Professional Photo Editing Software Free Mac

Posted By admin On 03.08.20
Professional Photo Editing Software Free Mac Rating: 6,7/10 2939 votes

Affinity Photo Beta Mac Crack redefines the limits of professional photo editing software for Mac. We pay close attention to our workflow and provide advanced tools for enhancing, editing and editing images in a highly intuitive interface with all the power and performance you need. Flawless retouching in Affinity Photo Keygen. 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. Best Photo Editing Software for Mac OS X. Although, most editing tools support both Windows and Mac, but there are some specifically made for Mac OS X as well. Let’s checkout free photo editing software for Mac. Photos is a photo organizing tool offered by Apple itself in the latest version of Mac OS X. Download Free AfterShot Pro Trial. Free Software. There are a few free Mac photo organizers worth looking a close look at. Though they face some limitations compared to their costlier counterparts, they all have the power to get your files in order. Here’s a breakdown of their basic specs.

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Availability and affordability of the good quality Smartphone camera and digital camera enables the people to click pictures of every moment of their life. People now are very active in clicking pictures and uploading them on their social media accounts to update their friends about the happenings in their life. Uploading the original pictures can be less interesting and you may not get as many likes as you expect. Using the best quality of photo editing tools makes your photos attractive and grabs everyone’s attention on your posts and the profile pictures. These days, various types of photo editing softwares are available for desktop and mobile users.

Part 1. Top 15 Free Photo Editor Software in 2018

Editing

People are constantly sharing digital pictures and images for the personal and the professional reasons. They not only have to regularly update their social media profiles but also to keep their professional image high. Using the photo editing software empowers you to gain attention from others. There are so many types of free photo editor software so you are required to first make the comparison between the best ones. It helps you to choose the best one for transforming your pictures and images for the better.

1. Adobe Photoshop

URL: https://www.adobe.com/in/products/photoshop.html

It includes tutorials and templates for editing the pictures easily. The full gamut of this software makes your picture attractive. Along with this, 90 creative filters for images add impressive effects to your pictures. This program is little bit hard to use because it is developed for the professional photo editor only. Adobe Photoshop is not just a photos editor even you can prepare your own photos from scratch as well. It supports windows operating system.

2. Picasa

URL: https://picasa.google.co.in/

It is another free photo editor program which allows the desktop and laptop users to edit, share, print, find and organize the photos easily. It organizes all your pictures in a single album to make it easier for you to locate your photos for editing without any trouble. This photo editor supports PSD, GIF, JPEG, BMP and movie files. This program is now owned by Google and the system version is not available for the installation from the official site but still you can download and use the previous versions from software provider websites.

3. Photoscape

URL: http://x.photoscape.org/

This photo editing software is available for download for Windows 7, 8 and 10 and Mac. It offers multiple photo editing tools that make your picture interesting. One addition feature which it offers is creating your own animated GIFs which can be shared online. In this program you easily find whatever you need to edit the photos. You can edit using the available tools such as batch editing, crop, create gif, make college, RAW images editing, screen capturing etc.

4. GIMP

URL: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

If you are looking for the professional photo editing software for free then GIMP is the best one. You should try this software as a retouching program, image renderer, Paint software and image format converter. It allows the users to make use of extensions and plugins to make your photos more impressive. This is a cross platform program and available for mostly all types of operating system. This is open source as well so you can get the source of the program directly from the website and edit it as per your need.

5. Paint.net

URL: https://www.getpaint.net/features.html

Users who want to get the simple user interface in their free photo editing software should get this photo editor. It offers plugin support as well for recomposing the photos. It supports many file formats. Blurring, red-eye removal, sharpening, noise, distortion, and embossing tools are there to make your photos attractive. This program is also a fully featured open source available for the windows OS. The interface of this image editor program is same as the Microsoft paint.

6. Photo! Editor

URL: http://pho.to/editor/features/

If you want to optimize and fix your digital images then this software is the best to use. Cropping feature and light adjustment facility, caricature tool and color adjustment features are also available. You can turn your photo, add or remove objects and make complex adjustments to get the professional looking photos. This program can help you to fixing the Red eye, enhance photos color, makeup, Crop or give brightness to your photos. This is a free program can be used without any charge.

7. Raw Therapee

URL: http://rawtherapee.com/#

It supports raw files and allows the editing with the attractive user interface. White balance, color panel and many other editing features are available. Advanced color handling with non-destructive editing can be done with this software. Batch editing and parallel editing facility is also provided by this software. In this software you can get mostly all advanced photo editing features for editing photos on the system right away.

8. Photo Pos Pro

URL: http://www.photopos.com/PPP3_BS/Default.aspx

This smart photo editing software offers an array of editing tools with novice layouts. The basic editing tools are color enhancing, erasing, history, layers and filters. Add the stunning text effects, frames and collages can be created. Poor photos can be fixed by easily with the powerful user interface. This program offers different types of tools to edit the photos so you can’t get everything in a single software.

9. Luminar

URL: https://skylum.com/luminar

It is the trendy image editing tool for windows in 2018. The intuitive interface makes it easier for the users to edit single photo, batch editing, splitting tool and similar face search tool as well. It is compatible with Windows and Mac. It is the high performance photo editing software that completes the editing work faster. Luminar is developed by skylum officially which is known as the best photo editing software maker company just like Adobe.

10. Corel PaintShop Pro 2018

URL: https://www.paintshoppro.com/en/pages/camera-raw/

Standard red eye removal, color enhancing and customization tools are available on this software. It also offers geo-tagging support and dual monitor mode which is helpful in graphic designing as well. Automatic image correct feature and dozens of brushes, textures and backgrounds are available. This program is developed for the most professional photo editor people and mostly it is used by the people who do work like making flex boards and designing logos.

11. On1 Perfect Effects

URL: https://www.on1.com/products/photo-raw/

With the 170 filter effects and multiple photo editing tools, this is one of the popular software among the professional photographers. If you want to try it for free, download Perfect Effect 9 version. various stackable filters, presets and textures are there to make your photos better. This perfect photo editor software helps you to edit the photos very easily as compared to the other software. You can use this program on Mac and windows. There is no need to pay monthly subscription.

12. PortraitPro

URL: http://www.portraitprofessional.com/

This software is free for editing the portrait pictures. Skin tones, blemishes and wrinkles from the face can be edited with its advanced editing tools. Various makeup tools are also there which make your photos look the best. This software also has the face detection technology. This program enables you do makeup control, enhance the mouth very easily to give professional look to the photos. There is free program testing is available for this program so you can use it before buying the premium version.

13. Inkscape

URL: https://inkscape.org/en/

It is the photo editing program that is loaded with the advanced features of photo editing. It offers cloning, copy/paste styles and multiple text along with basic editing tools. Images can be created with the help of pencil tool and several manipulation tools are there to modify the photos. Fillers and strokes can also be used with multi-line text support. There is broad file format compatibility and powerful text tools available for the people who like to edit the photos.

14. Image Tuner

URL: http://www.glorylogic.com/image-tuner.html

It is the free image editor for Windows PC. It offers watermarking and changing over, batch resizing and other editing features within few clicks. Social media profiles can also be resized and edited with the help of this tool. Photos from one file format can be converted to any other. You can easily colorize, rotate, and flip the photos using this software. There are lot of effects available to apply on the images and it works perfectly on windows 10.

15. Pixia

URL: https://pixia.en.lo4d.com/

This is the best free photo editing software for Windows PC which is helpful in saving images in various formats other than GIF. Overlays, layers, concealing, features are available with this software. Full color graphics with masking and layer functions are available for manipulating the images. This program is developed for those people who are very creative and always like to create something new different from others.

Part 2. Top 10 Free Photo Editing Apps in 2018

Smartphone is not only used for making calls or sending messages but there are many more purposes. One of the most popular uses of Smartphone these days is uploading and sharing edited pictures. There are various types of photo editing apps which are helpful in editing the pictures and instantly sharing them on your social media account. Using such types of apps is more convenient as you can edit the images anywhere without opening your computer. Here is the list of top 10 photo editing apps that you can download in your smartphone.

1. Google Snapseed

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed

Platform: Android/iOS

Price: Free

It is the best free picture editor app that can make many of the desktop software’s at shame. It is loaded with several numbers of features. It allows the modification to the depth, curve and brightness of field that makes your pictures attractive. This app is developed by Google for photo editing and you can easily edit the photos on the android and iOS devices directly instead of the desktop.

2. Prisma

URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prisma-photo-editor/id1122649984?mt=8

Platform: iOS 8.0 and later / Android 4.1 and later

Price: Free

It is compatible for Android and iOS devices and the drawing’ and ‘painting’ filters are there. Additional filter options are available in the in-a pp purchases. Once you have edited the photos using this app on your mobile you can share the pictures easily through email, sms, whatsapp, Facebook or Instagram. This is easy to use and supports mostly all images formats.

3. Adobe lightroom

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.lrmobile

Platform: Android / iOS

Price: $9.99 per month for subscription

It is the image manipulation app that is designed to build your photography skills faster. There are a large number of digital images can be edited, viewed or organized by this app. It offers 1 TB of cloud storage as well so that cloud backup of images can be created. This app gives you a very powerful solution to edit the images on the Android and iOS mobile devices directly. There are one tap preset available to edit the images in one tap.

4. Aviary

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aviary.android.feather

Platform: iOS / Android

Price: $9.99

It is best free photo editor app that offers great reliability in editing pictures. Manual adjustments for the color, brightness, contrasts and saturation can be done using this app. Cropping and resizing option also available there to resize the size of images for Facebook or other social media sites. Playful stickers and overlays are also available for this app. This app also offers in app purchases to remove ads and get few additional features.

5. AirBrush

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.magicv.airbrush

Platform: Android 4.1 and up

Price: $1.99

This photo editing app for Android is best for you to keep editing your photos in batches. It can easily make the quick fixes for blemishes on your face, reshaping, teeth whitening and, adding filters. Easily take away pesky imperfections. This app offers love photo filters to apply on images and mostly it is used by the youngsters to edit and make the images.

6. Fotor Photo Editor

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everimaging.photoeffectstudio

Platform: iPhone / Android

Price: up to $3.33 per month

This app is available for free with the in- app purchase options. It allows basic editing with over 100 of filters to choose from. It allows the users to make the collage as well and share it online in the real time. It offers you wide range of effect to apply on images and you can easily edit the photos because interface of the app is very easy to use for everyone. College photo making option is also there so you can use up to 9 photos to make college.

7. PhotoLab

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vsin.t16_funny_photo&hl=en

Platform: Android

Price: Free/ 9.99$ (for essential version)

To add an artistic touch to your images, download this photo editing app on your Android device. It allows the users to use more than 640 filters, frames and effects to make your photos outstanding. It offers realistic photomontages. PhotoLab app works fast that’s why you can easily edit the photos in seconds and make the perfect one. There are many frames available to give the final touch to your photos.

8. VSCO

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vsco.cam

Choose your nickname on the right. Apps to clean mac air. Go to Users & Groups. Open System Preferences.

Platform: Android / iOS

Price: $19.99 USD per year subscription

It is the great photography mobile app available for download for free. Subtle one-tap presets with various adjustment tools. This app provides photo sharing platform with the high quality camera for clicking HD pictures. VSCO app is actually a community of people just like the Instagram so you can use this app to edit photos and to connect with different people as well.

9. Filterstorm Neue

URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filterstorm-neue/id728479183?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8

Platform: iOS / Android

Price: Up to 14.99 USD

This Photo editing app for iOS is integrated with advanced settings. Clone tool, tone mapping, channel mixer and masking tool can be used in this app to make the pictures attractive. This app comes with every tool that you must have to edit the photos. There are more than 100 effects available in the app to edit the photos and make them cool.

10. Pixelmator

URL: https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/pixelmator/id924695435?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8

Platform: iOS

Price: Up to $29.99

It is one of the free photo editing apps that is ideal for the iOS devices. With the help of this app, you can create impressive pictures. Retouch and distort tools can be used. There are dozens of beautiful frames available to use with the images. If you are facing the issue of color cast with the images then you can instantly remove and set the accurate white balance to your images.

Part 3. Recommended Photo Editing Program for Desktop Users

Wondershare Fotophire Editing Toolkit is one of the most interesting and the useful photo editing programs for desktop users. It is loaded with amazing features that can transform your pictures. This is the fast and efficient free photo editing software for the computers. It offers more than 200 effects to make the pictures or images perfect. If you are looking for the photo editor free download then Wondershare Fotophire is the best option. Photo editing, cutting and erasing are the key features of this photo editor. It also features the photo maximization and photo focus to give the professional touch to your photos. More than 100 styles of photo frames are provided by this software. You can easily turn your photos into an art piece by getting the full control of the overall intensity.

You can Get Wondershare Fotophire Editing Toolkit for Mac Here.

The most important feature for which you should try this software is that it is available for 7-day free trial. Thus, you can use this software for the personal or business purposes both.

Hot Articles

  • February 10, 2020
  • 33 min to read

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
Software

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:

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  • 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

Best Free Professional Photo Editing Software For Mac

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?

Professional Photo Editing Software Free Mac Update

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

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Platform

Professional Photo Editing Software Free Mac Download

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

Professional Photo Editing Software Free Mac Animation

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.