If you are looking for an effective way to learn how to independently prepare and edit digital images while using free or low-cost tools you have come to the right place.

In this new Mini-Guide I share all of the most effective techniques that non-technical users can employ when working with digital images.

No need to use Photoshop or any other fancy, complex and expensive digital image editing tool. Windows and Mac users can rejoyce in finding out how simple it is to retouch an old photograph, create a silhouette or to make the background of an image transparent.

All of the techniques that I personally detail in this Mini-Guide, are the tested-and-true methods I have learned over the years by working with digital images in many high-end professional projects and by having to facilitate through workshops the learning of many professional communicators with no technical inclination.

Through this Mini-Guide you can find out the very best free tools I personallly use everyday to do my little image editing and prepress work on my laptop. Since I do not have to publish glossy coffe table books I can compromise lots of high end complexities for greater immediacy and ease of use.

In my personal toolkit I have for example a great free tool to optimize digital images which are somewhat dull, with weak contrast or flat due to scarce lighting. I also have an impressive digital screen ruler which allows me to set the screen resolution, place a grid on screen and measure any area or object I have on my monitor.

The toolkit is rich of little gems including the all time best tool for taking screenshots (still available today but not anymore as a free endless tryout), a color matching calculator, a digital color picker for finding out exact color formulas from on-screen images and a very powerful image management and file conversion utility that is one of a kind swiss army knife for digital image editing.

Some of these tools are not available anymore online and in those cases I provide access to my personal original free copy to download.

In my PowerPoint presentation and on the many Web pages I maintain no one can tell the difference between an image prepared in Adobe Phtosohop (USD $ 550-600 ) and one created in Serif PhotoPlus 5.5 (free) or 602Photo (free).

While I am not certainly saying that these cost-effective tools can do what Photoshop can, I must admit that for the greatest number of non-technical users they do represent a much easier and affordable step into preparing digital images that Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or any other major image editing tool can offer.

This Mini-Guide makes no effort in trying to be a substitute or replacement for professional manuals and tutorials explaining how to edit digitaL images with professional commercial tools. This Mini-Guide is expressedly written for all those of you that would enjoy working more with digital images but are scared by the apparent complexity of the task at hand and by the many variables that this task requires to know (resolution, color depth, file formats, compression to name a few).

It is for you that I wrote "Picture Perfect! Look Ma No Photoshop! How To Prepare Digital Images For Non Technical Users".

This is really a simple guide to read and it is reach in color illustrations and references. I personally recommend it to all those communication officers that need to prepare Web pages, PowerPoint presentations, illustrated reports, and training documentation in organizations and companies where professional imaged editing tools require long purchasing process authorizations and where the opportunity to learn then how to best use them is scarce or discouraged.

To become an independent free editor needing nothing else that some patience and willingness to try here is the guide that can make a huge difference in your ability to show with well prepared images what you have inside your beautiful mind.