It's not PhotoShop but then again, it doesn't cost several hundred dollars. It's free software and it's a great image editor. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. GNU means it's free software in terms of price and the code is free to be improved by volunteers. That's exactly what's been happening for the last 10 years. The GIMP does just about everything a photo student needs to do and it runs on Linux, Macintosh and Windows computers. You can download your free copy from GIMP.org.

So what does it NOT do? It currently does not have CMYK support but there is already a module out for testing. Those volunteers are busy perfecting it. For the most part, it does everything else. If you are a PhotoShop user then you'll have to get use to different menus but it's all there.

The best part of using the GIMP with your photo classes is that all your students can take it home for free and install it on their own computers. You can have it installed on all the computers in your school. Free is a good thing.

I teach composition by using the GIMP cropping tool. This is a great way to introduce the rule of thirds and concepts of balance in images. The question is not should you be using the GIMP but rather, why not use it?