What is some good free photography editing software?

Hi, I just got a Nikon D3100 and i want to do photography of mostly people. What are some good editing programs? Free or maybe even not free? I'm about to start a business with it and I'm looking for any advice I can get.

Gimp.

GIMP is great. It's similar to Photoshop, and it's free too.

The very best is Photoshop. But it's really EXPENSIVE. Photoshop is revised every year to add a few more features, but older versions are still very full-featured and useable, and I wonder if you could buy a 'used' version several years old cheaply. It really is a wonderful program, though it's a 'professional' tool, with many many features, so it takes a while to learn.

The best free program is GIMP, GNU Image Manipulation Program. It has most of the same features as Photoshop, but the user interface is a little strange. People either love it or hate it. I think the people who hate it are Photoshop users that get frustrated with the user interface. But you can get a book on it and work through it chapter by chapter, playing with each of the features as you learn about them, which is the same way you'd learn Photoshop.

What kind of business are you starting? Cause it sure isn't photography.

If you just got your fine D3100, you are not even close to having the necessary skills and experience to go into business as a photographer.

Professional photographers do NOT use free programs to retouch images, in fact if they are lighting their subjects correctly, none or very few of their images need to be retouched using a program like Photoshop.

Most of my colleagues use Lightroom to process their RAW files produced while on assignment.

If you do eventually do start a business based around photography, you will find that you will need the latest computer (with at least a 4-core CPU and about 6 gb of RAM) with probably both Lightroom and Photoshop programs on it.

But hold on, you will be spending a lot more on your photographic tools.

You will need at least one full frame camera like the D4 or D800 and one professional level APS-C camera like the D300.In addition you will need at least four lenses that can be used to cover any assignments that your clients may want photographed.

And then there's this link you need to spend time reading.

http://bythom.com/iceberg.htm

Now for the real-time knowledge you heed before spending a dime on your new "business". What will it cost to actually run your business and have enough money left over to take care of your family.

http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm

After you have done the research necessary to write a good business and marketing proposal, you may have a better idea of what you need.

I have purposely not included any formal education in photography (two to four years) or the five years working as an assistant at a studio or assistant photographer for a newspaper, magazine or PR department for a large company, honing your skills and learning the nuts and bolts of being a successful photographer. That process is usually a given

As you will see, there's NOTHING free when it comes to running a business.