite of software resources meant for developers.

What’s new in Gimp 2.8:-

• A new UI design with a single window, that allows a multi-column view of various tool bars, along with a multi-tabbed file mechanism to view files.
• The various tools available can be easily located by searching for the tags associated with them.
• A tool to lock pixels, with which certain portions of the image can remain immune to editing.
• Improved support for shortcut keys.
• New filters, features, and support for a wide variety of plug-ins.
• The ability to port features that were available in previous versions of Gimp to the present one.

It is also lightweight, completely free of cost, and also, some of its previous versions are open-source, which means that aspiring application developers can modify the software itself.

What’s new in Paint.NET 4:-

• A completely revamped UI, in a light gray color scheme with a gray canvas background.
• Copy Merged: A tool that allows users to copy pixels from one selection archive and paste them in another without much ado, unlike in previous versions where more steps needed to be taken.
• The Color Picker tool has been improved, and it can be used to sample even just the current layer.
• The option to alternate between Normal, and any layer blend mode.
• The various layers can be reordered using simple drag-and-drop.
• Clipping of sections can be done in collaboration with anti-aliasing.

PicMonkey Royale
Free trial for 30 days
Monthly subscription: USD 4.99
Annual subscription: USD 33

Developed by former employees of Google who had designed the Google-acquired, popular, yesteryear online image editing service (which Google then went on to shut down in 2012), namely, Piknik, PicMonkey works on the ‘freemium’ model, meaning, while its services can be employed at no cost; those who register as members, at a price, are given access to special features, including ad-free use.

Amazing Features Available in PicMonkey:-

• The ability to make picture collages.
• A tool to add text to images in a wide range of fonts.
• The availability of a whole host of tools to touch up portraits and other photographs, from airbrushing and spot clearing to teeth whitening and superimposing a spray-tan on the skin.
• A number of filters and effects, which even allow used to modify the texture of the image.
• The ability to add interesting photo frames to pictures, and superimpose stickers.

For Pixlr Web Apps, Adobe Flash plug-in required

For Pixlr Express, iOS, as well Android version requirements vary with device

Signing up for a free Pixlr account gives access to more features

Premium yearly subscription at USD 14.99 to unlock full desktop software

Moreover, it is essentially free to use, except in the case of users wishing to sign up for a Pro membership in order to access advanced features.

How images can be improved using Pixlr:-

• A tool that allows effects to be applied only to selected elements as opposed to the whole image.
• A wide variety of filters (effects), called Masks are available.
• Basic effects such as sharpening, improving contrast, blurring, softening, or the application of a glow, can be concentrated on certain sections of the image, and the user is given complete control.
• More than one effect can be blended, and different layers can also be blended using Blending Modes.
• Gradients and artificial light sources can be added to images to enhance them.

Priced reasonably, Acorn 4 is the perfect alternative for those who do not require the infinite functionality of Photoshop, yet need a strong base of powerful tools that can be used in both personal (such as to post pictures on social networking websites) and professional scenarios (like to create graphics for the company website).

What’s possible with Acorn 4:-

• Non destructive effects, meaning users can layer, substitute, and undo effects as and when they feel, and be rest assured that a back-up of their original photograph is maintained.
• A layered approach, just like in Adobe Photoshop. More than one layer can be selected and operated on at a time too.
• Rotation of text and shapes as per the artist’s whims.
• Vector operations, like union, subtraction, difference, exclusion, curves, and much more can be performed on images.
• A mind-blowing collection of filters and effects.
• Creation of PNGs, GIFs, and similar formats is supported.
• The ability to use Javascript and other programming languages to automate the software.

Pixelmator iOS app for iPad
To download: USD 9.99

In spite of being filled to the brim with features, not to mention the new, revamped UI which makes the software quite aesthetically attractive, Pixelmator 3.3 is easy to use, and is thus more suited for the typical Mac user than the formidable Photoshop.

What’s new in Pixelmator 3.3:-

• Complete integration with the iPad app, as Handoff is supported.
• Allows users to store pictures on their iCloud Drive.
• It allows users to use Pixelmator tools to fix images on other apps too, like Mail.
• Although not exclusive to this version, the Repair tool is what makes this app stand apart, as like in Photoshop, it enables users to remove certain objects of the image and uses intelligent algorithms to fill in the background.

What’s new in PhotoPlus X7:-

• Lens Correction: Corrects camera lens-generated errors like chromatic aberrations, distortions, and vignetting.
• Easy photo straightening.
• Effects can be optionally applied to selected sections of the image only, if desired.
• Can repair creases and tears in photographs.
• The software comes with a large number of interesting color and light-manipulation-related effects.

What’s new in PaintShop Pro X7:-

• The tool that allows objects in an image to be deleted, and backgrounds to be filled in by intelligently analyzing surrounding elements.
• A tool to cut images in the shape of text, or actual geometric shapes.
• Smart Edge: To make sure that effects lie within certain sections of the image only.
• A tool that enables drag and drop of layers across images.
• Support for raw image manipulation and external plug-ins.
• A wide range of filters (effects), touch-up tools, and other editing possibilities.