Software

While browsing on the web I came across a very interesting article titled The 11 Best Free Photo Editing Programs. It basically lists 11 free programs that you can use to edit photos. Six of them are desktop applications, and five are online photo editors.

The cool thing is that apart from the description, each program comes with the “Best Selling Point,” the “Biggest Drawback” and a handy list of tutorials to get you started using the tool. Here is a quote from the first mention, Gimp:

Gimp takes the cake with this little competition. It fits all the criteria for the perfect image editor for college students. It’s free, compatible with all computers, and satisfies all your editing needs—from basics like cropping and red-eye correction to multiple layers, advanced filters, and GIF animation. The worst you can really say about this editor is that initially it can be a bit overwhelming. It has multiple windows and a wide range of options. But once you get the hang of it, photo editing becomes a breeze. For all but the most professional editors, Gimp even works as an adequate substitute for Photoshop, a $700-$1,000 program. Also, if you have a Mac, this is by far your best option and the only one that made our list.

Best Selling Point: Overall best functionality and compatible with all computers

Biggest Drawback: Overwhelming interface with a steep learning curve

Gimp is also probably the most well known software in the list. Most of the others were new to me, and they look promising. Whether you’re a professional photographer or a novice, this article gives some helpful insight to save time and money.

If you take many photos, then you will probably want to add some special effects to them sooner or later. Morphing is one cool thing that you can do. It basically merges two different photos in one. If you mix the right photos, can results will be funny. For example, you could mix a photo of yourself with your kid to see how he will look like later in life. Or you could mix two celebrities together, like in the photo below:

I researched about photo morphing software, and one that I did like was called Morpheus. It does all the morphings on the fly and it comes with some useful features, including:

• The option to output morphings in Flash or animated GIFs
• A morph wizard to guide you in the process
• The option to upload your photos online
• Previewing
• Share functionality to send your photos to family and friends

The software is a paid one, but there is also a free trial version if you want to test it out first. Check it out if you would like to start morphing your photos.