Kuzano

Good choice.

Free, but hard to learn, although more sites dedicated to the learning curve than one might imagine. Still difficult.

What most people don't know is that over the years, Photoshop and Gimp have run quite parallel. In fact when Photoshop produces new features, they typically get them from GIMP!

TheDman Loc: USA

Does GIMP process 16 bit images yet?

rbeverag

I'm happy with photofiltre.The manual is in French but there is an online users-support group. It is free.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

You've heard a lot of good things about Paint Shop Pro. Just to let you know, should you get the former version, PSP Ultimate X9 instead of the new X10, it can be purchased for as little as fifty bucks USD. If you look around some dealers are selling Version Ultimate x9 for less. Remember that you own the use to use it forever also. Not just leasing it for a set time period.

I don't know about you but for that price, how can you go wrong?

A quick search turned up this:

http://www.amazon.com/Corel-PaintShop-Pro-X9-Ultimate/dp/B01HTAOZUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489425424&sr=8-1&keywords=paintshop+pro+x9+ultimate

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1274011-REG/corel_pspx9ulenmbam_paintshop.html

jackpi Loc: Southwest Ohio

Affinity Photo (Mac or PC). Luminar (Currently Mac only)

AlohaBob Loc: Los Angeles, CA

Are you actively using Light Zone? I tried it and liked it a lot; I was able to get better results quickly (on my monitor) with it than other products. When I converted it to a tiff and opened in light room, didn't look so good. I began to think I might be going down a road that might be a dead end since there seems to be little current interest in the product.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on Light Zone....

Dennis833 Loc: Australia

I'm a bit late but also consider the German professional image processing program called PhotoLine https://www.pl32.com/pages/imaging.php

PeterDragon Loc: Harlan, KY - Kona, HI - Phoenix, AZ

Affinity for windows.

Carusoswi

Photoshop is not free and also includes a learning curve.

I use GIMP and Lightzone (a program I for which I once paid - developer went under and program was rescued by users - now open source). Lightzone's approach is totally different, but, in one piece of software, you have a RAW converter and a very capable editor. There are versions of GIMP that will handle 16-bit files (8-bit limitation being one of the major beefs of this program's detractors), and, I predict that, one day, GIMP will rule the photo editing world. It's that close in terms of its capabilities. Being free, I think anyone who edits photos and overlooks this program does him/herself a disservice.
IMHO, GIMP gets a bad rap from many PSers for its learning curve only because it interface does not mirror PS. I think GIMP is actually easier to learn than PS unless one is thoroughly trained in PS. I would guess that someone who only knows GIMP would find PS equally difficult to learn.

I've played around with a program called Sagelight which I find also intriguing. I believe the project is now defunct. If you are really into trying different editing software, google the subject and you will find many more choices than those mentioned thus far. All will involve a learning curve, but, for me, learning is part of the fun.

Good luck.

Caruso