The Adobe suite is a yearly subscription that adds up. These picks cover single jobs instead — retouching photos, laying out pages, cutting video — so you only pay for what you actually use.
An open-source image editor often used as a free alternative to Photoshop. It covers layers, masks, channels, paths and a wide range of selection tools for photo retouching, compositing, colour work and batch processing, with plugins extending formats and filters. It runs across platforms and suits people who need professional-grade editing without a subscription, as well as teaching and scripted workflows.
An open-source photography workflow application and RAW developer. It handles importing, non-destructive editing, cataloguing and export, with modules for colour management, lens correction, denoising and several tone mapping approaches, and every adjustment is stored as a parameter that can be reverted. It suits photographers who want full post-processing without a subscription.
An open-source 3D creation suite covering modelling, sculpting, shading, rendering, animation and compositing. It runs across platforms with a consistent interface, serving film, game and 3D design work.
A free and open-source desktop publishing tool with multi-page layout, mixed text and image placement and export to common formats. Documents are kept in open formats that resist corruption, suiting manuals, brochures and files meant for long-term keeping.
An open-source multi-track video editor with broad format import, proxy-assisted editing, timeline tracks and subtitle handling, covering everything from quick cuts to longer productions.
