Photo-editing software

What software are people using to create these nice virtual bonsai I see all the time?

I'll never have decent drawing skills, but I can make some passable virtual bonsai with software. I just think I could do it easier with some proper software. I don't want to spend money on Photoshop that I could spend on new trees.

I'm on 64-bit Windows 7.

TIA!

Paint.Net is Photoshop-like free-ware that I use (Vista64).

Thanks. I've seen some good reviews about Paint.Net.

BEWARE!

I won't be trying that again. The link I found to Paint.net hijacked my browser and reset my home page.

It cleared my history too, so I can't figure out where I tried to download it from.

Gimpshop is an open source version of Photoshop.  For basic editing and sketching, it works the same as Photoshop.  But, if I remember correctly, it is rather large, and would probably run rather slow on an older computer.

I've heard good things about GIMP too, but now my most recent concern is downloading from sites that sneak-in a bunch of mal-ware. I thought I had all that stuff solved until I started this thread.

Best regards,

John Jones.

GIMP is a great program as mentioned. I highly recommend it.

Ryan wrote:GIMP is a great program as mentioned. I highly recommend it.

GIMP it shall be.

I have used Photofiltre for years. No junk gets downloaded from http://www.photofiltre.com/

It is fairly sophisticated and free and without the steep learning curve of GIMP.

JimLewis wrote:I have used Photofiltre for years.  No junk gets downloaded from http://www.photofiltre.com/

It is fairly sophisticated and free and without the steep learning curve of GIMP.

Thanks and a heads-up: Trend Micro Platinum blocked 12 spyware apps and 5 web threats just from trying to download Paint.Net