5 Photoshop alternatives: for photography, advertising and art

It's essentially a simplified Photoshop - with a similar look to tools, history, and navigation. Hot keys are the same. The difference is that there is no chaos on the control panel, like in the monster from Adobe, useful functions are not hidden in an unknown place. For example, the blur brushes, lasso, and background removal tool are now on the menu.

The Pixlr platform consists of two components - the simpler Pixlr X editor and its improved version Pixlr Editor.It is assumed that the beginner first masters the basic version and gets acquainted with the main tools, and then learns in the program more difficult.

The main alternative to the flagship editor, only for nothing. Like Photoshop, GIMP lets you edit photos in a professional and non-destructive way. This means that during processing, it is not the image itself that changes, but the adjustment layers that are superimposed on top. Thus, all the information of the original photo is preserved, since the program does not overwrite the original. Edits of any level can be disabled separately from others and work in layers autonomously and independently.

GIMP is open source, so you can build on its functionality. If, for example, you want to see natural tones in photos, the program must support the CMYK color model. Photoshop has it by default, but GIMP can install it with a plugin. The same applies to RAW photos - you need to build a special extension into the program code, and the editor will “learn” how to work with them.

A free alternative to Photoshop, in which artists around the world draw. This program creates trendy anime and cute illustrations for children's books, makes simple sketches and paints in watercolor, oil or pencil technique. In Krita, you can draw HDR images from scratch, which neither Adobe nor any other graphics editor has yet. At the same time, it “recognizes” PSD files, so if your subscription to Photoshop is about to end, the drawings can be transferred and finished here.

Krita has more than a hundred types of brushes: ink, crayons, dry painting, markers with varying line density and others. Since the program is built on open source, you can install custom brushes from the Internet or make your own. Tools that are used most often can be tagged or displayed as shortcuts in the work menu. This allows you to quickly find your favorite brushes and switch from one line to another.

A popular tool for Internet marketers, SMM specialists and graphic designers. Lightweight, functional and creative. Like in the program from Adobe, here you can develop a bright, memorable design for anything - from the history of VKontakte to the corporate logo. Canva has over half a million templates for business, office and home use. There are ready-made designs for presentations and infographics, templates for printing on T-shirts and business cards, letterheads and much more.

Publications can be set to any size, change the details, fonts or colors of the template - the system works flexibly and intuitively. All designs are stored in the Canva cloud so that the user can return at any time and continue editing.

If you buy a subscription, other users can connect to the project and work together with the author. Teams have the opportunity to exchange comments, make changes to the design and use corporate identity in templates.

Powerful yet simple photo editing and editing software. Developed by the domestic company AMS Software and does not contain borrowings of foreign code in its structure.This means that PhotoMASTER is independent of the global political situation and guarantees stable work for users from the Russian Federation.

Like Photoshop, you can work with RAW files in it. With PhotoMASTER, these "raw" uncompressed images can be edited and then converted into a more convenient and compact format - JPG, PNG, BMP. Curves or scales are used to correct brightness, contrast, and colors. There is a set of tools for fine retouching of portraits. With it, you can even out the tone and relief of the skin, correct facial features, whiten teeth and much more.

Styling photos is easy through the built-in LUT filters, which you can also create yourself or download from the Internet. Passers-by and cars accidentally caught in the frame are removed using a stamp, patch or repair brush. In PhotoMASTER, these tools are named similarly to Photoshop.