Whatever home business you are running, photo editing tools are something that you will definitely find useful. You might want to run an online or print ad to promote your business, revamp your business cards, design flyers to give away, or even simply crop your new profile picture. There are several photo editing tools available for different kinds of needs.

Some professional software has to be purchased, and other tools come free with your operating system. Then, there are also those that can be accessed online. Here's a quick list of the most popular photo editing tools that you can use in your home business.

1. Adobe Photoshop

By far the most popular photo editing software available, and it also has the most complete features. Professional graphic designers and artists use this as their primary design tool. Depending on your graphic design needs and skills, this software is the best tool for enhancing and manipulating photographs. You can isolate some elements in your image, replace objects, create and edit backgrounds, add text, put in effects and much more. This is also one of the most expensive software in the market. 

2. Microsoft Office Picture Manager

This simple photo editing software comes free with the Microsoft Office pack, and is very useful for doing simple manipulations on your photograph like adjusting brightness, colors and orientation. Apart from helping you sort and organize your photos, you can also use the Picture Manager to crop and resize photographs.

3. Ulead PhotoImpact

This is the choice software for beginners. If you haven't had much experience with photo editing software, and you want a tool that's a step above the basics, then you might want to invest in Ulead PhotoImpact. It's cheaper than Adobe Photoshop, and it can achieve the same professional-looking results. With this software, you're free to manipulate and enhance your photographs, add texts, change backgrounds put in effects and more.

4. Picnik

This is one of the most popular online photo manipulation software available right now; you don't need to purchase or download anything with Picnik. Simply go to www.picnik.com, and you can edit your photos from there. Registration is not even required. The good thing about Picnik is that it's not limited to photo enhancement and editing. You can add texts, stamps, illustrations and décor to your photographs. There's more room for creativity and personalization.

5. Splashup

Just like Picnik, Splashup is another online editing tool that does not require any download or installation. Simply sign up at www.splashup.com, and you're good to start editing. This tool has more professional features than Picnik. Splashup allows you to edit multiple photos at once, create layers in your images, and isolate some elements for spot manipulation. There are filter brushes, pixel level controls and more.

If you don't want too much of the professional frills, you can use Splashup Lite. This is for simple color and brightness adjustment, cropping, resizing, adding text and more. Your splashup account can also connect to the popular photo-sharing sites such as Picasa, Flickr and Facebook. So, once you're done editing your picture, you can share it or store it with just one click.