PhotoShine's biggest problem is its interface, which is hard to navigate, doesn't resize properly, and just looks a old-fashioned. Improvements here would make the app much, much better. If you can get past this, though, PhotoShine is packed with loads of features, frames and scenarios that will allow you to personalize your photos for almost any occasion you can imagine.

To use PhotoShine, just hit the green folder icon and you can open your photos. Once they're in, you can re-orient, resize and move them, as well as applying some color effects, like gray, old and sketch. Some of PhotoShine's effects are better than others, though, so check them all out before saving.

Where PhotoShine really stands out, however, is in its effects, frames and other features. There are bunches of them for you to play with, organized into strange-sounding categories called things like Baby, Simulation and Magazine. The great thing about PhotoShine, is that simply clicking on the effect is enough to insert your image very accurately - it detects people and faces very well, and even if it doesn't, you can change them by double-clicking again.

PhotoShine's effects are certainly not to everyone's taste, but if you're looking for some fun for your photos, it's worth checking out.

Download PhotoShine Mini 4.0 in Softonic

Introduction

PhotoFiltre is a relatively small application and unlike Photoshop, will install and launch very quickly. The interface, loaded with all the features and options, can be confusing at first glance but you'll soon get used to it. The right side is composed of the shape and drawing tools and an optimizable color palette. The top bar has all the essential image editing and modification options. PhotoFiltre sadly doesn't let you customize the interface and choose your favorite tools.

Features

Among all the image modification tools, of particular usefulness is the quick contrast/hue and saturation buttons because you can check out the effects and immediately and easily correct the image if you're not satisfied with its quality. If you trust PhotoFiltre, you can also let it adjust these parameters automatically.

Like any self-respecting image editing application, PhotoFiltre includes the most widely used filters to transform your image, but if you need to make really significant changes, you'll find yourself limited. Furthermore, unlike Photoshop, PhotoFiltre doesn't include layers, making it more challenging to work on different elements of the image separately.

Like the excellent free image viewer Irfanview, PhotoFiltre covers the majority of image formats and can batch process and convert images rapidly. PhotoFiltre has five different zoom options yet they seem to be more or less similar. The magnifier is probably less precise than the drop down percentage pane, and the auto zoom adjusts the image’s size according to PhotoFiltre's window size.

The image explorer is located at the bottom of the screen, and if you set it according to your image file you'll be able to quickly preview all your pictures. However, if you work with multiple image files, it can quickly become confusing, as you’ll have to open up an explorer tree pane every time to look for your pictures.

PhotoFiltre contains all the essential tools and options to edit and optimize pictures.

Download PhotoFiltre 7.1.1 in Softonic

Photoshop is generally considered to be the standard for photo editing. While it's undoubtedly excellent and very powerful, it is also really expensive and is much more advanced than is necessary for most people.

Complete toolset

PhotoFiltre Studio offers many of the same functions as Photoshop, but it's a bit easier to use and a lot cheaper. This 30 day demo is fully functional, so you can see all it has to offer. The usual range of selection, cutting and drawing tools are in a panel on the right of the window, and in the tool bar there are options that will be familiar to any Photoshop user. These include layers and filters, as well as some other quick editing tools that are pretty cool.

Two nice tools in PhotoFiltre Studio are the horizon correct, which is useful for tweaking landscape photos, and the perspective correction, which is quite basic but can produce some interesting effects. PhotoFiltre Studio also has some easy-to-use brightness, color and hue alteration tools. You can learn pretty easily by just playing around with the various buttons, although there are comprehensive online instructions available in PhotoFiltre Studio's help menu as well.

Excellent Photoshop alternative

For the amateur photographer, PhotoFiltre Studio is an easy to pick up and effective photo editing application. It is nowhere near as intimidating as Photoshop, yet it can also produce some really great looking pictures.

PhotoFiltre Studio probably won't satisfy professional photographers or graphic designers, but if you're just looking for an easy-to-use photo editing tool, it's a great alternative to more expensive Photoshop.

Download PhotoFiltre Studio 10.4.1 in Softonic

PhotoFiltre Studiois a pleasant surprise however making basic retouching and editing of images easy and accessible. It allows you to perform simple or advanced editing of an image and apply a vast range of filters. Everything is managed through the toolbar with which you access the standard filters. It also has a "layer manager" which controls all the advanced brushes, nozzles, red eye remover plus other useful tools.

The filters are easy to use and for anyone not very familiar with using them, PhotoFiltre Studio provides an excellent introduction into what they can do for you. Many provide simple functions such as changing the brightness, contrast, dye, saturation and gamma levels etc. However, there are also some much more impressive filters such as those that create watercolour, pastel, indian ink or mosaic effects.

It also features tools for more adventurous users such as vector filters that allow you to manipulate images into rectangular, ellipse, triangle, rhombus and rounded rectangle designs.

If you're new to image manipulation or editing, or are just lost when it comes to using filters, PhotoFiltre Studio will make you feel much more at ease.

Download Photofiltre Portable 6.5.2 in Softonic

FotoSketcher helps you add some spice to your photos without much fuss. The program includes dozens of drawing styles to apply, which are easily customizable by using sliders to configure color, contrast, stroke intensity and other parameters.

All you need to do is open the image you want to convert into a sketch and select the drawing effect you want to apply. The preview window, though a bit too small, lets you check the result before clicking the "Draw!" button. FotoSketcher will then apply the effect and display the final image beside the original one, so that you can compare both. The program also lets you add a frame to your image.

FotoSketcher also includes basic editing tools to modify the source image, supports skins to customize the program’s interface, and can work in batches with several photos at the same time.

FotoSketcher is the perfect tool for those who want to apply a nice sketch effect to their pictures but don’t dare use use Photoshop.

Download FotoSketcher 2.30 in Softonic

The program features a basic interface – so basic it doesn't have any help or configuration settings at all. But the truth is that you don't need any of those either. Simply load the photo you want to work with and begin experimenting with all the filters included in B/Works.

There are plenty of them available, from a plain black and white effect to a high contrast duotone filter that will add a dramatic touch to your image. You can see how each filter actually looks like on your photo, but only in two ways: either 1:1 view or fit window size.

One last tip: once you find the right effect for your photo, remember to save it with a different name. Otherwise the original file will be overwritten.

B/Works is the easiest way to apply special filters to your pictures and obtain amazing results in no time.

Download B/Works 1.0 in Softonic

In Professor Franklin's Photo Effects you simply choose the picture you want to work on and select the filters you'd like to apply to it. The only big problem is the program's interface, which is designed to be different from the standard Windows app but makes it incredibly difficult to use. It seems they were paying more attention to esthetics rather than usability.

Despite this handicap, the program still has some interesting effects that will add a touch of elegance and originality: borders, frames, painting filters, folded corner effect or drawing filter are just some of the effects you'll find.

Add special effect to your photos in a couple of mouse clicks.

Download Professor Franklin's Instant Photo Effects 2.0 in Softonic

You don't need to know a lot about professional photography, nor spend a lot of money in material. Some photos taken with a different exposure value is all this program needs to create some astounding HDR images. Well, you'll also need some patience as the program may take a while to process images, depending on your system's performance.

Photomatix includes automatic working modes for those who don't want to be bothered tweaking a dozen different values, and also manual modes for picky photographers who prefer controlling every single detail. It also features a quick tutorial and a user manual to help you take your first steps in HDR creation.

Download Photomatix Pro 4.2.1 in Softonic

The application is basic and easy to use, and can be suitable for non-tech savvy users who would like to improve the appearance of a picture in a few clicks. Although you can set some values to the filters, the results are not exciting and basically any graphics editor can improve saturation, brightness and contrast in a very easy way.

Glamour Filter can help you improve the appearance of pictures with easy contrast and colour optimization. The soft-focus effect can also add some 'shine', which some may like but others not.

Download Glamour Filter 1.1.1 in Softonic

This program can save you hours of time in post-processing as Photomatix Pro is designed for productivity - i.e. automatic blending, unlimited stacking, easy comparison of results and batch processing. This can save you hours in adding masking and layers with image editing programs.

The developers claim it can even surpass Photoshop CS2 in HDR conversion. If you've ever created a 32-bit HDR image in Photoshop CS2 and could not get a good conversion Photomatix Tone Mapping tool may help.

This is a very powerful program although will only be appreciated by professional photographers that know how to auto-bracket photos at different exposures.

Download Photomatix Basic 1.2.1 in Softonic

It works by allowing you to partially de-saturate your photos - in other words, Photo Black & Color lets you keep certain colors in a photo and turn the rest into grayscale. This makes the main objects in the photo really stand out, and it adds up to a really impressive artistic effect.

Using Photo Black & Color couldn't be easier. Add the photo you want to work on via the Open button, or by dragging and dropping the image into the interface. Pick the colors you want to keep with the dropper. You'll see them appearing in the left panel, and you can remove them if you want. Then pick the effect you want to apply - Photo Black & Color offers you Progressive contour, Color gradient and Sepia.

Then just hit Enter and wait, and after a few minutes, your masterpiece will be revealed. The great thing about Photo Black & Color is that it has an undo button, so you can learn what effects are the best through trial and error. The app also lets you change the final size of your image, and to zoom in and out to allow for more accuracy when you're picking colors.

Photo Black & Color isn't the most advanced photo editing app out there, but it is a quick, free and easy way to make your photos more impressive. Download it now if you like to have fun with your photos!

Download Photo Black & Color 1.0 in Softonic

To rotate the image, most image editors decode the photo, rotate it and then re-encode it back to it's original format which is why the decrease in quality takes place. JPEG Lossless Rotator on the other hand does not recode photo therefore meaning quality is not lost. Once installed, JPEG Lossless Rotator will create thumbnails of images in your designated folder including sub folders if need be.

To rotate, select a photo thumbnail and select the appropriate rotation angle you want to use, using the tools at the top of the interface. Apart from that, there are only a few other options such as "Recent Folder" which opens the folder that was opened before the program window was closed last time, "Favorites" which adds and keeps the 10 last chosen shortcuts to folders. There's also an "Automatic" feature which automatically rotates slanted images to make them straight.

It's hard to tell with the naked eye whether JPEG Lossless Rotator really rotates without a loss of quality but if you can't afford to take chances, it's better than using a standard image rotation tool.

Download JPEG Lossless Rotator 6.2 in Softonic

The good thing about this piece of software is that it can convert the whole photo on its own, but it also lets you take control of the process. That is, you can grab the virtual brushes and create the painting on your own. You don't even need to have any special skills, as the picture is already outlined in the background. Simply fill it in with colors while applying the effect you like most: oil painting, pastel, pencil, airbrush, etc. There are also special presets that resemble the work of famous painters or painting styles.

On the downside, I found the shareware limitations to be too strict, bearing in mind that this is a creative software tool that users would probably like to test more thoroughly.

With Instant Photo Artist you can turn your favorite photos into realistic artwork that you can then use for calendars, postcards or posters.

Download Professor Franklin's Instant Photo Artist 2.0 in Softonic