I was told about a really good paint/photo editor program a few years ago.
It is called Ultimate Paint. Currently up to Version 2.82. I use it a lot and enjoy the image enhancing features. The demo Version only works for 30 days, but it's under $100. They also offer and older Version as freeware, but it does lack some of the newer bells and whistles. Available at:
http://www.ultimatepaint.com/
I recently have found another graphics program that I enjoy. You cannot edit other graphics, but you can generate some very nice graphics. The program is called Fractal Explorer (currently v1.23). For those of you who have not played with fractals before, this will be an experience. The faster the computer the better, because fractals are generated using an array of number sent through a formula and the results generate a series color. This is the chaos theory. I don't understand it all myself, but it seem to me that fractals show a pattern in nature thus meaning that math is the basis of the universe. I guess we could ask mlmbd he is a Physicist. So anyway here is the link:
http://www.eclectasy.com/Fractal-Explorer/
KirbyEF