My brother Tony suggested an open-source, photo editing program to me yesterday, GIMP — the Gnu Image Manipulation Program.

He said Kathy, my sister-in-law, uses it in addition to Photoshop to retouch images. She worked as a freelance photographer, shooting weddings, etc. They both work for a prominent photography corporation, although not as photographers. Tony said Kathy’s used GIMP to put hair on a bald man and completely remove someone from a picture.

Granted, I realize photographic hair implants are a big no-no in our world.

But I was very intrigued by the idea of Photoshop-style shareware. Adobe programs can be really expensive, and it’s hard to find huge chucks of lab time if you don’t have the program at home.

I downloaded GIMP today and checked it out. It’s got most of the same things Photoshop does without the price.

I edited a photo I shot last week for my assignment.

I was able to use an auto color feature, as well as adjust the levels and curves manually. I cropped, adjusted image size and resolution. One thing I found that was missing is the save-for-web feature. It also did a weird export thing when I was trying to save as, at one point. Since I didn’t read the directions and just jumped in, it could have been a user-interface error. (My bad!)

Otherwise, it’s a decent, cheap version of the real thing. Hot keys like control-z, etc. even seemed to work in GIMP the same way they work in Photoshop. I found it to be comparable to PS, especially since GIMP is free and Photoshop costs $400 on a good day with an education discount. (Actually, I found it on sale for $289.)

There were a number of different places you could download it. I choose the automated installer for Windows, and I downloaded their GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment first. If you are interested, you can click through the windows to find the download. I also noticed that GIMP is available is a wide number of other languages. I had to look to find English when I installed it.

I know Kathy uses a Mac with PS and with GIMP. I’m a PC girl, myself. But Tony says she really likes it.

I’d love to know if anyone else has had experience with GIMP and what you think.