Apr 08, 2020 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.
Editing your photos on your iPhone is one thing, but editing your photos on your Mac can take your photography skills to a whole 'nother level.
Many of us still keep our main libraries on our Macs because of its faster processors, larger storage, and all-around bigger computing power. The Mac is still the best device for serious photo editing, so you need some serious photo editing apps to make an impact.
The built-in Photos app on Mac offers several useful photo editing tools. You can crop, adjust lighting and color, set the white balance, add filters, remove unwanted blemishes, and a few more things. However, in all honesty? It's not really meant to be a robust editing app, so If you are looking for something to really finish your photos right, we've got a list of the best photo editors for Mac right here. Let's go!
Free Photo Editing Software Mac
Affinity Photo
If you're looking for a photo editing app that goes above and beyond for the pricetag, while still allowing you complete creative control over your images, then it might be worth it to take a peek at Affinity Photo.
Affinity Photo supports unlimited layers, groups, layer adjustments, filters, masking, and more: you also have access to tools like dodge, red-eye fix, burn, blemish, clone, and patch (so pretty much Photoshop without all the convoluted bells and whistles). Nondestructive auto-saving makes undoing everything you've done easy, so if you need to start from the beginning, the option is there.
Play, manipulate, edit, and get hella creative with Affinity Photo whether you're a serious graphic designer or someone who's just looking to do some basic editing. Your photography will seriously thank you.
- $49.99 - Download now
Fotor Photo Editor
Free Mac Editing Photo Software Free
Searching for a super simple, straight-forward photo editing app that's there to help you edit and not confuse you to the point of ripping out your hair? Then check out Fotor Photo Editor!
With this photo editor, you can easily adjust contrast and color of more washed-out photos, add borders, tilt and shift your images, add different text, slap on a few filters, and so much more, all from the easy-to-find toolbox on the right side of the app. You can even create collages of your photography masterpieces!
The BBC once called Fotor Photo Editor 'light Photoshop', and they're kind of right! You can go above and beyond editing your images with Fotor Photo Editor without getting bogged down by more complicated editing buttons and tools.
- Free - Download now
Lightroom
When you look into photo editing software, one of the first things that'll pop up is Adobe's Lightroom, and for good reason! It's essentially a staple in the photo editing community.
Lightroom is great for photographers who need to manage a large image library, and who are prepared to commit to (and pay for) Adobe's cloud storage space. But it is purely a photography tool that's a little outside the regular Adobe design ecosystem. (Creative Bloq)
Pretty much anything you want to do with your photo, you can accomplish with Lightroom. You can blend and merge shadows and highlights, sharpen dull, blurry images so they look crisp and clear, add details and tint colors to make a photo stand out, and so, so much more.
While it is a bit more on the complicated side, people who use the program and know how to navigate it are hooked. Keep in mind, there are two versions of the app — there's the Classic version, which is more preferred, and the 2018 CC version.
If you're hesitant about the program and paying for it, you can download Lightroom free for 30 days as part of a trial period. After that, you can add it to your Photoshop CC subscription for $9.99 per month.
- Free trial - Download now
Pixelmator
Amp up your photo editing skills with a little bit of help from Pixelmator!
This particular photo editing app allows you to combine two different photos into one (while still allowing you to edit over each layer), add shapes, gradients, filters, tints, and more, and completely change and edit your photography to make it fit perfectly to your aesthetic. You can even mask and cut off certain areas of the photo, giving you more creative control over your final image.
Similar to other photo editing apps, you can also adjust contrast, color, saturation level, definition, and so much more.
It's another great alternative to Photoshop, at least according to our managing editor Lory Gil.
- $29.99 - Download now
GIMP
Love Photoshop (or the idea of Photoshop...) but don't want all the complicated components and nonsense that comes along with it? Then it might be worth it to take a peek at GIMP.
Similar to Photoshop, GIMP allows you full control over editing your photos: it's an advanced image manipulation program with detailed customization for color reproduction.
You can add layers to your photos, edit and tweak colors, adjust contrast, crop, adjust saturation, and so much more. If you're someone who admires Photoshop but is terrified of the price (or just thinks it's not worth it) then GIMP might be the perfect pal for you.
- Free - Download now
Snapheal
Say 'bye-bye' to nasty photobombs, zits, perky distractions, and so much more in your photos thanks to Snapheal!
Snapheal is a little bit unique in the sense that it's more of a 'delete now, ask questions later' app. It's more about cleaning up a photo than it is editing it and adding a whole bunch of layers. The tools can either remove large objects or smaller imperfections depending on the mode. You can even adjust the masking tool, use a magic rope, or clone stamp your way to a new photo.
If you're someone who's a perfectionist when it comes to your photography and you just can't stand that one stupid, distracting blur in the background, then Snapheal is the guy for you.
- $7.99 - Download now
Preview
I know what you're thinking: 'Preview? Really, Cella?'
To which I respond: 'Uh, yeah. Duh, my dude. You use it every day!'
Sure, you can't do a bunch of fancy things with Preview like add filters, adjust contrast, and fix saturation, but you can quickly crop a photo, adjust the color, rotate it, add shapes, texts, and a signature, export as a different format, and more.
Yes, Preview isn't perfect, but it is easy to use and fantastic for making small, fast changes to your photography.
- It's already on your Mac.
How do you edit your photography?
What is your favorite photo editing app for the Mac? Why does it work the best for you? Let us know what your top picks are in the comments down below!
Updated August 2018: All the choices on this list are still the best of the best!
iPhone photography
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In an era when people like selfies and adding filters and stickers, in addition to photo recovery, there comes another ravishing feature i.e. photo editing. Luckily, there are a number of free photo editing software for laptop and desktop, which can optimize an ordinary picture into a breath-taking panorama, and help people out with more photo editing phenomena, including restoring old image.
With best photo editing software free application, one can easily covert their simple images into Instagram styled stills. Resizing, cropping, filter application and reconstructing the images are some of the features that a photo editing tool holds, but you can expect more from the following best 17 free photo editing software for Windows & Mac.
1. GIMP – Best Open-Source Free Photo Editing Software for Windows 10
GIMP is an open source free software that is compatible with Windows 10. It is incredible in functioning and gives you flawless results. Adorned with power pack photo editing tools, it has an interface similar to Photoshop. Healing tools, custom brushes, clone stamps are ravishing tools in the toolbar. Selection of isolated areas and editing them to become perfect is what the application offers further. One can eliminate the flaws and makes it up to a picture-perfect standard.
- Open source and totally free.
- Similar functionality to Photoshop.
- Cost a little longer time to get familiar with the operation.
- Support RAW image only after installing RAW loader
2. Paint.net – Best Free Photo Editing Software for Beginners with Windows 10
The functionality of Paint.net makes it easy to use and simplicity becomes a main selling point (It is actually free). The application carries fine manual control along with accessible interface. Used for trivial tasks, it is there to turn your picture into something wonderful. The toolbar carries the options of layers, undo history, filters, plugins and 3D rotate/zoom function.
- Easy to use for beginners
- With minimal options but able to complete almost all tasks
- Poor support for RAW image
3. Photo Pos Pro – Best Free Photo Editing Software for Both Beginners and Experts
With an interface more accessible than GIMP, Photo Pos Pro carries two modes. For experts, it plays as a role close to Photoshop. For beginners, it provides a lot of preset templates, filter effects and auto fix function. Accompanied with advanced photo editing tools, there is an optional “novice” layout. While the advanced layout carries both i.e. layers and layer masks. It can remove the flaws with brushes to eliminate blemishes and carry scripts to save time and refine the photo to maximum.
- Friendly to both beginners and experts
- Rich templates and presets
- Good support for RAW image, though not for all. See how to preview RAW image.
4. PhotoScape – Best Free All-in-One Photo Editing Software for Windows 10
Packed with advanced tools, PhotoScape is absolutely free and compatible with Windows 10. A beginner can easily use it to reform the images and feel the change. The filters incorporated in the app are outstanding. The features include raw conversion, photo splitting and merging, animated GIF creation. The images are going to get a new and outlook with this amazing application.
- Limited editing functions
- Not only a photo editor but also photo viewer, batch editor, RAW convertor, GIF maker and printer.
- Poor support for RAW image editing
5. Fotor – Best Free Online Photo Editor for Windows 10
Fotor is getting limelight with a ravishing feature of online accessing and fashion elements. Users can easily upload and save images from/to cloud, like Dropbox, Facebook and its own cloud database, as well as Windows 10 computer. The images can be redesigned with ravishing filters and healing tools. You can feed a pile of images at once and the software is going to edit them simultaneously. At the end you are going to get a candid still that is worth saving.
- Upload and save photos from/to cloud
- Eye-pleasant UI
- Fashion and various automatic beauty functions, effects and stickers.
- Poor support RAW image
6. Pixlr
Pixlr is a world-class photo editor with a lot of newly optimized features to provide excellent finishing to the edited photos and videos. It is available for Android, iOS, and computer browsers for the users. If you want to do simple editing with the photos and videos on your device, then the basic free version of Pixlr is enough to meet your demands. And if you want to edit the photos professionally, then the Pro version of this app is available for you. The simple to use interface of this software is pretty much appealing for the users. That’s why Pixlr is having a lot of fans without any doubt. The total installation size of this software is also not so big, which is indeed the best part of it. So, definitely, we would suggest you Pixlr software for your PC to accomplish your task of editing photos and videos hassle-free.
7. Picasa (Predecessor of Google Photos)
Picasa is yet another very brilliant choice for the users which is certainly having one of the fascinating editing tools for the users. Picasa software is compatible both with Windows and Mac OS. This free online editing tool was launched by tech giant Google way back in the year 2002. That’s why Picasa is having a lot of popularity among the PC users because tech giant Google itself certifies this software. Picasa is having one of the finest photo and video editing tools in it, which are very useful for the users. Additionally, you can also add customized features in this software online which you can use to edit your photos and videos hassle-free. Users can also add some of the latest launched video and photo effects like Super MO video mode, Live Focus mode, Ultra-wide-angle mode, Hyper lapse mode, Panorama, etc. Because this editing software is Google certified software, that’s why there is no doubt that it will deliver the best possible stuff to its users. The edited videos and photos can be shared directly from Picasa using the Google Plus file sharing feature. So, definitely, Picasa is a great choice for the users as an excellent photo editing tool.
8. Pic Monkey
Pic Monkey is another trendy choice for the users as an excellent photo editing software. You will get all the editing tools and features in a single editing window, which is an excellent feature for sure. The output edited file can be downloaded in a variety of different file formats. Some new and latest themes and effects are also added in this software by its developers, making it look more attractive. Overall, Pic Monkey software is a fantastic option for the users, which is delivering the quality stuff in the way it was meant to be. The quick-to-learn feature of this software will help you out to learn about the basics and working of the Pic Monkey software.
9. BeFunky
The only positive about this photo editing software, which makes it unique from other online photo editing software packages, is its intuitive graphic user-interface. The easy to use interface of BeFunky software is very well developed and maintained by the developers and due to this compatibility feature, BeFunky software become a great choice of all time for the users. Users will get all the basic photo editing features right on the first launch window of this software. The advanced and newly released photo editing features can be browsed in the Pro version of this software, which is not very costly like other software packages are. The graphic user-interface of BeFunky software is very well developed by the developers of this photo editing software. Moreover, this software is also compatible with almost all devices without any restrictions. So definitely, BeFunky is a good option as an excellent photo editor tool for sure. You can use this software on your PC according to our recommendation, and we hope that you will get satisfactory results for sure.
10. PhotoCat
Another very decent kind of Photo editing software for the users developed with a lot of optimized photo editing tools. Inside the preview window in this software, you can apply as many filters and themes on the photos to make a preview of them. Moreover, several other basic editing features like photo cropping, exposure, composure, and insertion of the text can be experienced in this software as well. The graphic user-interface of this software is also pretty much decent, which is easy to use and understand as well. Some newly launched and optimized photo editing tools can be used experience in the Pro version of this photo editing software. There are a lot of different insertion tools available in PhotoCat software, which can be very handy for the users. Most of the reviews regarding this software are positive, and we too hope that you will like the features and functioning of this software after installing it on your PC. Though it is not so easy to use, once you learn about its functioning, then you will surely get satisfactory results.
11. SumoPaint
Basically, SumoPaint is not a typical online photo editor. There are very few basic photo editing tools available on this software that can be accessed offline as well. The overall interface of the website is pretty much decent. Once you click on the URL of the SumoPaint website, the website will launch in a fraction of seconds, which shows the optimization power of the SumoPaint website. Furthermore, if you want to experience some more editing features/tools apart from basic features, then you may switch to the premium version of this software. To purchase the premium subscription, you have to spend 4USD per month. You will get login credentials which you can use to login to this website for an excellent editing experience like a professional.
12. DarkTable
DarkTable is another absolute stunner performer of this list, which is certainly one of the best photo editing software for the users. The main reason why this software is so popular is that this software is compatible with all three major Operating systems of PC, which are Windows, Mac, and Linux OS. Furthermore, this software is open-source software, which means that any user can use this software hassle-free without any charges. DarkTable software is pretty much similar to Lightroom photo editing software, which is another trendy choice for the users. However, DarkTable is having the edge over the Lightroom software because the overall features provided by DarkTable is more than Lightroom. The graphic user-interface of DarkTable is also more attractive than Lightroom, and that’s why majority of the users uses the former in their PC’s. The editing tools available on this software are excellent in their respective fields.
13. Picktorial
If you want a photo editing software which is only compatible with Mac OS, then there is no other choice better than Picktorial software. The enhanced features with which this software was developed are just magnificent for the users. Picktorial has a decent rating of 3.5 stars out of 5 stars, which is a very awesome part. Picktorial is very much popular among users from all around the world. The main downside of this software is that it is a bit more expensive than other premium photo editing tools of this segment. The annual premium subscription of PickTorial software will cost you around 60$. Picktorial software is a good choice for users with a lot of incredible features and editing tools in it.
14. InPixio Free Photo Editor
InPixio photo editor is another incredible choice for the users, which is having impeccable features to attract the users in large numbers. There are more than 100 different themes and photo effects available on this software which users can use to edit photos and videos hassle-free. As per our thinking, InPixio is a beginner level photo editor which is ideal for all the beginners in this photo editing industry. The graphic user-interface of InPixio is also pretty much enhanced and developed. The overall layout and texture of this software justify that InPixio is an excellent choice for the users whatsoever the reviews and ratings are. If you seriously want to learn most of the basic photo editing techniques, then you must get switched to InPixio free Photo Editor tool. You will surely observe that you are making the most out of this software.
15. Capture One Express
Capture One is another big name in the industry, which is having some excellent stuff for the users. This editing software is not having too much popularity, probably due to the professionalism for digital camera users. There are separate editions for Sony and Fujifilm cameras.
16. Snapseed
Another very advanced and optimized photo editing tool available for both iOS and Android users. Snapseed is one of the most significant kinds of photo editing software that can provide some excellent results to the users for free. Moreover, any user can use this software for editing purposes. It does not matter whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or expert. You can use this software to accomplish editing purposes hassle-free without any problem. There is a wide array of filters and themes present in this software which makes edited photos and videos to look more attractive, composed and beautiful as well. Snapseed is going to be your next sure shot choice for sure.
17. Photoshop Express Mix/Fix
Last but not the least, Photoshop Express Mix becomes our last choice to end this great list of top photo editor software packages for PC users. This excellent photo editing software offers a lot of exciting photo editing features to its users who are adorable for many reasons. The customizable settings of this software will surely let you feel that you are editing photos and videos like a professional. The main advantage of installing and using this software on your PC is that you will get to experience a great kind of graphic user-interface with a brilliant layout and graphics as well. However, to use this software, you need to login to this software using any of your social media apps like Facebook or Twitter, etc. So, it is up to you whether you are going to use this software on your PC or not because it requires a login process to be done.
So, what are you waiting for? The list is out for you to enjoy best free photo editing software for Windows & Mac computer. Now you can modify your images on your desktop and give a new life to the stills, then convert images to video.
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