Software I Love: Image Manipulation

I love free software because I am more stingy that most folks. As a technology educator, this applies doubly since I hate spending my own money on software. So this post is dedicated to paint.net. And yes, it is has a website called http://www.getpaint.net/, but it is also an awesome photo editing program similar to photoshop. I know, I know. Photoshop is way more advanced and has more features, but PDN is good for kids because it has a much simpler interface. And for 2 years now I've had students making fanciful and wonderful images in PDN. They learn how to use a "magic wand" tool to remove backgrounds from 5 pictures, put them on 5 different layers, and reconstitute them into a new background as a jpeg. They really enjoy the project!

So, if you are a teacher, or maybe just cheap, try PDN. It will serve most of your photo editing needs just fine.