Can anyone please recommend any free to download or relatively cheap and relatively easy to use photo’ editing software? I have Inkscape installed which may do the job, but first I need to teach myself how to use it.
I am trying to produce a book-cover depicting two young people on a horse upon which I can then superimpose faces of two other people using photos from the seventies.
I have been unable to find any copyright free images as a starting point, but came up with the idea of using an old photo I have of my grandfather on a horse. Using Paint 3D, I managed to copy and paste the rider to make it look like two people, so that I can then superimpose the faces of a girl and a young man. I also need to modify the clothes, and colourise the whole thing.
This is what I have so far, but I just can’t get the accuracy/detail to do what I want.
Works on Windows only, and is available at the MS Store for about £8 I think. I’ve been using it for 20 years on a number of different machines. And always download it for free from
I’m happy to teach you Fruity, here on an OFC thread, and anyone else can join in.
HI
if you can download a free trial of adobe Photoshop Elements10 I can give you the code of mine which works on windows or mac
just messaged you with the code good luck
This is my bought copy of the program but it is on CD discs. the download trail version can easily have the code added to make it the full version
I would send you the discs but I doubt if your computer plays CD’s not many if any do now
Thank you so much for this. I’ve got your private message so I’ll give the download a go. I had a version of Photoshop (on CDs) about twenty years ago, and found the programme fairly self intuitive. You are correct, I know longer have a pooter that can accept discs of any type.
The Adobe tool I found the most useful was the ability to roughly select a freeform outline of an object and the programme would then “snap” to a much more accurate boundary.
Thanks for your generous offer, but I am having problems trying to download the free version. I keep getting redirects and requests to install a different default browser, but nothing I have tried will allow me to download Paint.NET.
To my simple mind the route to the correct download link was a bit convoluted, but I managed it in the end, thanks.
I’ve got Covid again and my brain and body aren’t functioning properly, but I’ll have a play with it first then come back to you if, or more likely when I need advice and guidance.
There are many free programs that can edit or organise photos. FastStone is listed as an image viewer but it has quite a lot of editing functions. Also look at Irfanview.
Gimp is the most comprehensive free program for editing photos. Inkscape can work with photos but is more used for graphics creation. To edit or play with photos (as in your example) these programs can be used in conjunction. Take a look at some YouTube tutorials for both programs see what their strengths and weaknesses are.
The best programs are not all free or low cost unfortunately…
Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE)is what many people when it comes to paid-for photo editing programs. I personally prefer PaintShop Pro but PSE can do more when it comes to working with the sort of image in your example.
‘Xara Photo & Graphic Designer’ is one of the best programs in my opinion for combining created and photographic (bitmap) images.
Using image programs can get to be a big subject if you really want to get into it but it tends to be a quite niche interest.
I’ve had a play around with the various programmes others have suggested, but I’m particularly struggling to understand how to get the “layers” to do what I want.
I would therefore like to take d00d up on his kind offer to teach an old Phart new pics.
The idea is to take the rider from the base picture, reproduce him to make it look like two riders, then superimpose photos of my Lovely Cousin and me from when we were roughly that age, then change the front rider’s apparel to make it look like a young girl in Victorian dress.
A good first go at colorizing Fruitcake. It could be better to tone the colours down a bit though. The colours in real life are paler.
I haven’t used Gimp all that much but I know it does ‘layers’. The method is to make a new layer on top of the photo and do the colouring on that layer. It’s possible to adjust the transparency of the coloured layer so that the photo below it shows through. Although not done in Gimp, the method is a lot the same in most editing programs. Adjusting the transparency of the coloured layer should lead to something like this:
For example: The original photo…
The colour ‘layer’…
The colour layer is made greatly transparent so that the photo shows through it…
Having said that, there are some online photo colorizers that do a pretty good job of adding colour in a few seconds (some are better than others). This online program has many photo editing features including the colorizing of photos (look in: 'Adjust > Colorize Old Photo).
Whilst granddad’s face will be hidden, the programme has sharpened everything and produced more defined edges between the horse, rider, and background that I think will make things easier for me later on.
I’ll explain what it is I want to do, and the problems I have been having in separate posts.
I think colorizing using the ‘layers’ method would be better but considering Lunapic has to guess at the colours more than we would, it has made an acceptable job of it.
