Photoshop is the benchmark in quality image manipulation. It also costs hundreds of dollars. Thankfully there is a free Photoshop alternative that can more than serve the needs of an ambitious small business owner. The free software I recommend is Paint.NET. It’s essentially a super version of Microsoft Paint. Paint.NET was created under the close mentorship of Microsoft developers, some of who still keep links with the project.
A Free Photoshop Alternative: Paint.NET
As discussed in where to find a great logo designer, it’s best to leave the important graphic design jobs to the experts. However if you’re looking to produce something straightforward, there’s no harm in developing it yourself. Plus you’ll save a few dollars.
Paint.NET is just about perfect for the graphic design needs of a non-graphic-designer. – Lifehacker Paint.NET review
Benefits of Using Paint.NET
As a small business owner, you’re looking for a image manipulation program that will:
- Resize images
- Combine images
- Add text
- Crop (cut) images
- Add basic effects (shading, blurring, red eye reduction)
Paint.NET handles these tasks both intuitively and easily. You can use Paint.NET to create website banners, affiliate banners and product images, all without having to fork out hundreds of dollars – because Paint.Net is a free Photoshop alternative.
Free Download Paint.NET
Paint.NET is under 5MB, so it’s a very small program. I’ve also created a short 1 minute video showing you how to download it, as it can be a bit tricky:
So Download Paint.NET. Once, you’ve downloaded it, checkout my Paint Net How to Tutorial.
Growing your small business,
David Moloney
sbp.strongerbranch.com