PhotoDemon is an open source photo editor for Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The developer released PhotoDemon 8.0 recently, and I took the opportunity to take a closer look at what it has to offer.
The latest version of PhotoDemon is available on the project’s GitHub website. Adventurous folks can also grab the Nightly version instead which provides a glimpse of things to come.
One of the first things that you may notice is that the program does not need to be installed. Just download the archive, extract it to the system, and run the PhotoDemon application right away. The developer promises that the program leaves no traces on the system it is executed on, apart from files being put into the system’s temporary folder — which you can change under Tools > Options — and other system mechanics that are outside of the scope of the application (e.g. recent files).
You may change the interface language, theme, and color scheme on first run. To get started, drag and drop a photo into the interface or use the provided load options.
Apart from working with individual images, one of PhotoDemons greatest strengths is the ability to process photos in batches and to use the integrated macro recorder to speed up often-used processes.
The loading is quick and format support is excellent. It includes common image file formats, RAW camera formats, and Adobe Photoshop PSD files among others. Version 8.0 of the program added support for a number of formats such as animated gifs and pngs, and full Windows ICO support.
PhotoDemon supports embedded ICC profiles and you can manage color profiles per display under Tools > Options > Color Management.
The software supports a wide range of features, including:
- multi-layer support.
- unlimited undo/redos.
- on-canvas tools support.
- lots of filters and effects to choose from.
- support for adjustment tools such as HDR, curves, or levels.
- basic paint tools such as paintbrushes or stamps.
- A search tool to find tools, adjustments, effects, and other program features quickly.
- Aspect-ratio locking.
- Edit boxes support simple math expressions.
One of the main new features of PhotoDemon 8.0 is support for a new “state-of-the-art Surface Blur tool” according to the other. The tool can be used from the Effects > Blur menu and the developer claims that it outperforms other photo editors by “1000% or more”.
You can check out the entire PhotoDemon 8.0 release notes here.
Closing Words
PhotoDemon is a well-designed photo editor for Microsoft Windows devices. It is lightweight (weights just 12 Megabytes) and portable, and very fast when it comes to opening photos, applying effects, or processing and saving them.
Well worth checking out in my opinion if you edit photos regularly on your Windows devices.
Now You: Do you use a program to edit photos / images?
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