What is a good free photo editor?

Examples of free feature-rich photo editors include GIMP, Picasa and PicMonkey. Other free photo editors are available to users, but many experts consider these three among the best in their class for the specific purposes they are built for.

Professional users typically use GIMP as a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. The most complicated of the three to use, it comes with features such as layer-based image manipulation, advanced filters and support for different plugins. Picasa, on the other hand, is more akin to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and shines when used for photo management and on-the-fly photo adjustments, such as controlling brightness, contrast and other similar image values. Finally, beginners can add text, filter effects, shapes, border textures and clipart overlays to pictures with just a few mouse clicks by using the PicMonkey online application.