With programs like Affinity and Pixelmator Pro, it's no longer the case that Photoshop is king when it comes to image editing software. We take a look at the best Mac photo editors for creative. Final Cut Pro X. Platform: Mac Cost: $299 Final Cut Pro has long been recognized as the best video editing software for Mac. When compared to Premiere Pro, this program can offer many of the same capabilities with a slightly more user-friendly interface. ON1 Photo RAW is an overall great software to try out, for beginners and professional users alike. It might be expensive for beginners, but ON1 Photo RAW 2019 has enough arsenal of professional photography editing tools to become for your portrait retouching software. Easy Free Photo Editing Software for Mac OS 2020. Download one of the Best Mac Picture Editor shortlisted by our team (Trial, Cheap or Freeware).
Modern digital photography goes hand in hand with post-processing software. Although today the photo editing software market offers an unlimited number of options for photographers of all levels, most of the community sticks to tried-and-true Adobe Photoshop. It indeed is a universal app equipped with tools that a professional photographer would wish for, but it’s time to make way for the new.
For the past decades, a lot of new and worthy photo editors entered the market bringing revolutionary technologies into the mundane editing process making even the most complex editing tasks doable for novices and streamlined for pros. Here we listed some of the best photo editing apps on the market including both old and new for photographers of different needs and skill levels.
1. Luminar 4
Completely revamped Luminar 4 is finally here to shake up the world of photo-editing software. Improved to be even more intuitive, Luminar 4 also brings a ton of brand-new AI editing tools designed to speed up the photo editing workflow.
- AI Sky Replacement automatically changes the sky and relights and recolors the entire photo to match the new sky.
- AI Skin Enhancer & Portrait Enhancer do all the retouching for you with just one click.
- AI Enhance automatically enhances your photo by making numerous adjustments of different complexity.
- AI Structure brings details up or down depending on your needs.
- Sunrays adds realistic sun rays to your photo that you’re free to tweak as you please.
- Smart Contrast was improved to produce a more detailed and textured image.
Luminar 4 can not only be used as a stand-alone app but also as a plug-in for Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom to make the best of your tools.
✅ Pros:
Non-destructive editing
Intuitive interface
Improved performance
In-depth customization
Available as a plug-in as well
✖️ Cons:
Mediocre library functions
Limited exporting options
2. Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom has been the app of choice for professional and amateur photographers alike for many years now. It offers a well-thought-out set of features for managing, organizing, processing, and exporting your photos. With the advanced library features, like labels, keywords, collections, and search filters, the app makes it easy for you to keep track of large numbers of photos. Lightroom comes with a good selection of RAW profiles to define colors in your photos for more precise editing. Tweak your photos to perfection with adjustment sliders, perspective and lens correction tools, retouching tools, filters, profiles, and presets to speed up your workflow.
✅ Pros:
Built-in file management system
Face detection and tagging
Color and luminosity masking
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
Not the best choice for beginners
A bit too taxing for Windows
No auto-tagging
Comparatively slow importing
❓ What photo editing software do you use and why? Let us know in the comments, we’d be very interested to know!
3. ACDSee PHOTO STUDIO ULTIMATE 2020
Photo Studio Ultimate 2020 is a one-stop photo management and post-processing tool for Windows. It comes with everything you need to handle your files, like categories, keywords, face detection, ratings, color labels, metadata, geolocation, and more. It’s quite powerful when it comes to photo editing, too, offering a broad set of tools for a variety of different purposes. It allows you to process your RAW, JPEG and other types of files in a non-destructive way in Develop Mode and perfect them in Edit Mode by adjusting color and lighting, bringing out details, removing flaws, and adding final touches. The user interface is completely customizable to suit your preferences.
✅ Pros:
Excellent built-in file management system
Powerful post-processing features
Fully customizable interface
✖️ Cons:
Available only for Windows
Too overwhelming for beginners
Subscription-based online storage gallery
4. GIMP
GIMP is a free and open-source photo-editing tool that has been around for more than 20 years. It boasts a limitless number of state-of-the-art features that you wouldn’t expect to see in a free photo-editing app. The interface has been recently updated to be easier to use, however it still can be quite confusing for novices. GIMP offers a broad set of tools suitable not only for basic but for advanced editing, too. Here you can enhance colors, adjust hue and saturation, fix composition, adjust sharpness, reduce graininess, remove unwanted objects, work with masks, layers, and more.
✅ Pros:
100% free
Open access to the source code
Has a broad selection of tools for different purposes
Plug-in support
Available for the main operating systems
✖️ Cons:
Non-intuitive workflow
Difficult to get the hang of
Lack of HDR support
5. Aurora HDR
Aurora HDR is a powerful HDR tool that brings innovation and simplicity together. The most recent update introduced a new Quantum HDR engine with AI-powered tone mapping technology which allows for more intelligent photo merging to produce vivid yet natural-looking photos. Whether you’re creating an HDR photo from bracketed shots or a single image, the app’s neural network enhances the photo and makes sure that no halos or ghosting spoils the final result. The brand-new Smart HDR Structure feature boosts details and sharpness without creating undesired artifacts that can make a photo look unrealistic. With over 80 distinctive Looks, you can make your photo look stunning in just one click.
✅ Pros:
One of the best HDR photo editors
Swift performance
Corrects badly taken single shots
Doesn’t create artifacts, halos, or noise
Available as a stand-alone app and plug-in
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
None worth mentioning
6. Adobe Photoshop Elements
Developed for beginner and hobbyist photographers, Photoshop Elements’ functions are naturally more limited than Photoshop’s but it has all the essentials for achieving astonishing results. It offers three editing modes:
The Quick mode includes the simplest tools for straightening and cropping photos, removing unwanted objects, enhancing portraits, and applying filters.
The Guided mode uses step-by-step wizards to take you through more complex edits like removing objects, replacing the background, merging multiple photos, creating double exposures, and more.
The Expert mode gives you access to more complex Photoshop-like features including layers, masks, and filters.
✅ Pros:
Excellent for entry-level photographers
Simple and straightforward interface
One-time purchase
A bunch of Photoshop-like features simplified for nonprofessionals
Dozens of clear guides
✖️ Cons:
Too limited functionality
Are you a Lightroom, Luminar, or Photoshop user? Then you'd probably want to see our collection of the best free and paid presets for them.
❓
7. ON1 Photo RAW 2020
ON1 took the best of Lightroom and Photoshop to create Photo RAW 2020 that’s brimming with professional-grade tools for editing, correcting, and enhancing photos. Here you can work with layers, masks, and blending modes, which give you more control over the final result as well as tweak numerous adjustment sliders to make your photos look more polished. With the abundance of various tools and panels, however, the interface looks a bit crowded and is somewhat difficult to navigate, which can significantly slow down the workflow.
✅ Pros:
One-time payment
Uses layer-based editing
A large collection of presets
Uses fractal technology for resizing
Panorama stitching
HDR merging;
Focus stacking;
✖️ Cons:
A bit too crowded interface
Not very intuitive to navigate
Limited exporting options
8. Exposure X5
Exposure X5 looks like a refined version of Lightroom that inherited only the features that photographers liked and used the most. Some of the most hated features were eliminated or improved. Thus, there’s no time-consuming import process in Exposure X5 - you can get straight to editing by adding a folder with your photos in a few clicks. The interface is very well-organized and can be customized to suit your editing purposes. Besides non-destructive layer-based editing and cutting-edge tools that are crucial for the professional photo-manipulating process, Exposure X5 offers a mind-blowing collection of over 500 presets that you can customize to your liking.
✅ Pros:
Beginner-friendly
Well-organized and customizable interface
No power-draining import process
Non-destructive layer-based editing
A broad selection of free presets
No subscription
✖️ Cons:
The interface design looks a bit outdated
Lack of panorama and HDR tools
9. Capture One Pro
Capture One Pro is a full-fledged pro photo editor created for experienced photographers and serious hobbyists. Originally designed for tethered shooting, Capture One Pro is the fastest and most flexible tethering tool for photographers of all genres. It also offers top-notch RAW photo-editing functionality, smart photo organization tools, layer support, powerful adjustment tools, and plenty of other features you’re looking for in professional-grade photo software.
✅ Pros:
Exceptional rendering of RAW files
Numerous adjustment tools for different needs;
Layer-based editing
Industry-leading tethering features
Fast and smooth spot removal
Annotations feature
✖️ Cons:
Lack of third-party plug-in support;
Lack of panorama and HDR tools
Limited organization features;
Absence of history panel
10. Affinity Photo
Even though Affinity Photo can’t boast any organization or management tools, it’s well-packed with all kinds of editing features for photographers of all levels. The workflow includes several Personas, or modes, focused on different editing stages. Develop Persona focuses on RAW file processing, Photo Persona is used for boosting your photos using layers, lighting and color adjustments, curves, LUTs, etc. Tone Mapping Persona is for HDR editing, Liquify Persona for bending photos, and Export Persona for exporting finished photos.
✅ Pros:
Layer-based editing
RAW editing tools
Panorama, HDR, and focus stack merging tools
No subscription
✖️ Cons:
No lens-based corrections
Lack of organization tools
No ability to save custom workspaces
Poor noise reduction
11. Pixlr
One of the most powerful online photo tools, Pixlr has become a popular choice when it comes to making quick photo corrections. Since it’s a web app, it doesn’t take up any room on your computer and is compatible with all operational systems. Pixlr features a clean and intuitive interface with many tools for cropping, selecting, transforming, removing objects, retouching and adjusting your photos using numerous sliders for brightness, contrast, vibrance, saturation, shadows, and more. It also offers a vast collection of filters and effects that will enhance your photos in a snap!
✅ Pros:
Beginner-friendly
Great for quick editing
Online
100% free
Has a clean interface
Offers a nice collection of filters and effects
Mobile version available
✖️ Cons:
Limited functionality
Advertising can be annoying
Can be laggy sometimes
12. Paint.NET
Developed to replace the iconic Microsoft Paint, Paint.NET has grown into a full-featured yet simple photo-editing tool for WIndows. The app offers a user-friendly interface that’s very easy to navigate. Paint.NET is packed with a nice set of tools for making your photos look beautiful in the most effortless way. Here you can play around with various adjustments, such as levels, curves, contrast, brightness, saturation, and more, selecting and removing objects, resize and crop your photos, and so much more!
✅ Pros:
100% free
Unlimited history
Layer-based editing
Tons of creative filters and effects
Suitable for beginner and intermediate users
User-friendly interface
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
Only for Windows
Interface design looks a bit outdated
Limited functionality
❓ Do you agree with our opinion in this article? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
FAQ:
Q: Which one is the best photo editing software?
A: Luminar 4 is the best photo editing software because it offers the most powerful collection of features and tools for different editing needs.
Q: What is the easiest free photo editing software?
A: Paint.NET is the easiest free photo editing software, however, it has a very limited number of features suitable only for basic editing.
Q: Which photo editing software is the best for HDR photo editing?
A: Aurora HDR is the best HDR photo editing software with a broad set of tools for creating and correcting HDR images.
Q: How can I edit pictures on my computer for free?
A: GIMP free photo editor is the best way to edit pictures on your computer for free. It’s well-packed with features and is suitable for beginners and pros alike.
Q: Which photo editing software can be used as a plug-in for Photoshop/ Lightroom?
A: Luminar 4 is the best Photoshop/ Lightroom plug-in that allows you to use its unique features in your go-to photo editor.
Whether you take photos for fun or business, it’s not an easy task to find a photo editing software that can best fit your photo editing needs with so many different options on the market. We believe that it’s easier to find something when you know what you’re looking for, so we came up with three criteria that you should take into account when looking for your one and only photo app. So, we recommend you to make your choice based on the features you want your app to have, the platform you’re going to use it on, and the price that you’re ready (or not) to pay for it. This will help you to filter out the irrelevant options and narrow your choices down to a few most suitable ones.
Features
We believe that all photo editing apps can be divided into several categories based on what they have to offer to users of different levels and needs. These categories are:
Photo editing software for beginners. If you’re just starting out in photography or need to apply quick corrections to your photos once in a while, you should opt for a beginner-friendly photo editor like Paint.NET or Pixlr. Such editors usually have a clean and straightforward interface without too many tabs and icons, and a decent set of tools for applying basic corrections.
Professional photo editing apps are designed for professional photographers and advanced hobbyists and give more control over photo processing and editing. Their use requires more specialized knowledge of photography and high photo-editing skill. Pro-grade photo editors like Adobe Lightroom or Capture One Pro often come with an in-build photo management system, provide support for RAW files, tethered shooting, and presets.
Software for creating and editing vector graphics. As you probably know, there are two types of graphics: raster and vector. Raster graphics represent images as a pixel grid, while vector graphics use lines and curves. Vector software can’t change pixels and thus is ineffective for photo correction. However, you can use vector software to add graphics to your photo such as text, shapes, lines. Many raster photo editors include a handful of vector tools, like GIMP or Photoshop.
AI photo software uses AI-based technology that allows reducing manual photo editing to a minimum - even the most complex editing tasks such as retouching or removing objects can be done with just a few clicks. Such apps are a popular choice among beginners and pros alike as they substantially speed up the editing process without affecting the quality. Luminar 4 is one of a few decent AI photo editing tools on the market.
Open source photo editing apps are apps for which the source code can be viewed and changed by any user, like GIMP. It means that any user can interact with the program code to correct bugs, improve the exciting features and add new ones. Open-source software is usually completely free and for this reason much beloved by users of different levels of expertise.
Platform
There is another thing you should take into account when looking for your perfect photo-editing app - the platform you’re going to use it on. If you’re a Mac or Windows user, you’ve got a wider choice of options unlike, for example, Chrome OS users, who have a much more limited choice. Let’s take a closer look at what we have here.
Windows is the most compatible with most of the photo software you're going to want to use. If you’re a Windows user, you have a great number of options to choose from including most widely-used apps like GIMP, Luminar 4, Lightroom, Paint.NET, and more.
As Mac is the second most popular operating system, you won’t have any troubles finding a photo app compatible with it. Here you still have a vast number of options including Lightroom, Aurora HDR, Luminar 4, etc. The popular GIMP, however, isn’t compatible with Mac.
If you’re a Chromebook user, your choice is limited to Google Play apps. Those, however, include a pretty good number of options, such as GIMP, Photoshop, Lightroom, and others. If you have strong programming skills, you could try installing external apps as well.
It doesn’t matter what platform you’re using if you choose to work in an online photo editor. It runs in a browser and doesn’t need installing.
If you’re looking for an app for your Android or iOS device, you should check what your app store has to offer. Some web and desktop apps, like Pixlr or Lightroom, however, have mobile versions.
Price
No matter how good the software is, its price can be a real dealbreaker. Luckily, not all photo editing software is paid for. There are such apps as GIMP and Paint.NET that are completely free. Paid options include subscription-based (Photo Studio Ultimate 2020, Lightroom) and one-time-fee (Luminar 4, Photoshop Elements, Affinity Photo) software. Some paid apps though have free trial versions, so you can test an app for free for several days to see if it’s worth the money.
Photography is not just a mere profession, but it’s a form of art that allows us to perceive the world from a different perspective. Clicking pictures is one full-time hobby that gives us immense pleasure, whether you’re traveling solo between rocky hill-steps or celebrating your kid’s birthday party, we all love capturing our favorite moments so that we can cherish them forever.
But sometimes our pictures require some little editing, a fine touch of perfection that makes them look even prettier. Yes, that’s right! And to do this job, all you need is some photo software loaded on your PC. The market is flooded with a plethora of alternatives, but each and every professional photo software is one of kind and offers a unique set of functionalities.
Wondering which one you should pick for yourself? Don’t worry! We have narrowed down a list of 10 best photo software for PC that are perfect for novices as well as professionalphotography experts.
Top 10 Best Software For Photographers
Let’s get a quick look and discuss feature-set in details. Guess it’s time to bring out the beauty of perfection to your existing pictures with the best photography software.
Duplicate Photos Fixer
Best Duplicate Finder Software for Photographers
If you’re a professional photographer, then it’s really important to keep your photo collection neatly organized within folders which only contain unique items. While shooting pictures, there are times when we click the same picture twice in the very same angle, hence giving rise to a bunch of duplicates. But you don’t want these duplicate files to keep lying in your PC, right? Well, of course not! Duplicate Photos Fixer is an ultimate photo program that scans your system folders to look for duplicates and helps you in getting rid of them without any hassle.
Removing duplicates from your folders will not only keep your photo gallery well-organized but will also help you in recovering chunks of storage space on the disk. Duplicate Photos Fixer is one of the best, safest and quickest tools one should have that will remove every possible redundant photo file from your system. Duplicate Photos fixer is an intuitive tool that is compatible on all platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. So, what’re you waiting for? Buckle up and say goodbye to all duplicate photo files from your gallery!
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Photo Organizer
Best Management Tool for Photographers
Looking for your last summer holiday pictures? Or your spouse’s birthday pics from four years back? Well, it becomes a huge hassle to dig the photo library for exactly finding what you’re looking for from the cluster of photographs saved on your PC. Photo Organizer is a must-have tool for professional photographers as it allows you to streamline your photo collection with minimal time and efforts. Photo Organizer is a well-designed professional software for photographers that consolidates all your photographs into one place, helps you to add metadata so that you can easily find what you’re looking for within a few seconds. With Photos Organizer, you can easily rename a batch of photos and manage them easily. Finding photos on your PC will never be this easier—truly!
Adobe Lightroom
Best Editing Software for Photographers
Adobe Lightroom is one of the best photo software for beginners as well as professional photo experts. It allows you to add a perfect finishing touch to your pictures where they appear even more beautiful than ever. Even your best shots can be edited with Adobe Lightroom and you can add an exquisite touch to your memories. Adobe Lightroom can be one of the best photo software for PC you ever had that can allow you to create incredible photos on the go. Adobe Lightroom comes power-packed with a bunch of useful features which include face detection, professional filters, brush and gradient adjustments, cross-platform support and sync and more.
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Image Resizer
Best Image Resizer Program for Photographers
Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, Image Resizer can prove out to be one of the most essential software for photographers of any kind. Image Resizer allows you to resize, flip, rotate multiple images at once. You can also change the format of an individual or batch of photos in a folder altogether in just a few clicks. Image Resizer is one of the best software for photographers that can help you save a lot of time and efforts. The software comes with a plain and simple user-friendly interface which is easy to learn even for beginners. To begin resizing, all you have to do is simply drag and drop the respective image to its interface and add a touch of magic by adjusting its size, fixing gradients to scale up your images. You can easily find all resizing tools in one place, and save yourself a lot of time and effort.
Photos Exif Editor
Best Exif Editor Software for Photographers
For those of you who’re not aware is Exif stands for Exchangeable Image File Format that is majorly used for specifying file formats for different digital media files like images, audios, ancillary tags and more. If you’re looking for one of the best photo software for PC that allows you quickly edit Exif data for images then Photos Exif Editor can be an ideal pick. It is a must-have photo program that is specially designed to edit Exif metadata of images stored on your PC. You can easily use this tool, drag and drop multiple images all at once to its interface and begin editing Exif information of images. Photos Exif Editor also allows you to add GPS coordinates of images so that you can know where it was taken, making the process of finding pictures much easier.
Adobe Photoshop
Well, this doesn’t require much of an introduction as the name is enough! Adobe Photoshop has always been one of the first choices when it comes to editing pictures. It has always been that go-to tool for novice users as well as professional photographs for making any kind of editing changes to pictures. Adobe Photoshop allows you to create and enhance your images in the best possible manner. The interface follows a simplistic approach where all the basic and advanced tools are right there on the screen, making it easier to access. Whether you want to create your own images for website or edit existing images, Adobe Photoshop is simply one essential software for photography lovers.
Pic Monkey
Are you ready to transform your images into a next level creative style? If yes, then Pic Monkey is a must-have photo editing software that one should have. You can add quirky captions, apply image filters, edit your images like never before with Pic Monkey tool. Confused about where to start off? Don’t worry! You can also begin with Pick Monkey’s pre-selected templates and see how you can manage to polish your creativity with its advanced image editing tools and features. Whether you’re an artist or looking for a professional photo editing software, Pic Monkey will fit all your needs.
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PortraitPro
PortraitPro is one of the fast and most intuitive image editing tools you will find online. Just how its name implies, PortraitPro can enhance your portraits and shape them into something beautiful beyond your imagination. From fixing skin blemishes, removing wrinkles, applying additional effects like lipstick, eyeshadow, blusher, this tool is fully capable of retouching your portraits like never before. This tool is one of the best photo software for PC as it’s specially designed to make your portraits more life-like with the help of Artificial Intelligence and does a pretty good job. Start your free trial today, and if you happen to like this software you can even upgrade your existing plan by paying a subscription amount.
Inkscape
Next on our list of best photo software for professionals, comes Inkscape. Inkscape is one of the best professional photography software that can be used for creating and designing vector graphics. It is a powerful web illustrator tool that offers a wide range of flexible drawing tools and editing features. Inkscape is compatible on almost all platforms including Windows, Mac and even Linux which makes it even more popular worldwide.
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Pixlr Editor
Best Professional Photo Editing Software For Mac
Saving the best one for the last! Pixlr Editor is an ultimate photo program that allows you to easily edit and enhance your images online. It is an advanced next-generation photo editing tool that can fulfill all sorts of professional image editing needs. Pixlr Editor offers you some great image editing features like adding layers, lasso effect for cropping, and majorly all advanced set of tools that are offered by Adobe Photoshop.
Conclusion
Best Mac Photo Editing Software
So folks, this ends our list of 10 essential software for photographers that are ideal for both beginners and professional photographers. Pick any of the above-mentioned photography software to add a magical touch to your pictures. And yes, don’t forget to tell us which photo editing tool you loved the most. We’d be more than happy to hear from you!