Photo Pos Pro is a feature-packed free photo editing tool.

The program comes packed with image correction tools, for example. In just a few clicks you can have it automatically fix brightness, contrast, colours, white balance and more. There's a powerful red-eye reduction tool. And Photo Pos Pro provides some extremely versatile filters that go far beyond the pre-programmed versions in some of the competition. If you'd like to soften an image, say, there are no less than nine Blur filters to explore, four of which come with manual controls to help deliver the precise results you need.

The special effects on offer are just as impressive. You get 14 deformation options, 10 ways to manipulate your colours, lighting effects, motion blurs, even an unusual set of "Magical" effects that add fireworks, bubbles, stardust and assorted other decorative elements to your photo of choice.

If all that sounds a little too trivial for you, don't worry, Photo Pos Pro also delivers on the fundamentals: it provides great selection tools, supports masks and layers, allows you to create your own graphics with a host of drawing options (including the ability to create your own brushes), and includes desktop publishing-like text tools that, for instance, allow you to produce text captions that follow a path.

And there are more features, everywhere you look. The program includes templates for projects, to create web pages, business or greetings cards; there's an HTML image map creator; a picture browser to locate your favourite photos; batch tools to help you work on an entire folder of files all at once (resizing them all, say, or converting them to another format); and even scripting tools to help you automate and quickly repeat just about anything that Photo Pos Pro can do.