The GIMP. Or the GNU Image Manipulation Program. What? What about it? What about GIMP?

GIMP is a free, GNU-licensed Image Manipulation Program (reflects the name). Best of all, it's free, it's versatile, and it's got lots of free plug-ins. The software is developed open-source so lots of people participated in it, making it a great software

I love GIMP more than I love Adobe Photoshop or IrfanView. Why? Yeah, it's simpler and easier, and you don't have to pay for such a costly software. For your info, the new Adobe Photoshop CS4 costs $136.48 at its lowest price. In my country, Indonesia, it costs 1.43 million rupiahs. A big money to pay these days.

I discovered GIMP not recently. I have known it since I used Linux Ubuntu 7.04 on my machine, when I saw it on the Graphics section in the KDE menu. But I was never that interested with GIMP that day. My full attention was focused on Photoshop only, and how to get it running on this Ubuntu... silly when I think of it.

And now I've lost my Photoshop 7 license, I need a new photo software. Downloading torrents just isn't satisfying enough for me, I want authentic software for my authentic photos (forgive me for my lack of modesty). So I remembered GIMP and tried it, and now I loved it

Some of my photos were edited using GIMP.

"The Chair", was edited using the fake HDR effect I downloaded from the GIMP Plug-Ins Registry (yes, it's got a plug-ins registry where you can download effects and filters for free. Check out [link]) And I vignetted it. It looks great, isn't it? I don't know how long it would take to edit this in Photoshop.

Probably the most encouraging one for me to use GIMP is this, "Digitalism". I was just hankering around with the default plug-ins and found it. The Bump Map feature! Yeah, then I experimented with it. Turns out to be a 3D-ish effect! I even uploaded it into the 3D section, although it's not real 3D created using real 3D software, but it looks 3D!

So, if there's any of you out there looking out for a good, free software to play around with your images, don't forget to check out GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program!

[link]