IrfanView is one of those great freeware programs that I use daily and couldn’t imagine doing without. At its basic level, it’s a quick image viewer but it does so much more with the help of plug-ins.
The 8BF plug-in is a must-have if you’re interested in photo editing as it allows IrfanView to use the numerous Photoshop plug-ins available freely on the net. It’s not quite Photoshop (or even Photoshop Elements) but IrfanView is remarkably useful and versatile for a freeware solution.
I’ve tried a number of different Photoshop plug-ins with IrfanView but I consider Little Ink Pot’s free Expose plug-in to be indispensable. Most of my indoor photos tend to suffer from poor lighting and Expose is a quick and easy remedy for that. You shouldn’t expect perfection but again, for a free solution, it’s rather good.
Both IrfanView and Expose have been updated so snag the latest versions if you’re interested.
