I started my graphics programming with SDL 2.0. But came across a "lets make a game thread" and opted to participate. It was decided to use sfml for graphics so I had to make the switch.
Very glad I did. SFML is super easy to pick up and does great.
[infomercial] If you are considering a graphics library to learn, I recommend sfml for all you image manipulation needs. Visit http://www.sfml-dev.org for more info.[/infomercial]
I don't think so, all it has is sf::Image and even that can only really do per-pixel manipulation and basic transforms and doesn't come with any useful algorithms. I'm just asking what you would use.
Oh, when you said "instead" I thought you were implying that SFML could do image manipulation just fine.
A long time ago I was curious about image manipulation in C++ and I found this through a goolge search I believe: http://cimg.sourceforge.net/
I haven't used it but it looks good.
Maybe it is the tutorials for sfml... They are neatly organized, fairly short and to the point and just plain easy to follow. SDL tutorials on the other hand seem to be, well... SDL.
@LB
Having looked at CImg and Boost.GIL's tutorials just now--and I hate to say this because I love Boost--I think I'd go with CImg. Not only does it look simpler, but it has its own UI code which means less dependencies for you to manage.
@Lumpkin
You said you liked the one until you found the other, which makes it sound like they perform the same function and one of them is better than the other at it, which would make them competitors.