GIMP

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an brilliant graphical editor that allows us to such tasks as image composition or photograph retouching with near professional results. The application with allow you to do whatever you want with you images: create logos, retouch digital photographs, create animations, photo enhancing, etc...

  This application is the only alternative that is capable of competing with Photoshop, that is GNU licensed and completely free. Furthermore, the adaptation process to GIMP for people who have used  Photoshop is very simple, because it includes practically all the same tools and they are used in a very similar way.

  Some of GIMPs main features are:
- Compatible with many formats: JPEG, PS, PSP, PNG, XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP, PSD, ...
- Possibility to use layers, layer masks, quickmask and full alpha channel support.
- Different types of selection, including selection by color or magic wand.
- Image transformation: duplicate, rotate, shear, scale, persepective, image modes (RGB, grey scales, indexing), etc..
- Image adjustment: color balance, tone and saturation, colorize, brightness and contrast, threshold, levels, curves, desaturate,...
- Filters: blur, enhance, distort, light and shadow, noise, edge-detect, generic, combinem artistic, decor, map, rendering, web, animation,..

  If we take into account that GIMP has seen some increadible improvements in the latest versions of the program, we can state without any doubt that it is one of the best graphical design applications available, on the same level as Photoshop, but with two major advantages over it: it is free and hardly uses resources.