ShaolinTiger
12-05-2007, 05:09 PM
Seen as though we DO NOT endorse or support piracy here, I thought it might be a good idea to list some of the great free tools you can use if you can't afford original software.
If you need Photoshop - you can also consider Photoshop Elements (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/) which is a lot more affordable.
RAW Conversion Software
The best of the free options is RSE or Raw Shooter Essentials. Unfortunately it was bought over by Adobe - but you can still find it for download.
Raw Shooter Essentials Download (http://www.photo-freeware.net/raw-shooter-essentials.php)
Another is Stepok's Raw Importer, which is also free and easy and supports most formats.
Stepok's Raw Importer (http://www.stepok.net/eng/raw_importer.htm)
The last one I know about is UFRaw which can work alone or as a GIMP plugin, so you can do your whole workflow in GIMP.
UFRaw (http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/)
Image Manipulation Software
The best of the lot is GIMP! Which is completely free!
GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program (http://www.gimp.org/)
It's fairly similar to Photoshop, has a lot of the features and supports plugins and skins.
If you want it to look like Photoshop you can install this:
GIMPShop (http://www.gimpshop.com/)
For basic stuff you can also try Paint.NET a free updated version of MS Paint.
Paint.NET (http://www.getpaint.net/)
If you are using Linux you can try Cinepaint which also supports RAW conversion.
CinePaint (http://www.cinepaint.org/)
For basic resizing and viewing IrfanView is a good option.
IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/)
Picnik is an online image editor, which also has recently interfaced with Flickr (http://blog.flickr.com/2007/12/05/edit-your-photos-on-flickr/).
Picnik (http://www.picnik.com/)
Cataloguing/Browsing Software
Extremely fast, Faststone - supports every format under the sun and works very well. You can even install a portable version on your Thumb Drive.
FastStone (http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm)
blueMarine is a fairly new project for workflow management similar to Lightroom and Aperture - it's in early stages but it's looking good.
blueMarine (http://bluemarine.tidalwave.it/)
The most popular in this area is Picasa - which was acquired and improved upon by Google.
Picasa from Google (http://picasa.google.com/)
Also included basic editing and plenty of features for sharing (web galleries etc).
Microsoft came out with a good tool as well by updating Vista Photo Gallery and making it into Windows Live Photo Gallery (which works on XP SP2).
Windows Live Photo Gallery (http://get.live.com/photogallery/overview)
It has basic editing, tagging, it can upload directly to Flickr and has a really good panoramic stitching feature.
Xnview is a software for viewing and converting image files.
Xnview (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enxnview.html)
Noise Reduction Software
Imagenomic is one of the newest on the block for Noise Reduction - and I find them one of the best! They also have a community edition of their Noiseware software, which is free for download.
Imagenomic Noiseware Community Edition (http://www.imagenomic.com/download.aspx)
Neat Image also has a free standalone version.
Neat Image Trial (http://www.neatimage.com/download.html)
But so far I've found Noiseware better, I've been using Neat Image for quite some time.
Free Plugins/Actions
Here are some locations where you can find free plugins/actions for GIMP and Photoshop:
Action Central (http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm)
Addicted to Design (http://www.addictedtodesign.com/free_photoshop_actions.html)
Free Photoshop Actions (http://www.hypergurl.com/blog/photoshop/photoshop-actions.html)
Elated Actionkits (http://www.elated.com/actionkits/)
The Lights Right Photoshop Tools (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/photoshop-tools.htm)
GIMP Plugin Registry (http://registry.gimp.org/)
HDR Tools
FDRTools is a fairly comprehensive suite for manipulating and creating HDR images, it has a free unlimited version for personal use called FDRTools Basic.
FDRTools Basic (http://www.fdrtools.com/fdrtools_basic_e.php)
Qtpfsgui is an open source graphical user interface application that aims to provide a workflow for HDR Imaging.
Qtpfsgui (http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/)
If you do know of any others - feel free to drop a note here. (Updated Dec 6th 2007) - Thanks to djspinnet & jackyyong.
If you need Photoshop - you can also consider Photoshop Elements (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/) which is a lot more affordable.
RAW Conversion Software
The best of the free options is RSE or Raw Shooter Essentials. Unfortunately it was bought over by Adobe - but you can still find it for download.
Raw Shooter Essentials Download (http://www.photo-freeware.net/raw-shooter-essentials.php)
Another is Stepok's Raw Importer, which is also free and easy and supports most formats.
Stepok's Raw Importer (http://www.stepok.net/eng/raw_importer.htm)
The last one I know about is UFRaw which can work alone or as a GIMP plugin, so you can do your whole workflow in GIMP.
UFRaw (http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/)
Image Manipulation Software
The best of the lot is GIMP! Which is completely free!
GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program (http://www.gimp.org/)
It's fairly similar to Photoshop, has a lot of the features and supports plugins and skins.
If you want it to look like Photoshop you can install this:
GIMPShop (http://www.gimpshop.com/)
For basic stuff you can also try Paint.NET a free updated version of MS Paint.
Paint.NET (http://www.getpaint.net/)
If you are using Linux you can try Cinepaint which also supports RAW conversion.
CinePaint (http://www.cinepaint.org/)
For basic resizing and viewing IrfanView is a good option.
IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/)
Picnik is an online image editor, which also has recently interfaced with Flickr (http://blog.flickr.com/2007/12/05/edit-your-photos-on-flickr/).
Picnik (http://www.picnik.com/)
Cataloguing/Browsing Software
Extremely fast, Faststone - supports every format under the sun and works very well. You can even install a portable version on your Thumb Drive.
FastStone (http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm)
blueMarine is a fairly new project for workflow management similar to Lightroom and Aperture - it's in early stages but it's looking good.
blueMarine (http://bluemarine.tidalwave.it/)
The most popular in this area is Picasa - which was acquired and improved upon by Google.
Picasa from Google (http://picasa.google.com/)
Also included basic editing and plenty of features for sharing (web galleries etc).
Microsoft came out with a good tool as well by updating Vista Photo Gallery and making it into Windows Live Photo Gallery (which works on XP SP2).
Windows Live Photo Gallery (http://get.live.com/photogallery/overview)
It has basic editing, tagging, it can upload directly to Flickr and has a really good panoramic stitching feature.
Xnview is a software for viewing and converting image files.
Xnview (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enxnview.html)
Noise Reduction Software
Imagenomic is one of the newest on the block for Noise Reduction - and I find them one of the best! They also have a community edition of their Noiseware software, which is free for download.
Imagenomic Noiseware Community Edition (http://www.imagenomic.com/download.aspx)
Neat Image also has a free standalone version.
Neat Image Trial (http://www.neatimage.com/download.html)
But so far I've found Noiseware better, I've been using Neat Image for quite some time.
Free Plugins/Actions
Here are some locations where you can find free plugins/actions for GIMP and Photoshop:
Action Central (http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm)
Addicted to Design (http://www.addictedtodesign.com/free_photoshop_actions.html)
Free Photoshop Actions (http://www.hypergurl.com/blog/photoshop/photoshop-actions.html)
Elated Actionkits (http://www.elated.com/actionkits/)
The Lights Right Photoshop Tools (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/photoshop-tools.htm)
GIMP Plugin Registry (http://registry.gimp.org/)
HDR Tools
FDRTools is a fairly comprehensive suite for manipulating and creating HDR images, it has a free unlimited version for personal use called FDRTools Basic.
FDRTools Basic (http://www.fdrtools.com/fdrtools_basic_e.php)
Qtpfsgui is an open source graphical user interface application that aims to provide a workflow for HDR Imaging.
Qtpfsgui (http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/)
If you do know of any others - feel free to drop a note here. (Updated Dec 6th 2007) - Thanks to djspinnet & jackyyong.