Here are 45 best free Photo Organizer software. These Photo Organizer software let you organizes your pictures easily. All these Photo Organizer software are available for free to download for your Windows PC. These Photo Organizer software offer various features, like: manages your digital images and organizes your pictures in the albums and folders and provides names to them with collections. Best Free and Open-Source Photo Editing Software. Gimp stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. This free and open-source image editing software comes loaded with pro-level features that can help you create stunning images. It also allows the developers to change the source code and distribute the updated version.
- Open Source Image Editing Software
- Open Source Photo Gallery Software
- Best Open Source Photo Gallery Software Windows 10
- Open Source Photo Manager
- Let us check out some of the best open source photo editing software that surely works best for your business. Today, we see a huge take for unified photo editing. The enhanced version of such tools brings greater creativity to the users. Let us check how the majority of these tools differ from one another through a comparison chart given below.
- Alternatives to Windows Live Photo Gallery for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Windows Live Photo Gallery. List updated: 2:40:00 PM.
Whether you are an amateur or professional photographer, it is important that you streamline the photo process and maintain a productive workflow. One vital component in this process is organizing your photos. As a professional photographer, you might click over a hundred photos in a session. Imagine doing this for a month; you will have thousands of images. So, culling out the best few photos effectively from that list of thousand can be an arduous task. You need to choose and select a few striking shots that clearly represent your work and photography style in the best way to prospective clients.
A good photo organizing software will help you choose your best body of work, by displaying, selecting and organizing your photos based on their date, location, categories, etc. Not only do they allow you to tag, keyword and filter your images, but some of the software featured in this article, also allow you to share photos directly on social media.
What is Photo Organizing Software?
A Photo organizing software or image management application is used to manage a large number of images, thereby making improvements in a photographer's workflow. The basic feature of an image organizer is to edit tags of the photo. It is a good medium to upload files to hosting pages.
Some typical features of an image organizer app include the ability to view thumbnail previews. Albums can be created for images and then be organized into collections. You can add tags like keywords, labels, categories, or flags. These images can also be exported, resized, mailed, or printed.
Some typical features of an image organizer app include the ability to view thumbnail previews. Albums can be created for images and then be organized into collections. You can add tags like keywords, labels, categories, or flags. These images can also be exported, resized, mailed, or printed.
Here are a few reasons why you should organize your photos:
Easy to find photos - If a client wants to purchase a particular image a year after you did the shoot, how will you find the images? Or, if you need to submit a few nature photos for a competition, you should have a proper system to locate them. Whether you are just organizing your photos by adding keywords, tags, stars, or color codes; you need to know what works best for you. And you should be familiar with the system to use it efficiently when a good opportunity knocks on your door.
Check your progress - When you spend some time organizing your photos, you get a good idea on how you have progressed this far. You will notice how good or bad the photo was earlier and how your interest has shifted over the years. You can divide your work based on the subject, project, or theme. This process will give a direction to your vision as a photographer and will make you understand what kind of subjects you love shooting. After years of working, a photographer starts to develop an ingenious style. An amateur photographer will also notice early patterns in the photography style by following the process of organizing.
Deep analysis - The process of selecting your best work, allows you to analyze your photos. Try to figure out the reason why you like certain images and dislike others. Think about what made you capture those good images and what happened in the bad ones. Doing this will improve your way of looking and help in creating better images.
Revisit ideas - When you revisit your old photos, you can revisit old concepts and ideas. You will realize what mistakes you made or things that you may have missed. You can now take a new approach to the same ideas and improvise them.
Best Ways to Organize Photos
Printed Photos
To organize printed photos follow these steps:
- Buy a large set of similar-looking photo albums and photo boxes. Doing this will maintain consistency for an extended period of time.
- Write the date or the name of the person in the photo, or some identifying feature about the photo.
- Make sure you use an acid-free pen or pencil, which is safe for photos. You can get it from an art store near you.
- Discard all the bad photos, which are badly exposed, blurred, or which you wouldn't want to keep.
- Select the ones you like the most and put them in frames or albums. Select and keep the photos separately which you want to give to friends or relatives.
Digital Photos
In addition to a photo organizer software, here's how you can manage your photos:
- Most camera these days has an option to add custom file names or folders in the camera itself. The best way to organize photos is to separate them based on each assignment. If this is too much for you, at least make sure that the date and time in the camera are correct.
- Create a folder structure and put your files on it. The folder name can be something like Date_Shoot-Type_Client Name. This can add a location or any other information you want. You can create subfolders based on the number of photographers or cameras. The idea is to avoid photos having the same file name in the folder.
- Use your preferred photo organizer software from the list below and add all the metadata to categorize them. The metadata includes location, techniques, month, client name, and type of shoot. A good photo organizer would have a way to mark your favorite photos. If your software has the option to add GPS data and facial recognition; you can use it too.
- If your organizing software doesn't store the editing catalog, you can create a subfolder inside the folder where you store your photos. This will keep the edit version closeby for easy reference.
Here is the list of 25 Photo Organizers to streamline your workflow.
With ACDSee, you can organize your images by keyword, date, category, location, color labels, and ratings. With the ratings, you can easily find photos from a large collection. ACDSee is an easy to understand photo organizer which can even find and delete duplicate images. The software supports 86 different file formats like RAW, TIFF, JPG, and PSD.
The editing functions of the program include cropping, red-eye removal, resizing, and color correction. ACDSee does not deteriorate the quality of an image once the editing is done. The editing can be done to many images at once, which would help in increasing your productivity. You can also create an online gallery through the software, but you would have to pay separately for it. The downside of ACDSee is that it is not compatible with Mac.
Smart Pix manager provides differentiating features like slideshows and wide print templates. While it might take some time getting used to the program; it offers numerous features to organize the photos. And that too at a reasonable price! Apart from organizing photos, you can use the Smart Pix manager to sort videos and music files as well. You can import images from camera and flash drives in this program. There are, however, only 22 file format support. Smart Pix Manager can also edit photos in bulk, which can save your time. The editing features are limited to a few basic functionalities only. You cannot post your images directly to social media; emails are supported though.
CyberLink PhotoDirector has some advanced features like face-recognition and more advanced editing tools. It also has a decent video editor built-in. Unlike ACDSee and SmartPix Manager, this program work on Mac. You can organize images based on tags, color labels, star ratings, and categories. The PhotoDirector 10, however, does not allow you to sort your photos by calendar date. You can see the image metadata with this program, which is helpful to understand the camera settings used. Like advance editing tools, CyberLink software allows you to work in layers. While editing, you can apply any of the 42 filters as well. One of the disadvantages of this program is that it has limited file support and does not support formats like PDF, PSD, or GIF.
The outstanding feature of Corel PaintShop Pro is the editing features it offers. It does the organizing of the photos by using keywords, calendar dates, categories, and ratings. The program offers to set up a backup manager also. With PaintShop Pro, you can view the EXIF and IPTC data of the photo, but it doesn't allow you to search for duplicate files within. The program is easy to understand and is also useful for professionals due to its advanced features. The editing features of the organizing software has tools like paintbrushes, pencil, blemish remover, content-aware fill, etc.
Zoner Photo Studio is a great organizing tool. It has four main sections in the program, namely: Manager, Develop, Editor, and Create. In the Manager section, you can organize your photos based on keywords, titles, calendar dates, and color labels. The organizing software also allows you to add GPS location to your photos. By doing this, you will be able to search your images based on locations and see it all on a map.
Photos can be imported from your phone and camera. In Zoner Photo Studio, you can find some basic editing tools like hue, brightness, and contrast adjustments. There are 35 filters in the program through which you can add effects to the images with a few clicks. The software can be purchased with a monthly or yearly subscription.
Adobe has a free tool for managing all your digital files, and this includes photos. You can use this product independent of Adobe's Creative Cloud suite. One of the best photo organizing software, Adobe Bridge, can add tags, ratings, and other metadata to your images. The program also allows you to sort multiple images at the same time. The asset management software gives you centralized access to your files, and you can add watermarks as well. If you wish to publish the images directly to the Adobe Portfolio, you can do so with this program.
Google's backup and sync app can also be used to organize photos. This cloud-based program can backup your photo directories automatically. You can select the folders that you want to be uploaded into the cloud. The folders will be backed up and sync automatically. When the files get uploaded, it will be displayed based on time. Google's AI assistant will be able to organize it further apart from recommending which photos can be archived.
StudioLine Photo Basic is a free program that provides basic editing features like cropping, resizing, and such. The program also is a good organizing tool for images that can be sorted based on tags. You can add a description to the pictures in the program itself. The organizing tool can be used to view the images in a slideshow and allows you to publish the images to various online gallery tools.
JetPhoto Studio 5 is a good image management tool that can organize photos based on tags and locations. The program can create albums and organize them as well. A strong feature of the program is its sharing ability. The photos can be shared directly with services like Flickr, Jet Photo server, and more. You can also create a google map galley, which can show all the geotagged photos. Galleries can be exported in the form of slideshow and flash, which can even be viewed on a browser or a media player.
With XnViewMP, you can add tags to a large number of photos at once. The organizing program supports more than 500 image formats. The program, however, does not have automatic sorting options like some other software.
This photo organizer software can organize, edit, and share your photos. The files can be imported from various sources like cameras, scanner, or other removable devices. The photos can be organized by keyword, date, categories, or ratings. When you open a photo in this software, you can view the metadata of the photo immediately. ThumbsPlus 10 provides basic editing tools and 23 creative filters to enhance the photos.
PicaJet is a budget program that lets you categorize your photos in different ways. Through this program, you can import your files from various sources like cameras, scanners, and other media. PicaJet can also do bulk edits on your photos, edit the metadata of the images, and do an advanced search. The program, however, gives the photo editing tools and other advanced features in the pro version.
Lightroom is another software from the Adobe family, which can be used for photo organizing as well. Lightroom is beneficial from the point of price as you can get a photo organizing software as well as editing one at the same price. The organizing starts with the importing of files, which can be easily done in Lightroom. These imported files can then be put in folders and subfolders, catalogs, and virtual folders.
The software provides the ability to add keywords, metadata like captions, and titles to the photos. The images can also be organized based on color codes, flags, and star ratings, in this photo management software. The batch renaming of photos can be done with the program and can be exported easily. With Lightroom, you can share your images directly on social media sites. There is no need to make multiple copies as the edits are not applied to the original images. Due to Lightroom's cloud storage feature, you don't need to worry about file loss; and these files on the cloud can be accessed with all devices.
The Adobe Sensei technology uses machine learning to recognize people from the photos; it can even identify some elements in the photos. The keywords are then added in the photos based on the data from Sensei automatically. From the auto-tagging, you can create albums for each individual or any theme you want.
With the Imatch 5, you can add color labels, tags, and ratings which can be used to manage a large number of photos. The software does not provide the option to import the files directly from the camera or scanner; you can do so using your hard drive. An advantage of using this application is that it supports more than 120 file-formats including many RAW formats; and the ability to add the formats which are missing. With IMatch you don't need to create a separate database; the files can be managed from the place where they are. Files can be organized based on titles, subjects, tags, ratings. You can add comments also in the images with the help of this photo organizer. The program does not include an image editor, but you can add special effects to your photos provided in the program. With IMatch, you cannot share your images directly on social media. However, you can create a slideshow and share your images via email.
PixFiler was previously known as PhotoArchiver. It is a user-friendly photo organizing software that allows you to organize and search the photos by keywords, categories, dates, or ratings. The software can work with RAW files and can upload photos from your hard drive, camera, or scanner. PixFiler lets you know about duplicate photos so that you can save space in your drive. The editing features in this organizing program are quite limited to rotating and resizing the image only. PixFiler does not allow you to export the photos directly to social media sites; the files can be shared by email, and slideshow though.
Magix Photo Manager comes in both a free and paid version. Its facial recognition feature is definitely an attention grabber. Other organizing features are star ratings, theme categorization, cloud importing, and more. Magix Photo Manager can find and delete duplicate images like other software. The program uses AI technology to find duplicates. It provides some basic editing tools like cropping, light correction, and other image optimization features. With the virtual album feature of the software, you can put the same image in multiple collections without using extra space in your hard drive. You can sort and search the images based on names, events, locations, and more. Magix Photo Manager supports most of the photo and video formats.
DigiKam Photo Manager is a free and open-source photo organizing software that can handle more than 100,000 images. The program has all the basic photo organizing functionality you will need like upload, delete and sort images. The program offers a folder system with main folders and subfolders. Commenting on photos is another feature provided by this professional photo organizing program. The photos can also be sorted based on date, title, file size, and more. This photo management program can process RAW and JPEG images and publish them on social media. The metadata of the images can also be edited with DigiKam. An attractive feature of the software is called Light Table, which can edit particular parts of an image separately. Apart from basic editing, the program can also do advanced editing like color management, noise reduction, and add special effects.
FastStone Image Viewer can be used as an editing program as well as an organizing tool. The software has enough tools to get the basic editing done. For organizing the photos, you can make use of the tags among other sorting options. This free photo organizer is fast, making you view images without any delay. The images can also be converted into PDF, JPEG, GIF, and PNG using this program. The tags can be added easily using this program, which can be used to search the images. You can resize your images quickly with this app as there are preset for various sizes available. If you are not willing to spend on a photo organizer, this free software might be for you.
A fully-featured editing program, the On1 Photo RAW also provides the best way to organize photos. The well-developed program has solid cataloging tools that can be used to organize your photos efficiently like batch renaming, tags, ratings, and such. The keywords and metadata like author information can also be added in the images directly. This professional photo organizer is a good choice for professionals who have to deal with tons of images. A user can use the dual-mode of the program, which can be used for browsing or editing features. The images can be viewed based on their editing history, where each image can be set back based on the adjustments that have been done. These adjustments can be compared with the previous versions. The main keywords in the program can have sub-keywords as well, which can also be downloaded from Adobe lightroom.
Apowersoft Photo viewer is one of the fastest photo organizing applications on the market. This program can also perform some photo editing functions and can make changes to the metadata of the images in batch. There is also a screenshot tool built-in the program. RAW images can be converted into common formats like JPG, PNG, or TIFF; PDF files can also be viewed in the photo organizer. The files from the program can be shared into social media platforms.
Nomacs is a lightweight, free, and open-source program that has its focus on displaying the images properly through the application. A unique feature of Nomacs is that it can display images from a zip file or from a Microsoft Office document. Photos can be searched within the program by adding filters; it can also be organized based on various categories. Like many other programs, Nomacs also provides you with basic editing tools like adjusting the hue, contrast, and color tones. Nomacs application can be used in Windows, Linux, and Mac.
The Phototheca program is built to sort, edit, and view thousands of images. The images can be imported from various sources like memory cards, hard drives, cameras, etc. The easy to use organizing tool can create events, albums, and smart albums. The photos can be sorted by using keywords, people, and location. The metadata of the photo can be edited using this program. You can build their own photo library in the way you like. Phototheca also provides password protection for the files. The program has a pro version that gives you unlimited photo library, commercial use, and more features.
If you are a Mac user, then you must be familiar with Apple Photos. It is a free and simple tool that can be used to organize photos. The software can be used to create slideshows on the basis of time or date. Apple Photos has the ability to recognize objects and scenes, through which it can categorize photographs. Apple Photos can process RAW files and videos, which can be turned into loops, reverse, or long exposure.
MacPaw Gemini 2
MacPaw Gemini is a software that can only be used to find and manage duplicate and similar looking files on your Mac. As a photographer, you take multiple photos of the same scene. These photos, however, will be of very little use later. The photo organizing program will list all these photos, from there you can select which ones to keep. You can also choose the program's Smart Select, which will automatically find and delete all the files you don't need. The program can be set in such a way that it does not delete the original files while deleting the rest. The program learns from the actions you do to sort the photos, and it will apply the learnings from it.
Mylio is a free app that can be used to organize photos, videos, and other files. This program can be used on any Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android. Mylio doesn't necessarily need the internet to work; it can work automatically to organize the files based on the calendar app. The images will be categorized based on the event and synced with the calendar. Mylio has face recognition technology which can tag and organize photos quickly. Mylio also provides basic editing features, including batch editing.
From basic to advanced photo organizing tools, we have covered it all. Many of them have photo editing features too. If you are not willing to spend on a photo organizing app then, you can opt for free software as well. Having a good tool to organize photos will give you clarity about your work and help you grow. Once you have organized your photos and sorted the best ones based on ratings or flags, you can create a portfolio website on Pixpa.
Displaying your best images in a portfolio is also important if you want to be a professional photographer. You should be able to put together a consistent collection of images with a clear style so that potential customers will know what to expect from your work. Make sure that the photography website builder you choose offers the flexibility, features, and ease-of-use you need to put together professional photography portfolio websites without requiring any coding knowledge. That's where a bit of inspiration comes in handy.
Pixpa is a website builder platform that is trusted by creative pros around the world.
Pixpa is a website builder platform that is trusted by creative pros around the world.
Pixpa offers an easy yet powerful drag-and-drop website builder and includes Client galleries, eCommerce, and blogging tools to enable you to manage your complete online presence through one seamless platform. Explore all features that make Pixpa the perfect choice for photographers and other creative professionals. Choose from a variety of minimal design themes that make a bold impact. The white background allows a clear focus on images, without unnecessary clutter.
Liked this post? Share it now.
What are some free open-source photo editing software out there?
For pro-level editing, Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are the best option.
Using these two image editing software, you can do all sorts of image editing from basic to advanced.
But the only downfall is you need to pay Adobe every month for using it that is difficult for many starters like me.
Best media server software for windows 10. In the beginning, I didn’t have much money to use Photoshop for doing all types of image retouching.
So, I looked for free photo editing software that let me perform basic to advanced retouching.
Fortunately, I found a lot of free options that let me do color correction, crop & resizing, change orientation, correct light, cutout objects, organize photos, and much more.
Even I can edit SVG files, perform non-destructive editing workflows using those free photo editing apps.
In this guide, I have included 7 best free photo editing software for the newbie like me.
You may ask- what I do as a newbie or hobbyist if I have the budget to use Photoshop and Lightroom?
Well, it doesn’t make sense to pay Adobe per month for using it as a hobbyist or a newbie. You can change your plan like me after mastering on editing.
And these free photo editing software I have listed let you be a master on editing.
So, let’s dive in.
Contents
7 Best Open Source Photo Editing Software in 2020
Here is the complete list of free photo editing software.
- GIMP
- Darktable
- Inkscape
- Digikam
- Raw Therapee
- Paint.Net
- Krita
01.GIMP – Best free open-source photo editing software
GIMP is an acronym of the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It has packed with advanced image editing tools and has a Photoshop-like interface.
With GIMP, you can do every type of editing including color correction, retouching, fix distortion, and so on.
To remove background from photos, it has an advanced pen tool, Fuzzy Selection tool, and Free selection tool.
Plus, it has an advanced layer mask tool like Photoshop has. Using this tool, you can precisely erase the background from a complex photo.
For doing advanced retouching, it has come with the Clone Stamp tool, Blemish Remover tool, and Healing brush.
With these tools, you can make your portrait photo stunning.
Moreover, it has a lot of tools to correct perspective distortion, photo color correction, and much more.
Indeed, you can do everything using GIMP as the users of Photoshop do.
So, if you are a pro editor and don’t have much money to use Photoshop, then GIMP is the best option to do advanced retouching.
Features
- Advanced image editing tools
- Include layer system
- Upgraded masking tool
- Advanced color management tool
- Upgraded transform tools
- Retouching tools
- Support all types of file format
Pros
- Customizable interface
- Completely free to use
- Best for professional photo editors
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Doesn’t offer non-destructive editing workflow
- Don’t let you organize photos
Solution of the cons
If you are a beginner, then you find GIMP a little bit complex. However, there are a lot of websites that offer tutorials to be master on using GIMP.
Check out this article that includes a list of websites that make tutorials on GIMP. Also, you can join on these GIMP forums including GIMP-Forum.Net, Gimpusers.com, GIMP Chat, Gimper.Net, and Reddit.
As GIMP doesn’t let you organize photos, you can use Darktable instead of it.
02.Darktable- Best free Lightroom alternative
Darktable is a free photo editor app for mac.
For those who want to do basic editing, organize photos, correct photo color and so on, then Darktable is the best selection.
Like Lightroom, it also offers non-destructive editing workflows. Besides, it has a lot of presets and filters to enhance photos with a few clicks.
The interface of Darktable is similar to Lightroom. At the same time, it has packed with a lot of editing tools like Lr has.
That’s why Darktable is considered as the best free Lightroom alternative app.
On Darktable, you can organize photos using tag, location, name, rating, and stars.
It helps you to get the file immediately when you want to edit the photos.
Therefore, it has slider-based image editing tools like LR offers to make the retouching work fast and simple.
Something that I like about Darktable is its automatic repetitive tasks. It helps to make my editing workflows fast that save time.
Features
- A lot of adjustment tools
- Includes a lot of presets
- Advanced color correction tools
- Raw photo processor
- Basic photo editing tools
Pros
- Offer non-destructive editing
- Easy to use
- Perfect for organizing photos
- Free to use
Cons
- Not perfect for advanced retouching
Solution of the cons
Use GIMP open source photo editor that lets you perform advanced retouching workflows.
03.Inkscape- Best free vector design software
Inkscape is a free vector design creation software.
If you are an amateur vector artist and want to create logos, text effects, rendering, and much for free, then Inkscape is for you.
Even you can edit the SVG file precisely on Inkscape.
Indeed, it is solely designed for vector designers to create stunning designs.
The plus of Inkscape is it enables you to convert raster file to vector. Even it lets you open and edit PDF and AI files.
Also, you can convert bitmap files to vector using Inkscape. Therefore, you can create your social media content using this free photo editing software.
Though it is a robust vector graphic design software, the interface of Inkscape is intuitive.
There is no steep learning curve. That means you can easily be a master in using Inkscape.
Those who don’t have enough money to use Adobe Illustrator can use Inkscape as an alternative.
The best part is it is free and lets you do almost everything as Adobe Illustrator does.
Features
- Advanced objection creation tools including drawing tool, shape tool, and text tool
- Include a lot of object manipulation tools
- Upgraded Fill & Stroke
- Rendering
- Supports multiple file-formats including SVG, PDF, PNG, DXF, EPS, SK1
![Best open source photo gallery software windows 10 Best open source photo gallery software windows 10](https://www.maketecheasier.com/assets/uploads/2019/01/best-open-source-source-software-header1.jpg)
Pros
- Easy to use
- No learning curve
- Adaptable layout and interface
Cons
- Keyboard shortcuts do not perform well
- Occur unexpected crush
Solution of the cons
The keyboard shortcuts of Inkscape don’t perform well. So, it is better to use each of the tools manually or selecting from the toolbar.
Crush happened when you add a lot of paths to a project.
So, stop adding multiple paths to a single project. If possible, try to use Adobe Illustrator to avoid these problems.
04.Digikam- Free photo organizing software
DigiKam is a free photo management software. It is solely created for organizing and managing software.
However, I have included this software both for editing and organizing photos.
Besides organizing photos, it also lets you edit photos as it has come with a lot of advanced image editing tools.
With DigiKam, you can process raw photos, correct photo color, adjust brightness & exposure, and much more.
Nonetheless, you can also apply batch photo processing using DigiKam.
Digikam has an advanced module named Light Table for sorting images smartly. Using this module, you can compare each of the photos you shoot.
Furthermore, you can organize photos using meta-tags, stars, ratings, and locations.
The exciting part of Digikam is you can also process raw photos and share them on different social channels.
To get the insight view of DigiKam, you can check out this article by Fix The Photo.
Features
- Support multiple cameras
- Smart photo organizing tools
- Raw processor
- Batch photo processing
- A lot of image editing tools
Pros
- Perfect for photo organization
- Easy to navigate
- Offer batch photo processing
Cons
- Lack of advanced photo editing tools
- Darktable photo organizing system performs better than DigiKam
Solution of the cons
Try to use GIMP instead of DigiKam for advanced image retouching. For organizing photos smartly, use Darktable.
05.Raw Therapee- Best free raw development app
Raw Therapee is an open-source photo editor app for developing raw files.
With Raw Therapee, you can edit raw images in a non-destructive way.
Apart from that, you can edit, correct photo color, organize photos, and perform some retouching workflows.
Though the interface of Raw Therapee is the same as Lightroom, Raw Therapee goes deep in case of color correction.
There are a plethora of options to enhance and correct photo colors. Besides, it lets you process raw photos with depth. You can fix chromatic aberration, noise reduction of your raw files.
However, if we judge Raw Therapee by the intuitiveness of the interface, then Lightroom is superior to it.
Even so, the photo organizing system of Raw Therapee is not as intuitive as LR.
Aside from these, if you find software for developing raw files, then Raw Therapee is the best selection.
To get an in-depth look at Raw Therapee features, check out this article of Expert Photography.
Features
- Advanced color correction tools
- Raw image processor
- Photo organization option
- Basic editing tools
- Adjustment tools
Pros
- Completely free
- Enables to convert files in various formats
- Perfect for raw development
Cons
- Unintuitive interface
- Little bit complex
- The performance rate is low comparing to Lightroom
Solution of the cons
Most of the beginner find the interface of Raw Therapee complex. As a solution, you can use Darktable that is another free alternative to Lightroom.
06.Paint.Net- Awesome tool for painting & editing
Paint.Net is another full-featured free photo editing software for Windows.
Intuitive interface, layer system, effects, plugins, and a plethora of editing tools are available on Paint.Net.
Helpful community, tutorials, and plugins make photo editing easy and enjoyable on Paint.Net.
With Paint.Net, you can do basic editing with precision.
Though it doesn’t let you do creative editing or advanced retouching, you can give a clean look to your photo free from any visible imperfections.
For making adjustments, it has come with Hue, Saturation, and Curves tools.
Moreover, it includes a lot of art effects to create stunning painting photos including oil, ink, and pencil.
The drawback of this tool is it has come with limited brush workflows.
At the same time, the text tool doesn’t perform well when you apply any effects.
Disregarding these drawbacks, it is a great tool for beginners.
Features
- A lot of effects included to remove red-eye, blemishes, and fix distortions
- Powerful editing tools
- Intuitive & customizable interface
- Plethora of History panels
Pros
- Easy to use
- Completely free
- Third-party plugins make editing workflow smooth
- Growing online helpful community
- Tutorials available
Cons
- Lack of advanced retouching tools
- Doesn’t come with Dodge & Burn tool
- Unupgraded brush tool
Solution of the cons
Gimp is a better solution to do all types of retouching workflows. Or, you can choose Photoshop to enjoy advanced retouching.
07. Krita- Best free digital painting software
Krita is a free painting photo editing software. The interface of Krita is intuitive and has everything at your fingertips.
With Krita, you can create stunning drawing & painting arts. Even a child can use it to draw paintings.
This digital painting tool has come with a lot of brushes for drawing arts. The best part is you can customize each of the brush tools.
For a newbie, you don’t need to make changes into any brushes as it has come with everything you need.
The pencil tool of Krita is by far so advanced than its other counterparts. The softness of this tool is great and its stroke is straight.
To sum up, it is a great digital painting tool for the newbie.
Even those who don’t have any painting experience before can create digital drawings using this free photo editor.
Features
- Plethora of brush tools
- Selection tools
- Transform tools
- Layer system
- HDR support
- Drawing assistance
- Color palette
- Advanced pencil tools
Pros
- Completely free to use
- No experience needed to use it
- User-friendly interface
- Support plugins
- Compatible on Linux, Windows, and macOS
Cons
- Crush happened frequently
- Lack of keyboard shortcuts
Solution of the cons
The problem of Krita is there occur crushes often. As a result, you can lose your work.
To get rid of this problem, it is better to save the working file often.
I also noticed that Krita has a lack of keyboard shortcuts and layers. For solving this problem, you can switch your plan Krita to Photoshop.
Conclusion
To enhance photo quality, we must take help from photo editing software, either beginner or professionals.
And the list of open-source photo editing software I have included above help you enhance photos without spending a single buck.
But the question is- which is the best free photo editing software on this list?
Well, it depends on what you are going to do and what you are capable of doing.
To me, Gimp is the best free open-source photo editor on this list. It lets you do almost everything as Photoshop and Lightroom do.
For professionals who don’t have enough money to use Photoshop, they can take advantage of this free photo editor.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a free Lightroom alternative, then Darktable is one that you expect.
For your convenience, I have listed those free photo editing software here again.
- Gimp- Best free Photoshop alternative
- Darktable- Best free Lightroom alternative
- Inkscape- Best free vector design app
- Digicam- Best for photo organization
- Raw Therapee- Best raw development app
- Paint.Net- Perfect for painting and basic editing
- Krita- Best free digital painting software
Have you tried out any of the software on this list? Which software are you going to try out?
Have I missed any software that should include?
Let me know by leaving a comment below.
General FAQ
What is the best free photo editing software?
Which free photo editing software is best for beginners?
Darktable, Krita, DigiKam, Inkscape, and Raw Therapee are the best free photo editing software for beginners.
Open Source Image Editing Software
Is there any free photo editing software?
All of the apps I included on this list are free.
Is there an open source version of Photoshop?
Yes, Gimp is the open source version of Photoshop.
Open Source Photo Gallery Software
Is there an open source version of Lightroom?
Darktable is the open source version of Lightroom.
Best Open Source Photo Gallery Software Windows 10
Sohel Rana
Open Source Photo Manager
Sohel Rana is the founder, content crafter, and SEO's at Pic Editor Review. He has grown his passion over years about writing on software, how-to guide, and product description.