Photoshop is an expensive product – really expensive – and honestly, I probably wouldn’t have it had I not gotten a student discount to purchase it. It’s a really great program though and it is definitely worth the investment if you can make it, but, you probably don’t need to.
Most photo editing products and programs have most of the same features Photoshop does. The features we creative entrepreneurs and Etsy sellers would use most definitely exist across the board. Brightness and contrast tools, cropping tools and color adjustment tools will appear on any photo editor. These are the basics, Photoshop has these and then some… but in my experience, the average person doesn’t utilize half the tools Photoshop offers.
April Bern posted a list of free or low cost Photoshop alternatives to ARTrepreneur and I want to share some of these with you so you can stop making excuses about not being able to achieve good quality photos. If you have a halfway decent camera and one of these programs, you simply need to sit down and mess around with it for a few hours and you should be able to make some serious progress.
First up, Picnik. Many of you have probably heard of Picnik – they offer a free editor as well as a premium editor for $24.95 a year. That’s a little more than 2 bucks a month! Think of all the money you’ll bring in once your photos are looking top notch and it’s barely an investment.
Next, there’s Gimp. Gimp is a free downloadable program that is very similar to PhotoShop – it offers a lot of the same tools and a similar set up. It’s free. Did I mention it is free? It’s free.
Another option is Photoshop Elements, a program you can purchase for less than $80 and install on your computer. It’s made by the same people who make Photoshop, it’s just not as in depth but, rest assured, it will have everything you need.
It is important to note that Photoshop is the industry standard, you won’t need all the bells and whistles that it takes to make Mariah Carey look like she is 15, so you probably don’t need to go all out and purchase Photoshop. These alternatives will suit you just fine, and if you happen to grow out of one or don’t jive with it, try another! Lots of options!
About the Author: Hello! I’m Danielle, the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Administrative Assistant and summer intern and blog updater at The Merriweather Council. I enjoy sipping iced lattes, listening to boy band music, watching crime solving TV shows and putting things in hoops. I am often covered in little bits of thread and fabric but, well, ‘I want it that way’ 
Thanks Danielle! Photos are something I feel like I’m always struggling with! I don’t know if I’m ever going to be satisfied with them. I am learning & progressing though so my work is paying off. My pics look way better than when I first started my Etsy shop!
Another great photo editing tool is Picasa. It’s free & I use it to do a lot of my photos! IMO, it’s very similar to Picnik, which I love too, but it stores all of your uploaded photos & I think they’re easier to get too! Just wanted to add that one in there! Thanks!
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Yes! Picassa is on the list too, I didn’t post them all here but I’m glad you added it!
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Fantastic suggestions. I use the premium Picnik and really like it. I would have loved Photoshop but just could not gulp down spending that kind of cash.
Thanks for the other ideas too, I will have to check them out.
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I’ve used gimp and photoshop they basically do the same thing. If the hubs hadn’t had photoshop already I would still be using gimp.
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Hi
Just came across this post – thanks for the list! Just wanted to add that Paint.net is also a good program. I use it at work (charity) and there isn’t much that Photoshop does that Paint,.net doesn’t…and it’s free!
I also use photoshop and find that does everything I need, will keep the others in mind, thank you
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