Most designers on a tight budget can get an uncontrolled rapid heartbeat by considering what an investment in a Photoshop license will do to their economy. While it is difficult to argue against Photoshop being the top pick for nearly any photo manipulation, non vector design job etc. there are actually some pretty OK alternatives you can use without spending a single dollar. Question is of course which alternative to use and to help you out I have collected a set of Open Source Photoshop Alternatives you need to be aware of. One of the serious disadvantages you face when not using Photoshop is that you can’t learn and self study using the huge number of excellent free tutorials you can find for Photoshop online. Depending on what alternative you pick there may be some tutorials available, but it will never really match Photoshop. Another thing to be aware of is file formats. Adobe PSD, the Photoshop file type is almost an industry standard for exchanging layered designs e.g. in the web design niche. In GIMP, one of the tools covered below it is possible to save layered files to PSD in stead of the GIMP native format XCF which is useful. Make sure you consider stuff like this when you evaluate your free Open Source Photoshop Alternatives.

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most commonly used tool by designers in all fields such as web, printing, animation and UI design. Working with the Photoshop PSD files as source for design elements can help you get a quicker and more effective start. A PSD file is an image file created by Adobe Photoshop that may include image layers, adjustment layers, layer masks, annotation notes, file information, keywords, and other Photoshop-specific elements. The PSD files contain all the information and flexibility for being changed you could ask for.

While PSD files are saved in a proprietary format, they can be opened directly with Apple Preview, which is included with Mac OS X. They can be also opened by the media programs included with Windows 7 if the correct codec, such as the Ardfry PSD codec, is installed. These programs include Windows 7 Photo Viewer, Windows 7 Media Center, and Windows Media Player.

Starting a new business can be quite a hassle, and from tax forms to business registrations, employees, and marketing, it can be a bit overwhelming. Often, business owners want to get online fast, to get their name out there over the internet, but hiring a web designer and developer is either out of the price range or a bit too time consuming for an untested venture.

We’ve gathered up 20 high quality free business PSD web templates for you to use for your portfolio, small business, or personal use. These templates all are a bit more corporate and business-oriented than others, but they are all excellent quality templates.

More and more designers are into creating their own blogs and websites either to showcase their works or to advertise. At this pace, it is quite important that as designers who are interested in blogging, one should learn the basics in PSD to HTML, turning Photoshop designs into HTML format. If you are equipped with this technique, you will be able to simply turn your designs into codes that are good enough to turn into active blogs or sites.

This new post is a compilation of tutorials on converting PSD into HTML. Learn the basics of this technique to apply them to your designs and be one-step ahead from the rest… Enjoy!!!