We all know that Photoshop is one of the most powerful image-editors available, but over time in can become quite inexpensive. In fact, even with Adobe’s most basic plan it will cost you over $250 per year to take advantage of everything it can do.

But if you’re short on cash, or just don’t want to pay for a subscription, there are free alternatives that offer many of the same features. The video below from the popular Brett in Tech YouTube channel reveals five free software options worthy of your consideration.

Instructor Brett Bristow launched his channel with the goal of providing editing tips and reviews of the latest software for photographers of all skill levels. He says that in this eight-minute episode, “I’ll countdown (in reverse order) the five best Photoshop alternatives that will help you create and edit images like a pro.”

Bristow walks you through his personal preferences and explains the advantages and imitations of each of his recommendations. It’s important to note that these picks are subjective and your ultimate choice will depend upon the type of images you shoot, and your specific needs.

Number five in this list is Photoscape X, a feature-packed program that supports Raw files. In addition to the tool you’d expect, other key features include a photo viewer, collage maker, and gift creator. He notes that “there are also tons of filters, effects, and other great tools to transform your images.” Photoscape X is a great choice for beginners because its uncluttered interface is super easy to use.

Coming in at #4 is Paint.Net, which in its recent iteration includes support for blending and layers, automatic filters, and a variety of external plugins that greatly extend its capabilities. The interface is better than ever, with most commonly used tools located in a bar on the left, and other features and tools in the Menu bar at the top. This one is limited by the fact that it’s only available for Windows 10 and 11.

Bristow’s third choice for is Krita—an open-source option that’s not only a good choice for photographers but for artists interested in digital painting. Krita includes a variety of standard tools, fresh choices for customization, and a great-looking layout. Primary tools appear along the left of the screen. On the right you’ll find an advanced Color Selector—followed by Layers and a wide variety of Brush presets.

So what are Bristow’s top two picks? You’ll have to watch the video to find out. But we’re quite sure than one of these free options may be exactly what you need. Be sure to visit Bristow’s poplar YouTube channel for more image-editing lessons.

We also suggest watching the beginner tutorial we posted from another image-editing expert who explains how to use Photoshop’s Color Balance tools to achieve perfect tones throughout every photograph you shoot.

New Photoshop users are often bewildered by the vast array of available features and tools. Today’s quick tutorial will help you understand the basic concepts of White Balance and Color.

Instructor Barry Beckham regularly posts straightforward post-processing lessons designed to help amateur shooters up their game. As he says, “You can’t become and accomplished photographer without image-editing skills, but we can make it easier and a  lot more fun to develop these skills.”

Beckham explains that White Balance is all about making sure that the white portions of an image appear truly white—regardless of lighting conditions when the photo was captured. This is extremely important because “if the whites aren’t white, all the other colors won’t be correct either.”

An image of a curious kangaroo is used to explain why the shot has a strong and unsightly magenta cast, even though it was shot with a modern state-of-the art camera. It turns out the error was caused by light streaming through storm clouds on a rainy day. Fortunately, you’ll see how easy this is to correct the color bias in this shot.

Beckham provides other examples with Color Balance problems, one of which is a seascape photo. For this one he places Photoshop’s Eyedropper over an area that should appear pure white, but once again the shot misses the mark.

So what should you do when working on an image with incorrect White Balance, where nothing in the scene should obviously be white? For situations like this Beckham provide a click-and-drag zoom trick that helps analyze and fix the problem. He also reveals simple keyboard shortcuts for speeding up the process.

Beckham includes a couple more examples to drive home simple techniques for solving other Color Balance issues. One is a tight shot of a beautiful bird with colors that look very realistic. The problem here is that an out-of-focus green hedge behind the subject is overly saturated due to strong light falling on the background. But, once again, there’s a quick fix.

The final image in the series is also quite informative as well and is quickly transformed by using Beckham’s simple techniques. After watching the video take a look at Beckham’s instructional YouTube channel—especially if you’re just getting started in Photoshop.

We also suggest watching the image-editing tutorial we posted recently with another expert, explaining how to use Photoshop’s amazing new Photo Restoration filter to quickly rehabilitate all your old, damaged images.

This is the first tutorial we’ve posted from Albert Dros, a long-time professional landscape photographer based in the Netherlands who has a solid following on his instructional YouTube channel. Dros is also an experienced Lightroom user, and in this episode he reveals eight editing tricks that comprise a big part of his workflow.

Some of these techniques “are already very old” and no longer grab attention, while others were just introduced in 2023 and may be more top of mind. In either case you may find these tips unfamiliar and Dros wants to get you up to speed because of the impressive utility they offer when processing images that need work.

Dros begins with an interesting way to employ Lightroom’s Histogram with a rather dark forest photo he shot during a visit to a forest in Luxembourg. Rather than using sliders beneath the Histogram to adjust various values, he drags across the Histogram graphic itself to quickly modify attributes like, Blacks, Shadows, Exposure, Highlights, and Whites.

As he does this the corresponding sliders move automatically to reflect the changes he makes. According to Dros, this method can be far more intuitive than the conventional approach, especially for inexperienced Lightroom users—but even pros like Dros avail themselves of this time-saving trick.

Tip number two involves what Dros says is a “smarter way to adjust White Balance.” The image for this demonstration lacks a true white point, so Lightroom’s Color Picker can’t be used in the normal way. Instead, Dros moves the Vibrance and Saturation sliders all the way to the right (i.e. to the maximum) and then he carefully observes how colors in the image respond as he carefully drags the White Balance slider.

With this approach colors change rapidly as he moves the White Balance slider in minimum increments. Dros explains that “this way we can accurately see exactly what’s going on with the color.” The goal is to arrive at “the best possible color separation,” and Dros also employs Lightroom’s Tint slider to refine the results until he sees exactly what he wants.

The foregoing is just a small taste of what you’ll learn in this eye-opening lesson, and by the time you’re done watching you may be inspired to modify your workflow. Other topics covered include what Dros refers to as “Light Bleed, a quick and effective Curves Trick, and how to employ Selective Color.

Dros also explains how to use a Land Mask, a Map Module, and a Smart Sky Mask to enhance a wide variety of images. There’s also a link beneath the video to his Full Editing Course on Landscape photography if you’re so inclined.

Be sure to visit Dros’ instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find more free lessons for improving your work. We also recommend watching the tutorial we posted recently with five Lightroom Masks that another accomplished landscape photographer says he simply can’t live without.