Adobe photoshop for free?

March 9, 2009 10:39 AM

Photo editing question: Help with cutouts.

What is the simplest, cheapest photo editing program for cutouts?

(I would like to cut out the head of friend and digitally paste on another image for a birthday card thing.)

At work I use Adobe Photoshop's pen tool. I'd love to use that at home, but can't afford Photoshop (What I can afford: free) and I don't really want to go the pirated root.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

posted by als129 to computers & internet (9 comments total)

(And no, I can't do this at work.)
posted by als129 at 10:40 AM on March 9

GIMP is free and is made to be like Photoshop. Gimpshop is about the same thing except the tools aren't all in separate windows (which I think is the worst thing about GIMP).

Paint will work with the free form select tool.
posted by theichibun at 10:43 AM on March 9

If you want a web app: Pixlr.
posted by Juliet Banana at 10:44 AM on March 9

You can always just get a trial of photoshop for 30 days if you just need it for a one off.
posted by zeoslap at 10:59 AM on March 9

If you're used to Photoshop, the GIMP - even with Gimpshop - is probably just going to piss you off. Paint.NET is a pretty decent free app that should get the job done.
posted by jjb at 11:36 AM on March 9

The GIMP has an 'intelligent scissors', which I find really really useful for that sort of stuff.
posted by unixrat at 11:51 AM on March 9

Seconding jjb. Certain things about the GIMP [specifically selecting something and then moving that selection] drive me farging crazy in the GIMP. I can never seem to get it to work.

I use Paint.NET all the time and It Just Works.
posted by chazlarson at 12:24 PM on March 9

How about Photoshop Elements? Not free, but well worth it, if you've got Photoshop skills.
posted by newfers at 1:17 PM on March 9

Seconding Photoshop Elements - it's often overlooked, but is definitely a solid alternative to full-fledged Photoshop. I have an older version (2.0) that I still use quite a bit. Not sure if it's gotten better in the more recent versions, they seemed to have "dumbed down" the interface a little.
posted by oulipian at 6:58 PM on March 9