On Photoshopgirl, Kelly Anne Wills writes,
While this site is heavily focused on Photoshop, there are some alternatives out there to explore if you can’t get your hands on a copy of the world’s top photo editing software, or maybe just want to try something different or less daunting. My friends have asked me several times in the past about what else they could use for common photo editing tasks without plunking down a small fortune for Photoshop, so today I’m going to list some other capable applications that can suit your needs. In addition to the products I have listed below, there are lots of very impressive online photo editors available that have been picking up popularity, so don’t hesitate to give those a try. It’s amazing how fully-featured some of them are!