The site separates its photo editing into Pixlr Editor (advanced) and Pixlr Express (efficient). You can put a stain on a picture to make it look like you rested a coffee mug on the photo, for.
Michael Muchmore The Best Photo Editing Software for 2019 Whether you shoot with a smartphone camera or a DSLR, you need software to get the most out of your images. Here's what you need to know to pick the best photo editing software. What Kind of Photo Editing Software Do You Need? Whether you merely shoot with your smartphone or you're a professional photographer with a studio, you need software to organize and edit your photos.
We all know that camera technology is improving at a tremendous rate. Today's smartphones are more powerful than the point-and-shoots of just a few years ago. The same can be said for photo editing software.
'Photoshopping' pictures is no longer the province of art directors and professional photographers. Whether you're shooting from an or a, if you really care how your photos look, you'll want to import them into your PC to organize them, pick the best ones, perfect them, and print or share them online.
Here we present the best choices in photo editing software to suit every photographer, from the casual to the professional. Of course, novice shooters will want different software from those shooting with a $50,000 in a studio. We've included all levels of PC software here, however, and reading the linked reviews will make it clear which is for you. Below is a cheat sheet of which category each product fits into. Note that some products are suitable for both enthusiast and pros, and most products included fit into the sweet spot of enthusiast/prosumer level.
Entry Level: Apple Photos, Microsoft Photos Enthusiast/Prosumer Level: Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Corel PaintShop Pro X9, CyberLink PhotoDirector, DxO Optics Pro 11, ACDSee Ultimate Professional Level: ACDSee Ultimate, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, DxO Optics Pro 11, Phase One Capture One Pro Nothing says that pros can't occasionally use an entry-level application or that a prosumer won't be running Photoshop, the most powerful image editor around. The issue is that, in general, users at each of these levels will be most comfortable with the products that are intended for them.
Note that in the table above, it's not a case of 'more checks mean the program is better.' Rather, it's designed to give you the quick overview of the products. A product with everything checked doesn't necessarily have the best implementation of those features, and one with fewer checks still may be very capable—whether you even need the checked feature depends on your photo workflow.
Free Photo Editing Options So you've graduated from smartphone photography tools like those offered by and Facebook. Does that mean you have to pay a ton for high-end software? Absolutely not. Up-to-date desktop operating systems include photo software at no extra cost.
Windows 10's Photos app may surprise some users with its capability. In a touch-friendly interface, it offers a good level of image correction, and it can automatically create editable albums based on photos' date and place groupings. Apple Photos does those things too, though its automatic albums aren't as editable.
Both programs also sync with: iCloud for Apple and OneDrive for Microsoft. With Apple Photos, you can search based on detected object types, like 'tree' or 'cat' in the application, while Microsoft Photos offers this feature only for photos stored online in OneDrive. Apple Photos also can integrate with plugins like the excellent, appeasing power users who lament the company's discontinuation of the prosumer-level Aperture program. Ubuntu Linux users are also covered when it comes to free, included photo software: They can use the capable-enough Shotwell app. And no discussion of free photo editing software would be complete without mentioning the venerable GIMP, which is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It offers a ton of photoshop-style plugins and editing capabilities, but very little in the way of creature comforts or usability.
Other lightweight, low-cost options include. How to Edit Your Photos Online.
In this roundup, we've only included installable computer software, but entry-level photo shooters may be adequately served by online photo-editing options. These are mostly free, and often are tied to online photo storage and sharing services.
(with its integrated Aviary editor) and are the biggest names here, and both can spiff up your uploaded pictures and do a lot to help you organize them. They even approach the two entry-level installed programs here, but they lack many tools found in the pro and enthusiast products. The latest version of Lightroom CC includes a good deal of photo-editing capabilties in its included website, too. Image Editing for Enthusiasts and Prosumers Most of the products included in this roundup fall into this category, which includes people who genuinely love working with digital photographs.
These are not free applications, and they require a few hundred megabytes of your disk space. Several, such as Lightroom and CyberLink PhotoDirector, are strong when it comes to workflow—importing and organizing the photos from a DSLR. Such apps offer nondestructive editing, meaning the original photo files aren't touched. Instead, a database of edits you apply is maintained, and appears in photos that you export from the application. They also offer strong organization tools, including keyword tagging, color-coding, geo-tagging with maps, and in some cases face recognition to organize photos by what people appear in them. At the other end of workflow is output. Capable software like Lightroom Classic offers powerful printing options such as soft-proofing, which shows you whether the printer you use can produce the colors in your photo or not.
(Strangely, the new version of Lightroom CC—non-Classic—offers no printing capability at all.) Even Lightroom Classic (which you might think is above the social fray) includes directly sharing photos to social networks like Facebook and online photo hosts like Flickr and SmugMug. In fact, all really good software at this level offers strong printing and sharing, and some, like ACDSee Ultimate and Lightroom, offer their own online photo hosting. The programs at this enthusiast level and the professional level can import and edit raw files from your digital camera. These are files that include every bit of data from the camera's image sensor. Each camera manufacturer uses its own format and file extension for these. For example, Canon DSLRs use CR2 files and Nikon uses NEF.
( Raw here simply means what it sounds like, a file with the raw sensor data; it's not an acronym or file extension, so there's no reason to capitalize it.) Working with raw files provides some big advantages when it comes to correcting (often termed adjusting) photos. Since the photo you see on screen is just one interpretation of what's in the raw file, the software can dig into that data to recover more detail in a bright sky, or it can fully fix improperly rendered white balance. If you set your camera to shoot with JPGs, you're losing those capabilities. In my testing, Phase One Capture One was tops at producing the most detailed images from raw files. Enthusiasts want to do more than just import, organize and render their photos: They want to do fun stuff, too! Editors' Choice Adobe Photoshop Elements includes Guided Edits, which make special effects like motion blur or color splash (where only one color shows on an otherwise black-and-white photo) a simple step-by-step process. Content-aware tools in some of these products let you do things like move objects around while maintaining a consistent background, or remove objects entirely—say you want to remove a couple of strangers from a serene beach scene—and have the app fill in the background.
Note that these edits don't involve simple filters like you get in Instagram. Rather, they produce highly customized, one-off images. Another good example is CyberLink PhotoDirector's Multiple Exposure effect, which lets you create an image with ten versions of Johnny jumping that curb on his skateboard, for example. These products can also produce HDR effects and panoramas after you feed them multiple shots, and local edit brushes let you paint adjustments onto only specific areas of an image. Capture One and Lightroom have recently added even more precise tools for local selections in recent versions, such as the ability to select everything in a photo within a precise color range and to refine selection of difficult content such as a model's hair or trees on the horizon.
Professional Photo Editing Software At the very top end of image editing is Photoshop, which really has no real rival. Its layered editing, drawing, text, and 3D-imaging tools are the industry standard for a reason. Of course, pros need more than this one application, and many use workflow programs like Lightroom, AfterShot Pro, or Photo Mechanic for workflow functions like import and organization. In addition to its workflow prowess, Lightroom offers mobile apps so that photographers on the run can get some work done before they even get back to their PC. Those who need tethered shooting may want Capture One, which is offers lots of tools for that along with its top-notch raw-file conversion. Photoshop offers all and more of the actual image editing capabilities in anything mentioned above, though it doesn't always make producing those effects as simple, and it doesn't offer nondestructive workflow, as Lightroom and some others do.
Of course, some users with less-intensive needs can get all the Photoshop-type features they need from other products in this roundup, such as Corel PaintShop Pro. DxO OpticPro is another tool pros may want in their kit, because of its excellent lens-profile based corrections and unmatched DxO Prime noise reduction. Photoshop is also where you find Adobe's latest and greatest imaging technology, such as Content-Aware Crop, Camera Shake Reduction, and Perspective Warp. It includes the most tools for professionals in the imaging industry, such as Artboards, Design Spaces, and realistic brushes. Some users have taken umbrage at Adobe's move to a subscription-only option for Photoshop, but at $9.99 per month, it hardly seems exorbitant for any serious image professional, and it includes a copy of Lightroom, online services like Adobe Stock, and multiple mobile apps.
It definitely makes the app more affordable for prosumer users, too, when you consider that a full copy of Photoshop used to cost a cool $999. If you're an absolute beginner in digital photography, your first step is to make sure you've got good hardware to shoot with, otherwise you're sunk before you start. Consider our roundups of the and the for equipment that can fit any budget. Once you've got your hardware sorted, make sure to educate yourself with our and our, too. That done, you'll be ready to shoot great pictures that you can make better with the software featured in this story. Click the links below for to read the full reviews. Pros: Multitude of photo correction and manipulation tools.
Slick interface with lots of help. Tools for mobile and web design. Rich set of drawing and typography tools. 3D design capability. Synced Libraries. Cons: No perpetual-license option.
Premium assets aren't cheap. Interface can be overwhelming at times.
Lacks support for HEIC. Bottom Line: Adobe continues to improve the world's leading photo editing software. The 2018 edition adds a new auto-select tool, raw camera profiles, loads of font and drawing capabilities, and support for the Microsoft Surface Dial. Pros: Excellent photo management and organization. Camera and lens-based corrections.
Brush and gradient adjustments with color and luminance masking. Face detection and tagging. Connected mobile apps.
Cons: Although improved, import is still slow. Initial raw conversion is slightly more detailed in some competing products. Bottom Line: Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom remains the gold standard in pro photo workflow software. It's a complete package, with top-notch organization tools, state of-the-art adjustments, and all the output and printing options you'd want. Pros: Many powerful image-manipulation tools. Strong face- and geo-tagging capabilities.
Excellent output options. Auto-tagging and powerful search options. Helpful guidance for advanced techniques. Cons: Large disk footprint. No HEIF support on Windows.
No chromatic aberration correction or lens geometry profiles. Lacks many social sharing outputs. No local help system. Bottom Line: Adobe Photoshop Elements, our favorite consumer-level photo editor and organizer, adds AI-powered auto-curation, an open closed eyes tool, and new Guided Edits. Pros: Friendly yet powerful interface.
Effective noise reduction. Cool multiple-exposure and faux HDR effects.
Body shaper and other powerful editing tools. Layer support. Cool AI styles. Tethered shooting support. Cons: Not enough lens-profile corrections. Inadequate chromatic aberration correction. No geotag maps.
Bottom Line: Photo workflow and editing program CyberLink PhotoDirector offers a smooth interface and powerful capabilities. New in this version are multiple-exposure effects, more layer options, and a video-to-photo tool. Pros: Manage mode makes finding shots easy. Innovative Light EQ and Color EQ controls. Lens-profile-based corrections. Very customizable interface.
Lots of adjustable effects. Good noise reduction. Good sharing and printing options. Cons: No facial recognition. Cluttered, inconsistent interface. Modes often don't contain expected tools.
Bottom Line: ACDSee Ultimate offers powerful image editing tools without requiring you to pay a subscription fee. But it lacks now-common features such as facial recognition, and it trails the competition in interface usability.
There is a wide choice of the, so sometimes it can take much time to decide whatapp to download. We have prepared a brief review of 10 programs for basic photo editingand color correction in MacOS. Here you can find both absolutely free image editors and paid ones. In general, they have quite good functionality and are easy to use. If you need professional photo retouching but don’t have time to edit photos on your own, you can send your photos to online photo editing services like and receive beautiful portrait photo retouching or creative photo manipulation fast and for the affordable price. Photoshop Elements.
This Adobe product is designed for basic photo editing purposes. The interface looks like its “big brother” Adobe Photoshop. It’s here but you need time to understand how everything works. The developers provide you with completely new frameworks, bookmarks, and photo manipulation features. Photoshop Elements does not contain some tools that are present in Photoshop, but the set of functionality is good for high-quality photo editing as well. Both beginners and experienced Adobe products’ users will appreciate the presence of large clear graphics and text explanations that makes the work easier.
The organization of the working area resembles other, but it is more focused on the average user and not on the pro photo retoucher or designer. Smart controls and tips will be very useful when you start working with this. The panels and toolbars are easily customizable, so you can organize everything as you like. Such tools as scaling, restoring damaged parts, cropping images, adjusting the background, intelligent selection of areas are available. PS Elements even has some automatic tools that are missing in the main version of Photoshop.
Movavi Photo Editor This is the second best photography app for Mac that resembles and Photoshop Elements. It is simple, fast and has great functionality. The undoubted advantage of Movavi is the availability of detailed and understandable tutorials. Thanks to these instructions, you will quickly adapt to the interface and be able to use all the picture editing features of the application. In fact, is an excellent choice for those who don’t want to bother with studying too complicated programslike Photoshop or Capture One. You will undoubtedly appreciate the opportunity to enhance your photos.
The developers used neural network technology to provide the ability to remove scratches and scuffs. With each update, it will be easier to edit images as it is based on previously edited photos. Unfortunately, you cannot turn black and white pictures into color. However, the “Restore” function can eliminate the yellowness of the image or remove the effect of sepia.
As a result, you get amazing black and white shots.This is one of the best photo editing apps for Mac that offer photo restoration features. If you do not want to delve too much into image editing but prefer fast and effective adjustments at the amateur level, download Movavi. Of course, it is worse in its characteristics than advanced products from Adobe and Affinity Co, but it can fully satisfy the needs of. DxOOpticsPro for Photos This photo editor for Mac includes all basic photo editing tools.
However, it is worth noting the lens sharpness module, which was created to replace the Lens Softness used in previous versions of the program. This tool corrects the “softness” of the lens and adds micro-contrast to the various objects in the photo. This filter is recommended for the photos taken at high ISO as well as for noisy shots. Moreover, it works well with almost all clear images. You can also remove unwanted items, wires or even people accidentally caught in the frame and other objects using the Repair function.
Despite the fact that the tool is easy to use, it provides you with excellent algorithms for image retouching. I should be also pointed out that after removing unnecessary elements there are no traces left in the image. The interface is very simple and convenient to use. If you need a quick, then this is just what you need. In fact, image editing is very fast and without lags. You need to load the necessary pictures into the program, and then it selects the appropriate profile with the ready-made settings.
Just a few clicks and you will get an impressive result. Pixelmator Pro It is a universal picture editor, built around the principles of simplicity and accessibility.
In fact, it is one of the brightest competitors to Adobe products in the field of the best photo editing apps for Mac.Unlike Photoshop, Pixelmator does not have a large number of different panels, so its interface is clearer and simpler. Even for beginners, it will not be difficult to understand the program and how to edit photo here. One of the most impressive features of this application is the ability to name the layers that you import from other sources by their content. The technology is the basis of this feature.
Selection tools work on a similar technology that allows you to define the boundaries and erase unwanted objects more accurately. You need to have the latest version of MacOS to take full advantage of Apple’s computer hardware and software environment. So, using “Smart Selection” you can highlight the areas you need.
The user interface of looks quite attractive. All operations that you perform occur before your eyes. Whether drawing with brushes, moving objects into layers, or applying effects, everything happens with a high frame rate per second and sensitivity. The developers took care of the availability of special profiles/presets and saved settings for some tools (for example, color effects and color correction). Pixelmator works great with. You can use both a full-screen mode and split-screen one, you can access TouchBar support as well as import and export options.
These things make this photo editor one of the best on the Apple Store. Affinity Photo The application is not free. You need to pay half a hundred dollars once, but then you can use the full potential of thisphoto editing software without any subscriptions or additional purchases. Although at first glance the interface design is similar to Photoshop, Affinity has a number of its own features that make it an excellent choice for Mac.
The process of editing photos is divided into separate stages (by this it resembles Lightroom). Tone Mapping, Photo, Liquify, Export, and Develop modules are available. For example, in the “Photo” section you can find all the necessary options and tools for basic image editing.
These are various tools for picture correction, as well as different masks and layers. You can change the exposure, make changes in the color palette and perform many other actions to get the result you want. If you need to work with, then the Develop section is perfect for these purposes. To correct and impose some photo distortions, use.
To activate HDR effects, you need. Another feature of Affinity Photo is the smart assistant.
With its help, you can automate some image editing actions. Since this app is quite new, the authors regularly release its updates. Moreover, you can use the two-week trial period for free and test all the features of this photo editor app. Fotor Initially, Fotor was created as an online photo editor, but now you can download its versions for Windows, phones, and Mac.One of the most effective, Fotoris free and has some additional photo editing functions that are paid. However, most likely you will not want to buy anything and you will be pleased with the proposed functionality.
In addition, the lack of advertising is a definite plus. The program includes simple and ordinary image editing tools that are known to most photographers.You can use presets, textures, and a text editor. 4 modes of operation (HDR, Touch Up, Photo Editor, and Collage) allow you to perform a lot of picture manipulations. Unlike many free programs, supports RAW image processing.It is necessary to mention that while working, there is a lot of noise in the image but after you save the photo, they will disappear.
The application includes high-quality presets that are significantly better than other free picture editors offer.If we talk about, its quality is not very satisfying. But the program will perfectly cope with the elimination of minor defects on the skin, improving the background or adding shadows if you deal with product photos.This is a great free photo editor for ordinary users, which will help edit your photos, making them more attractive. PhotoScape X is a good free photo editor for both amateurs and professionals. This appgives you a wide range of features for editing, optimizing, and printing your photographs. You can create GIFs, use transition effects and set the duration of playback. For collages, you may use textures and shapes. When printing, place several images on one sheet at once, setting the desired size and location.
The main panel includes important tools for image viewing, creating collages, improving failed shots, and applying filters., as well as other formats, are supported by this photo management app for Mac. Though it doesn’t have the equal set of features as Photoshop, bit still many photographers consider it as a nice. This free app is capable enough to complete all basic tasks of picture enhancement. The older version of the program was not so powerful and its interface looked worse.
PhotoScape X has an interface that was created in a modern minimalistic style and dark colors make it really nice and pleasant to work. 8.CameraBag Photo This software stands out with a large bundle of filters that you can easily customize to your pictures.
Unfortunately, the number of picture editing tools in this photo editor app is rather small. There are no any additional functions except basic color correction tools. Some photographers and photo editors will think that is not enough. The interface is intuitive and user-friendly.
You can find basic customization tools and all filters on the right side. Such localization helps you choose the filters quickly but their applying can seem a bit difficult. If you need to improve the colors of your photos, you can use customizable settings at the bottom part of the interface. Image preview is my favorite option in this program. It allows you to preview the whole collection of images and find the for them. The program has no tools to reduce noise and you also can not adjust the perspective.
In addition, in order to use this photo editor on Windows, you will need to install the appropriate “Codec” to edit the RAW images. If you have a camera of new models, then you will have to purchase the necessary ““. Luminar contains many filters, a specially developed module of working with RAW images, and increased working speed. Functional sections and adaptive toolbars are easily customized for more convenient image editing workflow. A new version of this photo editor was created almost from scratch and its main advantage is the speed. Advanced filters contain more saturated, natural, and deep colors. You can also, masks, and other photo retouching tools.
A new RAW processor allows you to speed up high-resolution photo editing. Having opened the program, the user will find over 40 filters that have many settings and are divided into profile groups. It is possible to work with color, HDR, gradients, noise, and sharpness. These settings allow you to significantly transform a photo in several minutes. Polarr Despite the fact that this photo editor includes many professional image retouching tools, it remains clear and easy to use. However, their number does not complicate and overload the application. Most basic features are available completely free of charge.
If you are not a fan of doing color correction manually, you can use the filters that are available in this application. The effects work as presets. This free Mac photo editor can work with almost any image format, including RAW.
The functionality of the program is presented at the proper level and you can change many image settings: adjust sharpness, contrast, clarity, use curves, masks, layers, filters, etc. Since has a fairly large set of tools and functions, you need some time to figure everything out. It’s difficult to find a helpful video tutorial, so you’d better study everything on your own. Nevertheless, all these tools do not complicate the program interface at all. It is quite simple and laconic. The mainframe is divided into two parts that share all the tools and functions. Thus, you can concentrate your attention on the picture while having all the available functions at hand.