Sunday, September 11, 2011

Free Photoshop Alternative - GIMP, a Review

What is Gimp?  If you are looking for a free photoshop alternative-read on.


By Webiny Lumshway

Whether you are a budding website designer, graphic artist, or just a kid who wants to whiten his teeth in that photo before it goes on Facebook, you need photo manipulation software. Of course, there is the image editing giant Photoshop, but that is not up your alley. Either it's too pricey, too complicated, or both. Well, if you're hunting for a decent piece of photo editing software with a price tag that won't leave you out of pocket, then The GIMP might be right for you.

An open source program
GIMP is an acronym that stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. The free software is made by volunteer computer developers as an alternative to pricey image software like Photoshop. For over a decade they have been dedicated to upgrading their software. The result is remarkably user friendly experience, and you can tell that they were thinking about ease of performance when they built the editor. The GIMP has a huge community of users who are constantly working hand in hand with the developers to upgrade the software. Since the software has not got any team of workers to check for bugs, it is up to to the user community to find and report glitches

Functional yet simple
The program has all the basic features of image editing software including layers, coloring, contrast adjustment, masks, and text tools along with some more professional ones that rival paid software. The interface is very simply laid out and easy to use, so you don't have to be a professional to navigate the tool. The working palettes are laid out in separate windows, which can take a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it navigation is really easy. Though the software was initially built on and used with Linux, it is now is available for all the major platforms.

The bottom line
After all is said and done it comes down to this: if all you want is the capability to do basic photo editing and drawing with convenience and ease and if you want it for free, then The GIMP is definitely right for you. Should you choose to go beyond your current level of experience and try more professional things requiring image editing software then The Gimp will serve you well there too. If you are familiar with Photoshop and then switch to The GIMP you will notice a difference in quality, but for a 600 dollar price tag Photoshop ought to be a lot more functional than an open source tool, right?
Webiny Lumshway

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Webiny_Lumshway

http://EzineArticles.com/?Free-Photoshop-Alternative---GIMP,-a-Review&id=6176501

No comments:

Post a Comment