Fortunately, the market offers free image editors with notable expansion capabilities thanks to plugins. Krita and GIMP come to mind, and also Paint.NET if you want a more basic option. Today, however, we're going to explore a middle-ground alternative called PhotoDemon which is not only free and open-source but also distributed in portable form, and supports several Photoshop plugins.
Windows Paint may be loaded with nostalgia and good memories, but if you need to do something more complex with your images, the logical thing is to look for an advanced editor. Of course, there are cases like Concha who has created (and is still creating!) fabulous works with Paint, but there are functions and advantages that are out of reach for any basic editor.
The key is to find a software solution that is adequate enough, but at the same time doesn't bombard us with options, nor demand too steep a learning curve. That's when PhotoDemon comes in, a free, open-source, and very lightweight image editor that only takes up 60 megabytes in its latest version.
Trying PhotoDemon, an open-source image editor
The first thing PhotoDemon asks when running it is the configuration of its interface, including both the language and the dark/light mode. Once that step is done, we discover a fairly intuitive and familiar features layout: tools on the left, parameters at the top, and color and layer control on the right.
The effects menu is at the top. It has twelve categories, a special section for animation, a custom filter submenu, and a shortcut to install Photoshop plugins. This is one of PhotoDemon's most interesting aspects, but it comes with an asterisk: it only accepts plugins in 32-bit 8bf format. 64-bit plugins are not compatible.
And best of all: PhotoDemon has a fairly robust Content-Aware Fill (or 'content-aware fill') solution. Obviously it doesn't reach the same level as the advanced fill that Photoshop offers, but with a couple of tries and some extra adjustments, you'll be able to remove all kinds of objects and strange artifacts from an image.
The only thing I'd like to see from this feature later is a real-time preview before applying the changes (there are many values to experiment with), and I'll extend that same wish to the undo history, which has to be manually loaded each time we need it. Apart from that, PhotoDemon works very well, and it's easy to recommend for users of all levels. Download a copy!
Official website and download: Click here
