Let’s quickly go through what you can do with GIMP. The painting function has the essential clone, airbrush and pencil tools and a powerful gradient and blend tool. You can also create and save your own brushes and patterns for later use. GIMP lets you manipulate your photos, adding layers, doing Bezier and polygonal selections or setting text. Load and save animations in a frame-as-layer format and batch process all your photos for quick editing. The multi-windowed interface can be moved around to fit your needs and resized according to your desktop space

What’s more, GIMP can be expanded with over 100 different plug-ins and extensions available on the GIMP’s website. These apply in majority for layer effects such as render, distort or blur and make a great addition to the ones already present in the program. The website is also home to a variety of GIMP tutorials for people who want to brush up on their skills.

While GIMP is user-friendly, the installation process can be a bit scary. Because the application works under the GTK Runtime Environment, you will have to install this kit to successfully launch the program. The process is fairly lengthy and some error messages tend to pop up. If you persist, however, you will be able to install Gimp properly on your PC

Despite this fairly hazardous installation process, GIMP is a program we recommend. Whether you’re out of dough or are looking for a free alternative to Photoshop, GIMP is excellent image manipulation software with all the tools you’d expect. The friendly interface and expandability make this a program of choice.

GIMP - the reference in open-source image manipulation.

Download GIMP 2.6.12 in Softonic

Like other free photo editing programs such as Photoscape, FireAlpaca includes a variety of different tools that let you view, optimize, edit and print your digital images.

Although it's not quite as comprehensive as a paid photo editing program like Photoshop, FireAlpaca comes with a surprising amount of tools, some of which include a color picker and a good variety of special effects and filters.

FireAlpaca's interface is easy to navigate and simple to use if you are familiar with photo editing at all. If you're a beginner, it might take some time to figure out which features do what to your photos. This will just take a bit of experimenting on your part. Fortunately, FireAlpaca also provides helpful tips and hints via pop-up on occasion if you need them.

FireAlpaca makes its money to continue developing the program through advertising. While it's a necessary evil, it can be a little annoying to have to deal with ad pop-ups every time you launch the program.

For a free alternative to Photoshop that lets you edit and customize digital images with ease, FireAlpaca is a solid option.

Download FireAlpaca 1.0.17 in Softonic

With Sharepod you can easily copy music from the computer to your iPod and viceversa. The program works like a charm: simply plug the iPod in, launch Sharepod and you’re good to go. It doesn’t even require installation! Besides adding or removing music, you can also copy videos from your iPod to the PC, back up photos, and edit tags. Sharepod also imports and exports album art, ratings and playlists.

The interface in Sharepod features a simple, clean design that makes the program a pleasure to use. It supports drag-and-drop, includes a search tool and also has a built-in player to listen to the music on your iPod.

On the downside, and though the developer claims Sharepod works with iPhone and iPod Touch, we couldn’t use all of the program’s features when testing with an iPhone 4.

Sharepod is a great iPod manager that lets you transfer content between Apple’s star device and your computer.

Download Sharepod 3.9.8 in Softonic

With PureSync you can easily synchronize data between two different sources in a variety of ways.

PureSync synchronizes content between folders on different drives, creates backup copies of selected folders and helps you extract photos from your digital camera and other devices you can connect to the computer. You can create multiple syncing tasks, each of them with its own name and configuration options, and set them to work according to a schedule or only when you manually start them.

PureSync is very easy to use: a step-by-step wizard guides you through the whole process of creating each syncing task. The program's interface displays a summary of all the actions applied to files and folders, using a color code to distinguish different types of synchronization.

PureSync supports also incremental backup copies – that is, copies only those files that have changed – and can be seamlessly integrated with Windows Explorer.

With PureSync making backup copies, transferring photos to your PC and syncing data across different folders can be much easier.

Download PureSync 3.5.0 in Softonic

Speed your workflow

This app bases its approach in smoothing and slim-lining your digital photography workflow. Weren't aware you had a workflow? Well then Corel AfterShot Pro probably isn't the app for you. Try taking a look at Picasa or Photoscape instead. But if improved photos workflow sounds like what you need, then read on. Corel AfterShot Pro is a great app.

If you work with large numbers of photos that you need to process quickly and smoothly, Corel AfterShot Pro has been designed with you in mind. It's got excellent photo management and organization features, meaning that you can find the photos you want easily and quickly. The Corel AfterShot Pro interface is attractive and user-friendly, which adds to the speed with which you can process your photos.

RAW photo editing

Corel AfterShot Pro supports a lot of photo formats, including RAW, and offers complete RAW processing. Obviously, it also offers all the usual tweaks and modifications, and all of your options are handily available through the tabbed bar that runs vertically to the right. Change the view using the buttons to the top right, and navigate through your stored photos on the left.

Impressive speed

Obviously, with all the emphasis on ease of use and speed, Corel AfterShot Pro offers extremely speedy batch processing, meaning all your photos can be public-ready in a matter of seconds. It also offers a selection of output options and templates, which makes it even easier to share the final product with clients or third parties.

Corel AfterShot Pro is a great program that's definitely aimed at professional-level photographers or at least experienced individuals with a high volume of images. It doesn't offer any fancy extras, and in certain areas, such as drawing tools, that's actually a pity. What Corel AfterShot Pro lacks in nice touches, however, is more than made up for by its sheer speed and ease of batch processing and high-volume editing.

If you're a professional or semi-professional photographer looking to speed up your workflow, Corel AfterShot Pro is the app for you.

Download Corel AfterShot Pro 1.0.0.39 in Softonic

With a name like My Notes Keeper, it's not too hard to guess what this program is intended for. The developer, however, has ambitious plans for the little application and lists a whole world of other uses for the tool, from e-book to outlining application, making My Notes Keeper nothing if not flexible.

The My Notes Keeper interface is unlikely to cause you any major problems. It is very intuitive and can be managed much like Microsoft Word, even down to the skins. The general idea is that you add notes in the large, word processor-like area, customizing them to your liking with all the usual fonts, colors and formatting. They are then displayed as a modifiable tree diagram, where parent and child tasks, color-coding and easy moving make your notes extremely easy to organize and view.

My Notes Keeper has an impressive range of features and configuration options, the majority of which are designed to help you get as much detail as possible into each note. You can add links and images, attach documents, import data, export the notes and print and structure your trees as desired. It is this range of flexibility and content which makes the program so versatile. Although the developer's suggestion that you can use it as a photo album is probably stretching a little, it would be perfect for any kind of research, especially if the notes could be typed up directly in the program.

If organized notes and information is central to your task, you're probably going to like My Notes Keeper. It makes it very easy to see the relationship between different areas of information and once the note has been written, it is easy to change, move or erase it, which means it is perfect for research, which is likely to change and develop over time. My Notes Keeper is quite detailed, and while some will appreciate the depth this adds to their work, many others just won't need such a wealth of extra information.

My Notes Keeper is perfect for research where displaying detailed, related information is key to the task.

Download My Notes Keeper 2.7 beta 8 in Softonic

These days, when it comes to publishing your own photo albums and sharing them with your friends there are many programs to choose from. JAlbum is a free and intuitive tool to edit your photos and prepare good looking albums.

Although the interface feels a little crowded it will provide a good way of exploring your folders for pictures and quickly selecting the ones you want to put into your album. JAlbum also includes a good set of editing tools to tweak your pictures a bit, like removing red eyes, blurring or sharpening.

However the strongest feature in the program is certainly making albums. This is very easy to do and JAlbum comes with a number of styles to start out with. You can also download more skins from the developer's website. Once you're album is done, you can either upload it to your JAlbum account, if you have one, or to any other server if you have the login details.

With a good set of editing tools, and a straightforward process, the free JAlbum makes for a great way of creating photo albums to share with your friends.

Download JAlbum 10.3.1 in Softonic

From regular makeup procedures to changing the hair color and even performing digital plastic surgery - all of these features are available in Photo Makeup Editor immediately after installation. The program has a simple and unambiguous user interface with large icons, so you won't get lost among dozens of panes, palettes, menus and tabs - everything will be right in front of your eyes.

If you forgot to do your morning makeup the day one of your favorite pictures was taken, don't worry - this software program got it all covered!

Download Photo Makeup Editor 1.81 in Softonic

Our program can create a video slideshow for free. No ads, no third-party toolbars, nothing but the easy program. We are going to keep it free and work on more features. Our goal is to maximize real user amount

Our program is for every user, because we are trying to make it very easy to use the program. Everyone, who want to make a slideshow, can download and use our program. He may be a photographer, or student, or even house keeper

Download Bolide Slideshow Creator 1 in Softonic

Photoscape is an amazing free photo editor. It includes so many filters, tools and special effects you'll find it hard to believe it's actually free.

Photoscape includes just about everything you need to view, optimize, edit, print and have fun with your photos. In fact, it's so complete that many would call it a free Photoshop alternative. Sure, it's not quite up to the level of Photoshop, but it's truly a great alternative to Adobe's big shot - and it makes photo editing a lot more fun!

One of the first striking elements in Photoscape is its uncommon interface design. From the program's main window 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.

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

Download Photoscape 3.6 in Softonic

To add life to the slideshow, you can make use of the Virtual Screen feature and apply a default design template to a picture. For example, photos can be viewed framed on the virtual monitor, banner board, school blackboard and screen of the movie theater.

Photo Slideshow Creator has simple user-friendly interface so it's an ideal software for beginners. The program offers all necessary tools and options to create attractive music slideshows from photographs.

Download Photo Slideshow Creator 3 in Softonic

Amazingly, since Bosnian developer Irfan Skiljan released the image viewer back in 1996, he’s generously kept it free of charge in spite of its massive popularity. Perhaps even more incredibly, the app still stands at just over 1Mb, bucking the trend of programs that swell immensely as the feature updates go by. In fact, it’s Irfanview’s slimline qualities that are its greatest asset, helping to make it the fastest image viewer in the West. Images load almost instantaneously when you click on them and you get rapid-fire results when cycling through a directory of photos using the Back and Forward buttons. It’s only when you’re flicking through vast amounts of images using the thumbnail viewer that things get a bit slow, which could easily be remedied do with an improved caching function.

Another of Irfanview’s crowd-pleasing talents is its ability to handle an enormous range of different file formats, including g, somewhat rarely, icon (.ico) files. Unlike many of its rival tools, Irfanview doesn’t try to impose itself as the default viewer for all image types, giving you the option to specify the formats you wish to associate with it for yourself.

The program’s functionality can be expanded by installing plug-ins that allow Irfanview to open other file types, such as movies and audio – again a unique feature among photo viewers. You also get a smattering of basic editing features such as crop, rotate, flip and resize, along with some bread-and-butter effects like blur and sharpen, plus a smart crop function.

Upon first try, many users might be put off by the somewhat basic interface and the fact that it loads new images externally, rather than within the GUI itself. Nevertheless this is a small sacrifice to pay for a program that proves to be probably the quickest way to view images on your PC.

Download IrfanView 4.32 in Softonic

There are a lot of collage programs out there. But do any of them let you create a screensaver after you've compiled your photos? Collage 2011 does, and once you get past the installation, it's a snap to create your own, unique looking screensaver photo collages.

Collage includes a useful sidebar in its interface that makes finding the tools you're looking for very simple. You can also choose from a list of famous quotes to include in your screensaver, or just simply enjoy viewing them from the sidebar. After you've compiled your photo collage, the program will fill your desktop whenever your PC goes idle for a set length of time. In turn, the sidebar will show any upcoming dates or anniversaries you've configured into it.

Collage unfortunately does require a bit of work to install and configure. Installation can be lengthy, so sit back and be prepared to busy yourself with something else until it's through. Then you'll need to configure the program so it knows where to pull pictures from, among other settings. Simply go to the menu dropdown option and click on the settings button.

In Collage's settings, you can configure the folder path where the photos you want displayed on the screensaver are located. You can also add quotes or other messages and set the appearance, design and other elements of Collage. It takes a little time to configure, but once you're done, you can then enjoy graphically impressive screensavers from there on out.

Collage is a fantastic program that lets you use your own digital images as a screensaver, if you can tolerate the long installation process.

Download Collage 2011 8.0.1201.2 in Softonic

First, Easy Image Modifier doesn’t require installation, a definite plus for the less tech savvy. Second, you only need to drag and drop your images or image folders into the program's interface to begin working with them. It can also be left working in the background while you focus on another task, except sometimes the program is so fast you won't have time for much else.

As for the changes you can make on Easy Image Modifier, they're the most basic and frequent ones. You can convert the image to a new file format, rename your photos, or resize them by exact pixels or as a percentage. Note that Easy Image Modifier will keep the aspect ratio either way with respect to image resizing. On the downside, Easy Image Modifier only converts to JPG, BMP, and PNG. It also doesn't include any editing tools, consequently limiting its usefulness as a comprehensive image editing tool.

Easy Image Modifier is a simple and quick image processing tool for resizing, renaming and converting a handful of photos all at once.

Download Easy Image Modifier 4.5 in Softonic

Have you ever wanted to create one of those eye-catching morphing effects you see on TV shows and music videoclips? With FotoMorph now you can!

FotoMorph now gives you the chance to apply diverse effects to your photos (zoom & pan, morphing and warping) really easily. With these effects you can make somebody in a picture gradually turn into another person, or apply some slight movements to their facial expression. The effect is achieved by creating intermediate images (frames) based on highlighted transition points.

With FotoMorph the whole process is really easy. The program features a tabbed interface with different areas where you can select the photos you'll be working with, mark the transition points and preview the final result. As you can imagine, the most important step in the process is selecting transition points: the more you have, the more accurate your morphing will be. FotoMorph lets you add points to both the source and target photos simultaneously, and though it's a bit confusing at first, it ends up being an excellent method.

FotoMorph also enables you to tweak other elements in the transition, such as the resolution, the background image or color and the ability to add an optional text layer or a frame. Once you're done, FotoMorph can save your morphing effect in a variety of formats, including Flash movie (SWF), GIF animation, AVI movie, or a simple image sequence.

FotoMorph lets you create stunning photo morphing effects in just a few easy steps: no designing skills or technical knowledge required!

Download FotoMorph 13.4 in Softonic

Using Hofmann Digital Album is very easy, thanks to the program’s step-by-step album setup process and intuitive customization interface. All you have to do is select a few basic settings for your album, such as cover, design and number of pages, and choose the photos you want to include in it. Note that you must select complete folders, not individual files.

Once the initial setup is complete, you’re ready to start customizing album details. Hofmann Digital Album displays your album in a multi-paned interface, with different areas for selected photos, album pages and extra effects – which you can apply just by dragging and dropping them onto the album’s page.

Hofmann Digital Album includes tons of different covers, page layouts, album backgrounds, clipart, masks and frames to turn your photo album into a truly personal work of art. The Preview function enables you to check the album’s final appearance before ordering it online.

With Hofmann Digital Album you can easily turn a collection of digital pictures on your computer into a fully customized printed photo album.

Download Hofmann Digital Album 8.1 in Softonic

Chrysanth Journal offers elegant user interface and sleek design that delights journal writers. Featuring latest Ribbon user interface, and a powerful journal database with password protection, Chrysanth Journal helps users keep journal and family photos in the same journal database securely. Users could even install Chrysanth Journal and the journal database onto a thumbdrive, thus making Chrysanth Journal portable and very convenient to be used anywhere.

Journal writer who needs a computer journal program with password protection.

Download Chrysanth Journal [Personal] 4.3 in Softonic

Returning from a big vacation or a memorable event, you've probably taken a ton of pictures to remember it by. Printing them all off and framing them is a costly endeavor that hardly seems worth the time, money and effort. Instead, a lot of people create a collage of pictures instead. Many pictures in one convenient and artistically designed setting - what could be better?

Picture Collage Maker Pro will let you do this quickly and easily. There are hundreds of collage templates to choose from, ensuring you'll likely find the perfect one for any occasion. Picture Collage Maker Pro includes professionally-drawn templates with varying layouts for placing photos, as well as a multitude of different backgrounds for your collage. You can even choose different paper sizes and whether you want it to be horizontally or vertically oriented.

On top of traditional collages, Picture Collage Maker Pro also lets you make scrapbooks, posters, event invitations, and even calendars and greeting cards. Picture Collage Maker Pro comes ready with lots of different masks, picture frames, font types and clipart you can use to further decorate your creations, which is a nice feature. You can also very easily print out or email your final products to family and friends.

Perhaps the crowning jewel of Picture Collage Maker Pro is that it includes a built-in editor. This is a complete tool where you can fine-tune the collage you're making by adjusting the collage's layout, tweaking the photos or even adding additional image effects.

If you're a beginner, no worries either. Picture Collage Maker Pro comes complete with a wizard that'll take you through the creation process step-by-step. The only real complaint some users might have is that Picture Collage Maker Pro can be a bit of a drag on resources. If you have too many things open at once, prepare for the program to run slowly.

For a fully comprehensive collage making tool though, Picture Collage Maker Free is a fantastic choice.

Download Picture Collage Maker Pro 3.1.6 build 3545 in Softonic

Returning from a big vacation or a memorable event, you've probably taken a ton of pictures to remember it by. Printing them all off and framing them is a costly endeavor that hardly seems worth the time, money and effort. Instead, a lot of people might want to create a collage of pictures instead. Many pictures in one convenient and artistically designed setting - what could be better?

Picture Collage Maker Free will let you do this quickly and easily. There are hundreds of collage templates to choose from, ensuring you'll likely find the perfect one for any occasion. Picture Collage Maker Free includes professionally drawn templates with varying layouts for placing photos, as well as a multitude of different backgrounds for your collage. You can even choose different paper sizes and whether you want it to be horizontally or vertically oriented.

On top of traditional collages, Picture Collage Maker Free also lets you make scrapbooks, posters, event invitations, and even calendars and greeting cards. Picture Collage Maker Free comes ready with lots of different masks, picture frames, font types and clipart you can use to further decorate your creations, which is a nice feature. You can also very easily print out or email your final products to family and friends.

If you're a beginner, no worries either. Picture Collage Maker Free comes complete with a wizard that'll take you through the creation process step-by-step. The only real complaint some users might have is that Picture Collage Maker Free can be a bit of a drag on resources. If you have too many things open at once, prepare for the program to run slowly.

For a fully comprehensive collage making tool though, Picture Collage Maker Free is a fantastic choice.

Download Picture Collage Maker Free 3.1.6 build 3545 in Softonic

In the old days one of the main concerns for photographers was coarse, grainy film images. Today's digital photos, on the other hand, are largely often foiled by 'noise' caused by pixellation, which adversely affects the clarity of the image.

As a result, many noise reduction tools have sprouted up, such as AKVIS Noise Buster. The program analyzes photos and corrects the offending pixels without strongly impairing the picture.

AKVIS Noise Buster gives you the ability to correct photos automatically or tweak the individual parameters manually via several sliding controls for both color and brightness noise. Thanks to real-time previews you can instantly gauge the effect the changes will have. AKVIS Noise Buster's blend of automatic and manual tools means that AKVIS Noise Buster is great for both amateur photography hobbyists and those who are more well versed in the art of photo manipulation.

Unfortunately, without any other features the program is a little barren. It does its job well but doesn't add anything extra in terms of photo editing.

AKVIS Noise Buster is an easy-to-use tool that'll help reduce the level of noise in your digital photos no matter what your experience level happens to be.

Download AKVIS Noise Buster 8.0 in Softonic