Typically when I’m working with photos, I’m doing graphic design type work. I’ve been using GIMP for this. GIMP is meant for raster graphics editing.
You could also use Inkscape for vector graphics, or Krita for more digital painting type work. But I know all these tools are very powerful and overlap on some use cases.
Do you use any AI-type tools? I use a image upscaler called Upscayl. It works really well and works entirely locally.
Do you know of any tools that can remove backgrounds? This would help with help with the type of graphic design I do.
What other tools do you like to use as it pertains to images?
You can install and run Stable Diffusion locally (Pinokio is a versatile installer that can run SD and many other open-source AI tools as well). With SD you can build your own upscalers that are better than Upscayl, and do things like background removal too (in addition to prompt-based generation and such).