For this tutorial, any recent version will do. While it does not offer some of Photoshop’s best features-such as non-destructive image editing-or have the same level of polish, it has all the tools you need to perform simple, and not-so-simple, image edits.Īs GIMP is open source there are alternative builds with different plug-ins and features. GIMP is the closest thing there is to a free and open-source Photoshop. To get the Cliff’s Notes of what I do in the screencast, check out the written tutorial below.

Watch the screencast to see me go through the whole process with one of my images. After this tutorial you’ll know how to crop your photos, increase their brightness and contrast, adjust the saturation, convert them to black and white, sharpen them and export them for social media. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make simple photo edits using GIMP. If you want something free, just for occasionally editing photos, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is open source and has been around for almost 20 years.

Pixelmator is a great alternative but even that is $30-a lot to spend on an application you may only use occasionally. The gold standard application is Adobe Photoshop and, more recently, Photoshop Lightroom but even with the special photographer’s subscription price, they cost more than $100 a year. Sometimes, to take your images to the next level, you need to do a bit of post-processing. Almost any smartphone’s camera produces nicer photos than any point and shoot from a few years ago. It’s never been easier to take high quality photos.

Gnu image manipulation program mac