Photoshop is probably one of the best known, if not the best, photo editors that you can buy. However, the one drawback to Photoshop is that it is expensive. There is a reason for photoshop being expensive and that is because of the extensive things that you can do with this kind of technology.

However, if you just want a simple photo editing software solution then there are other options apart from Photoshop that will not cost you as much and some of which are actually free.

Free photo editing software. Two of the most popular photo editing software suites are Picasa  (which is designed by Google) and Microsoft Photo Editor. Both have their advantages over the other and in tandem can provide a lot of the functionality that you need.  if you do not need complex software to adjust curves and balance then you might well be advised to just use free photo editing software.

With Picasa you can crop images, change the contrast and color balance as well as add various effects to your images like graduated tints and changing the image to black and white. You can also add text and straighten the image if it is not quite straight when you took it.

Microsoft Photo Editor is good for resizing your image if you want to change the size as you can pick exactly what proportions you want your image to be.

So if you are thinking of buying Photoshop then it is worth thinking about exactly what you want to do with your photos and if free software can do this for you. There are plenty of others available too in addition to the 2 I have mentioned. Check out this article on another free photo editing software that is more like Photoshop in it’s capabilities.