As digital images get more widespread nowadays, so does the need to edit them to make them better.  What happens when you are caught between the insufficient features of Microsoft Paint, and the wallet-blowing cost of Photoshop? Here are some takes on a few of the best free image editors that might come close to commercial ones in terms of functionality.

1. How to edit images using advanced tools

The GIMP is an image editor that has many powerful tools beyond the ordinary paintbrushes and pencils. Commodities such as airbrush, selective blurring, cloning and path tools are usually reserved to paid commercial editors, but they can all be found in this open-source gem.

2. How to touch up photos in your web browser

Pixenate is a web-based photo editing service that allows users to quickly touch up and fix photos. Just connect your camera and upload your images to the website, where you can then perform common tasks such as red-eye reduction, cropping, or even change colours and contrasts. Although it lacks more advanced toolsets, Pixenate shines in terms of user friendliness and ease-of-use.

3. How to do fast, one-click photo-enhancing tasks

Picasa is a user-friendly program that can visually sort the photos in your computer into easily manageable categories. Also, less technical users will be relieved to know that there are plenty of one-click photo enhancing solutions such as red-eye reduction, cropping and auto-adjustments.

4. How to do heavy image editing in your web browser

Splashup is an online web-based image editing tool that allows users to edit multiple images simultaneously. It also supports advanced features such as layers, paths and more. Just think of it as a mini Photoshop on the web, perfect for road warriors on the go who do not have constant access to installed apps.

5. How to edit, combine, view, or animate images

Photoscape is a free imaging suite comprising an editor, batch editor, animator and combiner. Users can do screen capture, combine photos into mosaics, make animated gifs, and convert RAW files under this one handy all-in-one software.

6. How to do intermediate photo-enhancing

Photofiltre is an image editing program that falls somewhere in the mid point of amateur and professional editors. On one hand, it has all the one-click features such as brightness, contrast, and sepia effects. On the other, it features extensive batch support, color replacement and gamma correction.

7. How to manipulate images with layers

Paint.NET is like the big brother of our good ol’ Microsoft Paint. On top of the usual fare of brushes and coloring tools, it also features extensive layer support, where users can do some really high-level image manipulation not unlike those achievable using expensive commercial software.

Do you edit your photos?  Tell us in the comments!