What is the Best Photo Editor for Mac?
If you always edit photos on your iPhone but want to raise your photography level, you may download a photo editor to edit photos on Mac. People get used to saving their photos on Macs. This is because Mac’s processor works faster and has large storage. With Mac, you can edit photos professionally. To reach this goal, you need to install a powerful photo editor or Mac.
7 Best Photo Editors for Mac
With the help of these7 photo editors you will be able to do a professional color correction (adjust white balance, colors, temperature, brightness, saturation, contrast, etc.) and basic photo editing.
1. Lightroom
Price – Free Trial or $9.99 per month
It’s probably the best photo editor for Mac that shows professional results. Having downloaded Lightroom app, you will able to make deep color correction, adjust white balance in several clicks, remove small skin defects, blend and merge shadows and highlights, make photos look sharp and clear, add details and tint colors to make a photo pop, edit background, add filters (Lightroom presets), etc. What I like the most is that you can edit RAW files taken by a digital camera. There are millions of video tutorials on different languages that can help you understand how to edit photos in Lightroom or add a special effect.
If you’ve never used Lightroom products, download its free trial that lasts for 7 days. It starts the day you download Lightroom. You may change your free trial to a paid Creative Cloud membership after the trial period or after the trial has expired.
2. Affinity Photo
Price – $49.99
Affinity Photo is a professional photo editing software you can use for deep color correction on your Mac. It’s more than simple Instagram filters. It’s quite expensive but it gives you complete creative control over your photographs and designing projects (templates, invitations, icons, logos, etc.).
This is one of the best photo editing apps for Mac that offers various layers, layer adjustments, color filters, masking, etc. for deep color collection. You can do basic portrait retouching. It means you may apply a famous fashion Dodge& Burn effect, remove red eyes effect, smooth skin or body blemishes, use a clone tool for background enhancement, etc. One more Photoshop alternative? Probably, yes.
3. Fotor
Price–FREE
Fotor is another user-friendly photo editor that you can download as a Mac app or use online. It’s highly recommended to choose Chrome. It enables you to edit images, without being an expert in Photoshop or Lightroom. You can use it only for color correction and adding photo filters (vintage, matte, black & white effects, etc.). You can create photo collages of your friends and family photos, rotate, crop, add text, frame, and zoom photos while editing. After color correction, you can save and send these photos online. This is definitely the best free photo editor for Mac but with limited image editing functions. If you want to do photo editing, you should pay for the Fotor Pro version of this app.
4. GIMP
Price: FREE
This photo editor is the most popular free Photoshop alternative with an open source code that lets you change the program’s work and remove bags. If you need Photoshop-style photo editing style without paying fora monthly subscription, GNU Image Manipulation Program is the software you need.GIMP recreates many of the tools found in Photoshop. It has the tools you can use to edit or retouch photos, create photo manipulations, draw logos, design templates, websites, and layouts. BUT it’s very inconvenient. GIMP on the Mac is a little bit slow. For example, if you apply blur filters to a photo, it will take you several seconds to complete. You can create multi-layered masks to highlight tones, adjust shades, exposure, and automate workflow by programming scripts.
5. Pixelmator
Price – $29.99
Pixelmator is another full-featured Photoshop alternative that you can install on your Mac. It supports hundreds of image formats. When you open your photo, Pixelmator automatically hides all other windows that may distract while photo editing. This photo editor lets you combine 2images into one, draw or paint, apply dazzling effects. You can make the professional color correction using masks, gradients, color filters, tints, etc. You can save your edited photos in several ways, share them via email or popular social networks, print them, or directly add them to your Photos library.
6. Snapheal
Price: $7.99
Snapheal is the best Mac photo editor to remove objects and edit background. It is easy to use and has a simple interface with 3 image editing menus: Erase, Retouch and Adjust. Using Snapheal you can also adjust white balance, contrast, sharpness, and other parameters for individual areas of the photo. You can use this app as standalone software or as a plugin with other Mac photo editors. Snaphealimage editing app has powerful erasing and healing tools, basic color correction tools that you can use for product or portrait photography. Snapheal Pro supports several photo file types, including RAW, JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD and PDF.
7. Preview and Photos
Price: FREE
It’s easy to overlook the software you already have on your laptop. You can think that I am kidding but Preview is also in this list. Yes, I can’t call it the best photo editor for Mac but here you can use different tools for selecting areas of the picture (rectangle, ellipse, lasso, smart lasso, “magic wand”) to simplify framing or deleting objects. The “Sketch” brush can be used to draw shapes. The menu of tonal correction is provided with automated mode and manual adjustments of levels, exposure, contrast, shadows, saturation, sharpness, and other color correction settings. You can also use Preview to open PDF files or export in multiple file formats.
This isn’t a full list of all Mac photo editing apps you can use for photos editing. You can also download Google Photos for color correction. It doesn’t’ have image retouching tools for removing blemishes and other imperfections. There is a Pixlr Editor app that lets you work with layers and has useful drawing tools you can use for designing logos and other marketing materials. Polar, PhotoScape X, Image Tricks, etc. are good photo editing apps that you can download for a fast photo color correction before posting photos on Instagram. Whether you are going to brighten a dark photograph, remove a distracting object, or let your creativity lead you in a whole new direction, there’s an app for that.
