Ten of the best image editors

The range of image manipulation software available has grown significantly. Whether you're looking to create a digital art masterpiece or just want to quickly take the red reflections out your friend's eyes or crop them out the shot entirely, there will be a piece of software out there that will satisfy your image editing needs. Check out this list of ten of the best image manipulators and editors out there today.
 

Aviary Image Editor  Aviary is a fantastic free design tool that for some reason seems to have gone under the radar a bit. It provides an alternative to many well-known creative applications, which are accessed within your web browser. Along-side the main advanced image editor are a vector editor, effects editor, image markup, music creator and their audio editor. Check out Aviary here

Photoshop  The grand-daddy of them all, Photoshop is still leading the way in image manipulation. Of course you all know Photoshop so theres no new revelation here but it had to be included on the list just because it would still seem wrong leaving it off. With the latest version offering even more useful applications, Photoshops range of image fixes is huge. Check out Photoshop here

Fireworks  An alternative to Photoshop with more of a leaning towards web graphics rather than photo editing, Fireworks often gets over-shadowed by Photoshop but it can be a hugely useful design tool. I’m personally a big fan of Fireworks and would definitely recommend giving it a once-over. Check out Fireworks here

GIMP  Fear not. This has nothing to do with leather clad and zipped up sexual deviants. GIMP here is an acronym for ‘GNU Image Manipulation Program’. The interface may take a little getting used to if you are used to Photoshop. But with regular updates, and a simple install, GIMP has really risen in popularity. Check out GIMP here

Paint.net  Paint.net was initially intended to act as a replacement tool for the vintage MS Paint (although MS Paint now seems to have seen a resurgence in use due to the increase in popularity of pixel art). Paint.net is a well maintained tool that has some nice features to it such as an unlimited ‘undo’. Check out Paint.net here

SplashUp  SplashUp, or Fauxto as it used to be called, actually has a really nice user interface once you get into the editor itself probably nicer than you would expect from arriving at the main homepage for the tool. A cool feature of this image editor is that it comes with its own file format allowing you to return to and edit your work later. Given that I always forget to save the files as I work on them anyway, this feature has limited benefit for myself. But for people who do remember this pretty vital part of the process, this is a rather useful feature. Check out SplashUp here

Fotoflexer  Fotoflexer is a strange and curious beast. For starters, its interface layout and design is weird, not bad necessarily but certainly unusual. Secondly, there is an odd mix of features available. There are some really useful tools such as its various distortion and beautify options as well as pretty much all its options in the basic and geek tabs. For some reason though they have included some extremely garish sparkly animations which can be clumsily slapped onto the image. I feel they may be trying to make this image editor everything to everyone which is a bit of a shame but the tool is still worth a look for its more grown-up features. Check out Fotoflexer here

Pixlr  Joining the ever growing ranks of modern application websites with an R at the end of their name without a preceding vowel, Pixlr is an all round classy affair. The homepage is lush, as is the image editor itself. A nice thing about Pixlr is that seem to have solved the problem that some of the earlier editors had in that they have made a clear-cut separation between their crazy effects and their more grown-up effects for the needs of the more professional user. This separation takes place on the home page where you're asked to go to the image editor, which is the classic editor or to go to retro vintage effects, which has the fun and games. The retro vintage effects section is actually put together in really novel way though as it sees your image placed into an old school photo development tray filled with water you can even drag your cursor over the water to see the ripples. Check out Pixlr here

SumoPaint  To get all the extra bells and whistles from this editor you'll have to upgrade to a pro version but the main version still seems pretty damn good. Really professionally laid out with all the major editing tools you would expect to find. This editor even got a five star award from the Mac Worlds Editors Choice. Check out SumoPaint here

Photo Plus  Photo Plus, like SumoPaint, has a couple of different versions available. Photo Pluss interface looks almost a bit like a mixture between MS Paint (in its Microsoftness) and a far more modern and detailed editing tool. With a good selection of features available in the tool, Photo Plus certainly seems to gaining in popularity. Check out PhotoPlus here

If there's a piece of software that you swear by that hasn't been included then leave a comment below.