Paint.NET is yet another open-source and free photo editing software program which started off as a student project in 2004. Designed to supplant Microsoft Paint, a Windows bundle package software, but has evolved into a viable alternative to Photoshop. It has enticed a lot of graphic designers, web and digital artists as well as digital photographers who are addicted to photo editing softwares.

For a Photoshop user the transition is a whole lot easier since the the interface is extremely intuitive in other words read the documentation before you start to fool around. On the positive side it is easy to learn. The software is very well organized and easily accessible to all tools. The only tool a little difficult to figure out is the crop tool.

This application contains most of the basic features digital photographers need to correct their photos such as Red-Eye removal, Curves – allows you to adjust the depth of every shade in a photo, Levels – allows you to modify the color range of an image, Auto Levels, Brightness & Contrast, Hue & Saturation and Cloning Tool – allows you to remove slight imperfections in a photo. The color editing tools are limited, nevertheless they are indispensable to any photo editing softwares. These include the Black & White, Sepia, Posterize – allows you to decrease the number of colors each pixel is allowed to have. Instead of the usual 256 colors, you can pick from 2 to 64 and Invert Colors

aint.Net offers limited effects for digital photographers, but this is where the photoeditor artistic instinct needs to take control. The editing an image requires the photographer to be perspicacious as well as prescience to generate masterpieces. The most unique function “Artistic” options where the user can change the photo to look like an ink drawing, a pencil drawing or an oil pastel. Additionally, the Sharpen function can also help to slightly enhance definition in your images and an the interesting Glow feature will do the exact opposite- Soften Portrait.

Well, Paint.net has a whole lot to offer that can make even the most established softwares like Adobe and Corel gasp for breath. The layer support, infinite undo, action history, and the ability to rotate and resize gives this software unfair advantage even among free photoediting softwares. Even the best of commercial photo editing software will be suprised by this software.

Well, why should one go for Paint.net other than it is free? Paint.NET has an active open source community support that continuously innovates this software by regularly releasing developmental add-ons and improvements. They also make the transition to paint.net easier by contributing plugins and tutorials to the forum, and even for an nubile user, a big help to expand the capabilities of the program. The verdict: Go for it!