It's really unbelievable to find free software applications as amazing as Photoscape. But as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. Here you have a really excellent photo editing tool that includes just about everything you need to view, optimize, edit, print and have fun with your photos, all for free.

Photoscape strikes us from the very beginning with an uncommon interface design from which you can choose what you want to do: view pictures, optimize those that didn't come out so well, print several photos on a single page collage-style or perhaps add any of the dozens of filters and special effects included in the program. Other extra tools featured in Photoscape are a file renamer, a color picker, a screen capture tool and even a RAW converter.

We really have nothing negative to say about Photoscape. Just download it, test it, love it and keep it forever. It's free!

Download Photoscape 3.2 in Softonic

Fedit Image Editor is an image processing tool which appears simple at first but contains a wealth of editing tools.

These include advanced image filtering options, editing tools, multilayer documents, workflow history and multiple document interface model. However, Fedit Image Editor is still very much a work in progress although it seems pretty stable and polished as far as the eye can see.

Fedit Image Editor is certainly very flexible allowing you to work with just about any format imaginable. Like all standard image editors, it can focus on one particular art of an image or take the image as a whole and work in it that way. It has selection tools ranging from rectangles to polygons and can automatically and or cut text from images allowing you to redo and undo at will. It also allows you to change its skin, resize photos and add effects to change the look of the photographs such as making them look like collages or watercolours.

Fedit Image Editor really doesn't have any outstanding features that distinguish it from the crowd but it is at least lightweight and easy to use.

Download Fedit Image Editor 1.0.0.6 Beta in Softonic

Converting and resizing are surely the most common tasks you need to do with photos, so it's important to have a reliable app for the job.

John's Image Converter is a good choice, as it enables you to convert and resize single pictures or a whole directory of images. You can resize them either in pixels or percentage, and always making sure the original files are nor overwritten. But that's not all: with this program you can also create original photo collages in no time.

John's Image Converter features a tabbed interface where each tab is dedicated to the program's different functions: converting and resizing for one picture, for complete folders and collages. The first two ones are pretty straightforward. As for the latter, I must say I was a bit disappointed. The collage feature does include some interesting options, but the result wasn't as good as I expected: you can't preview the final result, there's no possibility to rearrange pictures once it's done and if your thumbnails are too big, they won't fit in it.

With John's Image Converter you can quickly resize and convert your photos, with the possibility to create a simple collage with them.

Download John's Image Converter 2.0 in Softonic

These days there are so many more things you can do with your photographs than just putting them in albums, which are then stored in the loft. Software such as Microsoft AutoCollage allows you to get more creative with your images.

It may look very simple when you first launch the application, but actually, a lot of research and development has gone into Microsoft AutoCollage. The project is an advanced computer vision and imaging program that gathers a selection of your photos and knits them together seamlessly to produce eye-catching collages.

The level of automation in Microsoft AutoCollage means that you don't really have to lift a finger. You just select the folder you want the program to collect the photos from, choose how many images you want incorporated into the collage using the slider, then click 'Create'. You can then save, email or even set the picture as your background wallpaper, directly from within AutoCollage.

The technology in Microsoft AutoCollage is certainly very impressive, particularly the face detection element, which automatically picks out peoples heads, allowing you to draw attention to these. If anything though, I felt AutoCollage was a little too hands-off as there are no real image editing tools for you to refine your collages yourself, or add text, frames, etc. What's more, there were a few bugs that cropped up in testing, such as when setting the image as a desktop in XP.

Microsoft AutoCollage is a powerful collage-rendering tool, it's just a shame it doesn't give you more control over the finished output.

Download Microsoft AutoCollage 2008 1.0.2008.0716 in Softonic

Photo Collage is a full featured, easy-to-use application with which you can create beautiful photo compositions in no time. No technical skills required!

The program contains just about anything you need you create the collage – that is, everything except images themselves. The featured material includes background images, frames, clipart, borders and masks, all of them is such a large and colorful variety that you'll find it hard to choose just one. Besides, the program is extraordinarily easy to use: simply drag and drop the different elements of your collage on the interface, resize and rearrange them any way you want with your mouse and you're pretty much done. It's like scrapbooking, but without scissors and glue.

The only drawback I found to this great app is the fact that some frames don’t blend with the background properly, meaning they show a white border around the frame instead of being transparent. Also, I'd like to be able to save my work in other formats (HTML, EXE) rather than just as an image file, but at least I have a few graphic formats to choose from.

Photo Collage enables you to create amazing collages with your digital pictures, but only save them as image files.

Download iFoxSoft Photo Collage 2.06 in Softonic

Creating collages with your photos is an easy way to breathe new life into an ageing or rather dull photo collection.

With PhotoCool, you can print multiple photos in one page and arrange them in custom designed collages. Alternatively, you can make photo albums, passport photos, mini ID card photos and CD covers via simple templates. Most templates have wizards which take you through the setup process in 4 steps.

However, note that you'll need glossy paper for best results when it comes to printing. PhotoCool can be used as a TWAIN app too which means that I will retrieve photos from your external device or camera without the need for using third-party software. Once detected, you can drag-and-drop images into PhotoCool or alternatively, you can arrange them by thumbnails and allow PhotoCool to extract them automatically on it's own.

PhotoCool makes it easy to create collages, passport photos, ID photos and just about any other kind of photo template you can think of.

Download PhotoCool 2.01 in Softonic

When you first start up FxFoto it searches your entire hard drive for images and imports them into a handy thumbnail viewer. From there it’s as easy as a drag-and-drop operation to add pictures to your collage. You can also import you pictures directly from your scanner or digital camera.

If some of the pictures need a little tweaking, FxFoto provides you with all of the basic image adjustment controls and also has an impressive collection of filters which are all easily accessible from the well laid-out interface. You can add frames to individual pictures in your collage or to the entire creation.

FxFoto can also be used to make scrapbook pages and slide shows and has a great number of ways to publish your creations including, email, print, web sites and slide shows. This makes a brilliant for non-techy users or even small kids to use. There are a few more advanced photo management tools out there, but FxFoto provides a cheap alternative that is more than equal to most tasks.

Download FxFoto 6.0.070 in Softonic

I’ve always liked to create posters and picture collage with my photos, to make greetings cards, or simply to display thematic pictures in a funny way, but doing this with Photoshop can be a rather difficult and time consuming activity.

With Picture Collage Maker you can easily create very nice collages with different shadow effects that you can apply to each picture. When creating a new project you can choose the ‘Template Collage Wizard’ option, the ‘Grid Collage Wizard’ one, or simply create a collage from scratch. Try the wizard the first time, to get an idea of what the program can do and how your poster can look.

After uploading your photos, choose the template you like most and press the ‘Finish-Edit’ button. At this point you’ll be able to apply or change effects, add more photos, and see a preview of the final result. When you’re done, right-click on the poster to save it as a JPEG or to set it as wallpaper, or to send it by mail to a friend. Something missing in this application is an option to print your collage on different sheets to create a big poster.

Picture Collage Maker does exactly what it says in a friendly and easy-to-use environment. It features many backgrounds and effects so that you can present your photos to your friends in a beautiful collage.

Download Picture Collage Maker 1.9.1 in Softonic

Most graphical editors are either for photos or video but FreeVimager allows you to do both, albeit to a limited extent.

It's particularly useful for anyone who normally uses their camera for both photos and videos (which most of us do). First of all, it's extremely lightweight for both an image and video editor weighing in at just over 10MB. The program allows you to view & edit graphics file in jpeg, bmp, gif, tiff (multi-page), png and pcx format which is a decent amount and sufficient for most home users. It's also remarkably flexible supporting every version of Windows from 95 onwards. One aspect which is particularly useful is that of multi-monitor support which basically means that you can work on multiple projects at once - for example one photos project and one video project. It's also suitable for those in the know or who need technical data when it comes to photos because it maintains EXIF data when resaving and editing photos so you can see at a glance the aperture, exposure and file size instantly. You can process an unlimited number of images at once as the program also comes equipped with a very basic slideshow creator. You can also preview print jobs, create collages and it optimises images for sending by e-mail (by basically reducing their size without losing the quality).

For anyone that uses their camera for both photos and videos regularly, then FreeVimager will give you enough power to do both at once without complicating life.

Download FreeVimager 1.7.0 in Softonic

Let’s say you need to make a presentation which includes associated text and photos, and you would like a more homely design than the professional, at-times flat PowerPoint slideshow. eXPress Collage Suite might help, as it allows you to create simple presentations as e-books, collage albums, or even calendars.

The outcome will appear rather amateur, but depending on its purposes, can be what you are looking for home-made feeling presentation. The way you carry on your project is also a bit rudimentary and icons look a bit messy. The general rule to follow is that you can import images, text and audio file simply by clicking the import button on the left menu. Change the layout with the menu below and apply changes to see a preview of your document. The GUI can be a bit confusing and there’s plenty of room for usability improvements.

Althought eXpress Collage wouldn’t be suitable for professional purposes, it can be interesting for amateur photo albums, calendasr, eBooks and collages as it lets you create for free virtual books, to present texts and images in a different way.

Download eXpress Collage Suite 5.0 in Softonic

While advanced image editing tools such as Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro are great for fine-tuning your photos and making sure they look gorgeous, not all of us have the time to tinker around with all the various palettes, tools and menus.

If you've got a bunch of digital photos that you quickly want to optimize then PicJet Studio could become your new best friend. The software comes with a range of tools that will automatically make adjustments to your pictures when you drag and drop them onto the corresponding tool's icon.

The editing tools in question are 'Collage', which automatically adds two images together when you drag them in; 'Converter', which transforms a picture from one format to another; a 'Stamp' tool for quickly adding text to an image: and a 'Resizer' to help you make an image fit to specified dimensions without any fuss.

PicJet performs all of these tasks remarkably quickly, and almost the instant you commit the file to be changed, the new version of it will appear in the save location. What I like about this process is that the app doesn't overwrite the original file. Instead it adds a tag onto the filename indicating what's been done (e.g. a file called 'image' would prompt a file called 'image_resize' to be created when resizing.

Ultimately this is a tool for performing very quick adjustments to files. There are only four adjustments you can make and you won't find any advanced editing tools or advanced effects in here.

But if you want a quick way to convert, resize, stamp or create collages from your images, PicJet does the job without any fuss - and for free!

Download PicJet Studio 2.6 in Softonic

Background Remover is a Photoshop-compatible plug-in for Windows designed by ImageSkill Sofware that can work with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Corel Paint Shop Pro, Ulead PhotoImpact, Macromedia Fireworks etc. The main purpose of the Background Remover is to extract some part of an image i.e. “the object” and remove part that which is unwanted, i.e. “the background”.

It is capable of determining areas of pixels to be modified, areas of pixels to be partly modified and areas of pixels to remain unmodified. The partly modification means the restoration of the non-distinct edges of objects. It is done by reinstating their partly transparent nature and also by subtracting the background color so that only the object color is left in these partly transparent regions. This ensures that the cut-out object will blend or composite correctly with a different background. The cutting objects may be used for collage, scrap-book and greeting card creation.

Download Background Remover 3.0 in Softonic

So you’re back from vacation, you’ve downloaded all your photos to your PC, but you’re not convinced by the quality of the images. What you need is to retouch them, adjusting colour balance, eliminating red eyes, setting sharpness and removing noise. While it won’t equal a great picture at first try, at least it'll get you rid of all the imperfections. Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP) is a hands-on and complete photo editor that intermediate users will take to their liking.

We instantly fell in love with PSP’s easy-to-handle interface. Select the tool panels you need and drag and drop them into the main window. The best way to work with PSP is via the left hand panel, a descriptive menu of all the actions you can undertake, like printing, retouching, collage, or adding text and graphics. Clicking on one option will give you access to a sub-menu with more choices. You can always go back to the main menu by clicking on the house icon. If you have multiple images opened you’ll be able to access them in no time thanks to the tab-browsing feature. The only element that we didn’t like was the image browsing pane at the bottom of the interface, which we found to be pretty cluttered.

Corel is aware that the majority of users have nor the time or the experience to retouch their photos in depth. For these users, there are the “one step photo fix” and “one step noise removal” buttons, to edit your photos in one click. Paint Shop Pro offers numerous editing variations like Illumination, 3D, Texture and Edge effects. Just like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro works with layers, making it easy to have a history of all the changes you have made to your photo. Although PSP offers fewer effects and editing tools than Adobe’s stellar creation, we believe there are enough options to keep the photo enthusiast well occupied. We appreciated the extra features like photo collage, to create an original mash-up of your favourite pictures, or web share to upload your images to an online photo album. You can also easily create a custom card thanks to the text editor.

The only real drawback to Corel Paint Shop Pro is the lengthy installation process and having to create a Corel account to install the program. However once you get past that step, you’ll be happy to know that the application starts up fairly quickly and does not overuse memory. Beginners will find the help file to be very complete and simple to use.

Paint Shop Pro is an excellent photo editor offering the whole range of tools and effects that you would expect, and a bit more. A well structured interface and clear cut options make it a good choice for beginners.

Download Paint Shop Pro X2 in Softonic

I've always felt a special fascination for mosaics. From Roman tile compositions to current digital collages, I think they're an awesome artistic expression. That's why I was so happy when I found Andreamosaic.

This tool enables you to create amazing mosaics from your digital pictures in a very easy way. It requires having a large collection of photos to use as tiles, that's true. Fortunately the installation file already includes a pack of 500 sample photos that produce excellent results.

The program's interface is quite dull; in fact it's simply a gray window with too much text on it. But the mechanics are easy to understand so you'll be creating your own mosaics in no time! Plus, the program includes a 20-page manual that explains everything thoroughly. Just remember that the more tiles you use, the longer it will take to generate the mosaic and the larger the final file will be.

Andreamosaic lets you create beautiful mosaics from your own digital photos in a very easy way.

Download Andreamosaic 3.21 in Softonic

Picasa is a lesson to the world in usability design. In less than five megabytes, this image organizer succeeds in being a completely rounded package with many editing tools that will satisfy part-timers and enthusiasts alike. However, what really makes Picasa stand out is the beautifully-executed interface, which proves a complete pleasure to use thanks to its speedy pace and some clever animations and fades.

Thanks to an initial image scan, you won’t ever have to go digging through your hard drive for last summer’s holiday snaps, and it will even order every picture you have chronologically, letting you quickly browse to any obscurely-named files in seconds. While Picasa can be used as a viewer, it has not been designed for that and so viewing should be left to another program such as the free FastStone Image Viewer. Where it does excel is in retouching your pictures with colour corrections and a few effects such as blur or film grain. Each edit can be done on the fly with an instant preview of the result and, of course, if something doesn’t quite work out, you can always go back via the undo button.

While these editing utilities cater for the majority of users’ needs, it would have made sense to include the ability to resize images, especially as Picasa includes features that make it easy to publish to the web in the form of a blog. You can also email any single or collection of images through Outlook or directly from Picasa if using your GMail account.

Some of the additional extras give this program a touch of class that you rarely find in Windows software, including the ability to make a collage from a set of images and a handy star rating system that lets you mark your favourite snaps and later single them out giving you the best of the best. Having been acquired by Google, Picasa is now freely available to the masses and is continually improving with each new iteration. With this in mind, it comes highly recommended for photography novices and pros, who have a significant number of images to organize on their PC.

Download Picasa 2.7.37.37 in Softonic

Taking screenshots can be as easy as pressing the prntscr key in any moment, or as painful has having to individually copy and paste different areas of your screen and then arrange them in an image editor. This would be the case, for example, if you wanted to take a snapshot of a complete webpage, from top to bottom.

Well, not anymore. Firefox users will be glad to know there's an extension that enables you to capture entire webpages as an image in JPG or PNG formats, taking both what you see and what remains hidden beyond the browser's limits.

The capture can be triggered via the context menu, a button on Firefox's toolbar and also a keyboard hotkey, although we personally didn't succeed in here. Anyway, it's a very useful tool for capturing entire websites without having to manually create a collage of different screenshots.

Download Page Saver 1.5 in Softonic

Now you can create posters from your digital photos! Create a collage poster of your child through the years. Use the program to create custom posters that will be treasured by grandparents, coaches, or teachers. Life Poster Maker can create any size poster and by adding shadows, captions, borders, and tilt effects you can bring your "life poster" to life!

Simply add your photos and drag them around to get them in the order you want. Create posters for special events such as graduations, class reunions, family teunions, and anniversaries! Are you into scrapbooking? Add this great tool to your toolbox and create memories that you'll cherish forever. Life Poster Maker is easy-to-use and comes with help and tutorials. Anyone can use it to create posters that you'll be proud to hang on your walls or to give as gifts. Your final creation is printed by us and delivered right to your door. Get Life Poster Maker today and start saving memories that are bigger than life.

Download Life Poster Maker 3.02 in Softonic

PhotoSuite® 8 puts the power to create spectacular photo projects of the highest quality right in your hands. With One Button Photo Fix, Smart Views, and Peer-to-Peer photo sharing your life just got a whole lot more organized. What’s more, the DVD creation capability turns your slideshow productions into DVDs that you can easily share with friends and family on your TV!

Main features:

Make every picture perfect

Automatically remove red-eye, scratches - even dust. Get even more creative with tools like cloning, effects brushes, smart edge detection, and masking.

Add your own personal touch

Create photo collages and control layers, fading & transparency. Tap into 340+ effects & transitions, 80+ photo content projects, 25 labels and 20+ menu styles!

Create photo slideshows

Easily share photos using peer-to-peer technology - no upload or large email attachments required. Or, create up to 999-photo slideshows and burn to DVD!

Files at your fingertips

Access the files you need with a unified view of your photos in one place. Your PC will monitor new files added and auto-update the information in the Media Manager.

Download Roxio PhotoSuite 8 in Softonic

Click'n View is a fast and easy to use image viewer for WinXP/Win2000 that supports lossless editing , most popular image and video formats.

You can store thousands of images either on local disk or on network in each album and still stay in control. The LE version is a freeware based on the product version of Click'n View. There is no limitation of evaluation period. The user can enjyoy almost all the functions of the product version such as zooming slideshow, lossless editing & collage etc.

Download Click'n View LE 4.2 in Softonic

In these times days when most of us have digital photos coming out of our eyeballs, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly what to do with all your snaps. Luckily, there are several programs kicking around that allow you to put your pictures to use in a creative way in order to impress your friends and family. Although it’s no Photoshop, CollageMaker provides a relatively simple way in which to bring your photos together and produce eye-catching collages.

The application proves to be pretty simple to use, even if you haven’t used any kind of graphics editor in the past, thanks to a clearly laid-out toolbar with distinctive icons. The selection of features at your disposal isn’t exactly ground-breaking, but the speed at which you can apply effects such as Colorize, Grayscale and Negative, has to be admired.

For the basic user, there’s enough power in here to design a decent enough looking presentation in just a few minutes, especially with the inclusion of text effects and a nifty Stamp tool. However, if you’re yearning for a program that allows you to create professional image compositions then you’ll be disappointed by the lack of advanced tools, such as layers and cloning. On top of this, simple omissions like the lack of a recently-opened file history and a decent help file only serve to lessen the kudos of the editor.

Download CollageMaker 2.0.5 in Softonic