Great Low-Cost GraphicsTools

Photo Editors and Managers

ACDSee Photo Editor 4 This capable $70 photo editor can do everything from simple fixes (red-eye removal, poor exposure) to special effects (old-fashioned vignettes; brush, paint, and text effects; stamp tool; flaw removal) to elaborate projects that seemed geared to the mother-daughter demographic (stylized greeting cards, scrapbook pages, party invites, CD covers, even a T-shirt transfer). This program contains more effects than does Photo Manager 9 (immediately below), and the projects are unique to it. Also, ACDSee includes step-by-step tutorials right in the software.

ACDSee Photo Manager 9 For $40, Photo Manager 9 combines many of the best traits of various consumer-grade digital photo programs in one fast, good-looking package. It includes endless ways to organize your images, plus surprisingly good image-editing and special-effects tools, password-protected storage, slick tutorials, and lots more. Choose this program over Photo Editor 4 if you prefer breadth and security in your photo management options to artsy photo effects and craftsy projects.

Serif PhotoPlus 6 PhotoPlus 6 is a free program that holds its own in comparison to older versions of the venerable, category-leading Adobe Photoshop. Its appeal is probably strongest to novices and would-be graphics artists interested in learning to use photo-altering features that range from basic painting, drawing, and text manipulation to erasing, filling, and cloning regions. There's even a Layer Manager that lets you work with multiple layers and masks, and a lasso-like Freehand tool.

Photo Resizer Pro This $18 program makes it easy to resize individual images or whole batches of shots for displaying on the Web or e-mailing to friends. The program also lets you convert images to various popular file formats. New in this version is the capability to crop, rotate, or adjust the color balance of an original or resized image.