GIMP provides good performance in advanced photo editing and high–resolution image manipulation. It's easy and effective in creating detailed graphics for minimalistic visual elements and pixelated illustrations; the pen design helps to trace smooth lines for drawing free strokes and the interface looks technical but is highly customizable and that's nice.

very user friendly and intuitive. I love playing with pictures in the software.

I think it is the best free photo editing software. As a user who needs basic photo editing features, gimp offers more than I need. One of the great features I found was photo slicing tool using guidelines!