Long time since I've bored anyone about my arguments for freeware. But sparked by generously informative Feathers and Photos exercise lately on post-processing workflows here's my no-cents (can't get cheaper than that!) worth. One caveat: I make no claim freeware will better pro combos of apps, but say it can come close and at big savings in time and money. So, recent pic, above, Little Kingfisher, full frame, Canon Raw.
Little Kingfisher, cropped, adjusted for brightness, colour saturation, shadow, contrast and sharpened - about two minutes in DPP4, Canon freeware.
Little Kingfisher, most of background tidied up by simply cloning much of background - Gimp clone tool (because DPP4 clone tool is simply useless).
Then, couple more little touches in Gimp - to white hot spot (select spot with lasso tool and cool it down a bit) and bill (lasso, and make tiny bit sharper). More could easily be done without ever getting into more complex time-weighty techniques. And, yes, many claim Gimp is too this, that and t'other. But let the pictures speak for themselves.
