Best Free Editing Software for Beginners

Hey everyone!

I'm just starting out with photography and have been looking for some free software to edit my photos. I've tried a few but they're either too complex or don't offer enough features. What are your go-to free editing tools for beginners? I'm looking for something that's relatively easy to learn but still powerful enough to make noticeable improvements to my images.

Some things I'm hoping to do:

• Basic adjustments (brightness, contrast, saturation)
• Cropping and straightening
• Removing minor blemishes
• Applying simple filters or looks

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the world of editing! For absolute beginners, you can't go wrong with GIMP. It's often called the "free Photoshop" and it really is quite powerful. It has a steeper learning curve than some others, but there are tons of tutorials online. It handles all the basic adjustments and more.

Another fantastic option, especially for quick edits and if you prefer a more streamlined interface, is Photopea. It's a web-based editor that feels very similar to Photoshop and can open PSD files. It's surprisingly capable and requires no installation!

I second Photopea! It's my daily driver for most quick edits. The layer support is great, and it's so convenient not having to download anything. For mobile, Snapseed is an absolute gem. It's free on both iOS and Android and has a surprisingly intuitive interface with some really advanced tools hidden away.

If you're on Windows and want something super simple for just basic adjustments and batch processing, check out FastStone Photo Resizer. It's not a full editor, but it excels at resizing, renaming, and basic tweaks in bulk.