Image Wizardry

ImageMagick is a free and open-source software package for image editing and analysis. The package itself is a command line application that runs on all common operating systems. Before you roll your eyes and close the screen thinking "All I want is a nice user interface! I don't want to have to use a command line every time I need to edit a figure!", take a moment to consider the power of automation. If you have 100 or 1,000 pictures to edit, you don't want to do that by hand. Using ImageMagick , you can write one script and process all your images the same way. Then, while it's running, go enjoy a doughnut or your favorite YouTube channel. Furthermore, ImageMagick can be run through many different programming languages including Python, Perl, C++, PHP, Java ... you name it. Odds are you won't need to learn a new programming language in order to perform some image wizardry.

ImageMagick offers many functionalities that will make your automatic figure editing easier. Some highlights:

• Convert images from one format (e.g. Jpeg) to another (e.g. TIFF). ImageMagick supports dozens of different formats, and many color models such as such as RGB and CMYK. 
• Identify features using tools such as edge finding algorithms.
• Edit incredibly large image files.
• Create and edit movies and GIFs.
• Apply effects such as blurring, sharpening or rotating the image.
• Create a montage of images.
• Annotate by adding text.