Many of us want a feature-rich image editing solution, but we may not have deep enough pockets for Adobe Photoshop. I recommend 2 software packages that are heavy on useful features and light on price (actually they are free). The first, for Windows users, is Paint.net, which can downloaded at http://www.getpaint.net/. It has powerful tools such as multiple layers, clone stamp, contrast and level adjustments, and multiple filters. The interface is intuitive, and there is plenty of online documentation from developers and users.
The second free image editing package is the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program). It can be downloaded at http://www.gimp.org/ or http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Editors/GIMP.shtml, and is available for for Windows, Mac and Linux. In addition to many Photoshop-esque tools, there is an animation package available as a separate download.
