Hi'
Acknowledging the fact that:
- there's no real replacement to Photoshop
production-wise — but that
whateverelse-wise (price, flexibility, customer-friendliness...), it's a huge letdown,
- accordingly, shifting one's expectations
I second trying:
- Gimp (the closest alternative)
- Photoline
I suggest trying:
-
PhotoFiltre Studio (there's a free v7 and a 30€ v10)
-
Photoscape (free — more user-friendliness, less production-friendliness)
Regarding artweaver, it's a really interesting alternative too — but to Painter more than Photoshop, more if you're into illustration (i.e. you draw and use a graphic tablet).
In any case, to supplement the use of Photoshop (or any alternative), (plus, depending on one's needs, the use of an image management tool, e.g. Lightroom, Picasa...) I strongly recommend a generic manipulation tool for everyday needs:
-
Faststone Viewer (free — quite powerful and very efficient, but no compositing). People underestimate how much (and fast) can be done with a tool like this.
- or of course, one of the usual alternatives (that may be a bit more powerful but IMHO a bit less efficient): XnView, IrfanView, ACDsee
).
), specially compared to its high upgrade/price-tag.