What Is The Best Photo Editor For Mac
To help you discover the best Mac photo editing app for your needs, we have organized these apps into sections. However, use these sections as more of a guideline and not hard categories, as most of these photo editors can fit other use cases easily because they have overlapping features.
What Is The Best Photo Editor For Mac
Affinity Photo has always been one of the top photo editing apps on Mac, and with its latest version 2 update, it has become even better. The app is made for real-time editing and can handle massive images without any hiccups. It features professional editing tools and supports almost all the know file formats, including JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PDF, PSD, and RAW photos. Photo editors will be happy to know that they get all the quick photo editing features, including red-eye removal, cropping, selection, painting and drawing tools, color correction tools, masks, filters, layers, and more. It also features an uncluttered UI with clearly marked tools which are both easy to find and use.
It also has dozens of PSD templates that you can use to create thumbnails for videos, profile avatars, cards, and more. The only major drawback of this app is that the UI looks a bit dated. But for a free online photo editor, this rocks. If you are looking for a free Photoshop alternative, I urge you to give this app a try. If you find the app interesting, you can get started by visiting its learn page.
While all these photo editing apps are good, you will find that some of them suit you better than the others. For me, Luminar and Affinity Photo work the best and hence I am still sticking to those two. But you should choose the one that fits your editing style and needs. If you find this article informative, comment below to tell us which photo editing app you found to be the best for you.
Adobe Lightroom Classic is the longtime software choice of working professional photographers. In addition to top-notch importing and organizing tools, Lightroom Classic gives photographers the best tools for correcting and enhancing photos in a raw file process. It includes things missing from the non-Classic version of Lightroom (see below) that pros need, such as printing, soft-proofing, tethered shooting, and plug-in support. You don't, however, get some of the features amateurs and hobbyists might like, such as basic video tools and lots of learning content.
Capture One is often referred to as an alternative to Adobe Lightroom. It is super-powerful professional photo workflow software, and it does the best job of interpreting a camera's raw image data into a sharp, accurate photo. It includes an abundance of adjustments and local edit tools, as well as layers and advanced color grading. A unique speed edit feature lets you get to frequently needed tools with a key press. It still trails Lightroom when it comes to workflow abilities, however.
When choosing a Mac photo editing app, look for a clean, well-designed interface with lots of help and tutorials. Beyond that, there are different types of apps that specialize in different parts of the photo editing process. The app or apps your choose will depend on what you need to do.
For non-workflow photo editing software, Adobe Photoshop is the undisputed best application, with an unmatched and ever-increasing set of state-of-the-art image editing tools. It excels at layer editing, which lets the user overlay many levels of images and effects. It also is the best at letting you select areas and subjects within your image to choose where an effect applies. You get plentiful drawing and typography tools in this beast of an application, too, and its recent Neural Filters take advantage of AI image analysis for some mind-blowing effects.
Our top pick for best free photo editing software for Mac is Apple Photos. It's free in the sense that it comes included with the purchase of any Mac computer. Aside from Apple Photos, there are other free tools for editing your photos on a Mac.
If you're a beginner to digital photography, you also want to make sure you have some good photography hardware. Phones have better and better cameras these days, but they still can't beat a dedicated camera. For help choosing one, read our roundups of the best digital cameras and the best camera phones.
In general, any good photo editor Mac frees up a lot of your time by automating certain repetitive tasks. On that note, let's go through some of the best paid and free photo editing software for Mac and mention which use cases each one fits really well.
Want a photo and video editor that is effortless to use, even for complete beginners? Look no further than CameraBag Pro. Often compared to Lightroom, CameraBag Pro has a richer toolkit and a unique preset-based workflow. Many photographers tend to get CameraBag Pro in addition to Lightroom. Here's just a fraction of the app's superpowers:
Affinity Photo is essentially what the best photo editing software for Mac would look like if you designed it from the ground up, without all the legacy features that Photoshop has to carry over from one version to the next. Affinity Photo is lightning fast, can handle massive files (over 100 MB), zooms at 60 frames per second, and is able to edit PSD files. It's not cheap, but it's available as a single payment rather than a continuous subscription.
Don't stop at editing single photos! With a Mac subscription for apps called Setapp, you can get a bunch of photo editors plus the tools that help you keep your photo gallery organized, convert and compress your photos, or even create some new art, such as time-lapse photography. Here are the handy helpers we recommend:
As you can see, the world of photo editing is vast and very diverse. There is something for everyone. If you want the best images without lifting a finger, try Luminar's AI capabilities. And if you need to process hundreds of images at once, you can't go wrong with PhotoBulk.
Photos can integrate with your third-party photo editor. If you want to edit an image from Photos using Luminar or TouchRetouch, for example, open your image in Photos and click the three dots in the toolbar. Your third-party editor will be available as an extension.
You want your photos to look their best. And ideally, you want to make that happen without spending a lot of time learning a new program or dropping a lot of money on software. We get it. Mac image editing is very simple if you choose the right software.
Some of the winners on our list are available as desktop apps, while others are strictly available as online photo editors. Some are free trials of paid programs, and others are genuine, no-strings-attached free photo editors. So let's take a look right now at free photo editing software for mac like Photoshop.
Why we love it: While many free online photo editors are streamlined and fairly basic, Darktable is free photo editing software that can hold its own against professional tools.If you need a free photo editor download for Mac, consider Darktable. Its cataloguing and photo organization features are comparable to Lightroom (which is a major compliment). It works with JPEGs as well as RAW files, and the perspective distortion and lens correction features are impressive. Darktable also offers non-destructive editing, which is a huge plus in photo editor on Macbook Pro.
We hope our list has helped you select the best free image editor for your next project. If you want to learn more about Skylum software, we invite you to find out whether Luminar Neo is the picture editor for you.
No matter which online image editor or photo editing software for Mac you choose, we wish you the best in your photography ventures and photo enhancement. May you never need to fix it in post. Choose the best software from the list above with your needs in mind.
Of course you can edit your photos right on your iPhone, but you're limited by what you can do with your finger on the iPhone's smaller screen. Your Mac has a faster processor, more storage, and just overall more computing power, making ideal for serious photo editing.
If you're looking for a photo editing app that goes above and beyond its price tag while still allowing you complete creative control over your images, take a peek at Affinity Photo, which is hands down one of the best photo editing apps for Mac.
With this photo editor, you can easily adjust the 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!
Pixelmator Pro is a powerful version specifically geared for photo editing, not just a general graphic design app. With Pixelmator Pro, you're getting a ton of professional-grade, nondestructive editing tools. In addition, it's powered by machine learning, so you get the best results every time you use the program.
We think Pixelmator Pro is one of the best photo editing apps for the Mac that's reasonably priced with many excellent features. Don't miss our in-depth Pixelmator Pro review if you want to learn more about it.
Another fantastic option for Mac's best photo editing app is Luminar Neo. With Luminar Neo, the goal is to make photo editing as straightforward as possible while also being enjoyable. You can do all of the basics in Luminar, like cropping and resizing, color adjustments, applying filters, and whatnot, but there is more to the app than that.
You're out there taking all those wonderful photos on your iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, other other great iPhone, but what about editing? When editing on your iPhone isn't enough, you'll want to edit photos on your Mac. While Apple's built-in Photos app certainly has some essential photo editing tools already integrated, sometimes you need more. Any of the apps listed will work beautifully on macOS Ventura and all of the best Macs. If you're looking to dive into paid apps, check out Affinity Photo. It's a Mac App of the Year winner, and it has an enormous suite of tools.