15 essential photo editor apps
taterboy
Photoshop is the world’s go-to photo editor – so much so that the word has become verbified, information pills like ‘Hoover’ or ‘Google’. This might give the impression that Adobe’s Creative Cloud photo editor is the undisputed champion, case but that all depends on what you use it for – for your purposes it may be a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
There are a wide range of very capable alternatives to Photoshop, as you will discover, but our list of the best photo editors wouldn’t be complete without the ubiquitous Adobe application, as you’ll see.
01. Affinity Photo
We will never waver in our love for Serif’s Affinity Photo, especially now that it’s available for Windows as well as macOS, making it the subscription-free Photoshop alternative that everyone can enjoy.
The latest version boasts plenty of amazing features, including full HDR merge support, 360° image editing, recordable macros and batch processing, plus a tone mapping workspace that enables you to turn any image – whether it’s a standard JPG or an HDR photo – into a dramatic scene, bringing out details you never realised were there.
02. PaintShop Pro X9
- Platform: PC
- $63.99/£53.99
PaintShop Pro has been the budget Photoshop alternative of choice on PC for over 20 years, and it’s still holding its own. The latest version, X9, promises to be easiest, faster and more creative than ever, and comes packed with new features including ready-made project templates, a built-in screenshot function with a smart capture mode that lets you grab part of the screen, a gradient fill option and improved support for graphics tablets and styluses.
On top of the standard version, you can pay a little extra for PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate, which adds professional-grade RAW editing, automatic photo corrections and screen recordings to the mix.
03. Photoshop CC
The replacement for Photoshop CS6 surprised everyone by not being the expected Photoshop CS7 but ‘Photoshop CC‘. And surprise turned to consternation when it was revealed that the software would be solely available via the Creative Cloud subscription service.
Time has passed and anger has subsided. Photoshop CC is head-bangingly brilliant, and has too many features to summarise in this small space – but here you can read a run-down of its 15 top features.
There’s no doubt that the latest Photoshop is a hugely impressive photo editing application; probably the best out there. But it comes at a cost.
04. Pixlr
- Platform: iOS, Android
- Price: Free
Pixlr claims to be “the most popular online photo editor in the world”, which may have something to do with the fact that it’s free. But it also boasts more than 600 effects, overlays, and borders and lets you do all the main things you’d expect from a photo editor, from cropping and re-sizing to removing red-eye and whitening teeth.
And if you’re used to using Photoshop you’ll find Pixlr’s user interface easy to pick up quickly, as it’s very similar.
05. Acorn
Image editing software Acorn debuted back in 2007 and has provided hobbyists and artists on a budget with a great, affordable piece of photo editing software. Features include layer styles, non-destructive filters, curves and levels, blending modes and much more.
The latest version, Acorn 5, added improved speed, an enhanced UI and more. One of the most sought-after improvements was the addition of non-destructive filters, which includes includes a great interface to chain filters together to create unique effects. You can even save and modify your filters after you’ve closed and re-opened your Acorn image.
06. GIMP
- Platform: Linux/Windows/Mac
- Price: Free
An open-source photo editor that debuted on Unix-based platforms, GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Today it’s available in versions for Linux, Windows and Mac. GIMP offers a wide toolset – everything you’re accustomed to is within easy reach, including painting tools, colour correction, cloning, selection, and enhancement.
The team that oversees development has worked hard to ensure compatibility too, so you’ll be able to work with all the popular file formats without any trouble at all. You’ll also find a very capable file manager built in, along similar lines to Adobe’s Bridge.
07. Photoshop Elements 15
This is the basic alternative to Photoshop Creative Cloud (or CS), as reflected in its great Quick and Guided Edit modes, but don’t think that means it lacks power under the hood. Also, unlike Photoshop CC, Elements doesn’t require a subscription.
It’s now in its 15th iteration, and for its latest update, the team have automated elements of organisation and editing, so you can focus on being creative.
08. Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom allows you to keep all your photography in one place, and organise, edit and share it from anywhere. Many creatives opt to use Lightroom as it can tackle the complex image management jobs Photoshop is not designed for, making light work of day-to-day enhancements and RAW files.
With Lightroom you can store images on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Android device and even transfer photos automatically from your phone into Lightroom as you shoot them. Syncing takes care of itself, so when you make an edit or flag a favourite in one place, it’s automatically updated everywhere else.
Next page: seven more photo editors (and some are free…)
09. DxO OpticsPro 11
- Platform: Windows/Mac
- £99
Things get a bit specific with Optics Pro 11, but what it does, it does very well. Its results are spectacular, but it’s a specialised and sometimes complex tool to use. It’s arguably the best raw converter of all, but that’s just about all it does.
DxO Optics Pro automatically compensates for the different degrees of distortion, chromatic aberration, edge softness and vignetting common to practically all digital camera lenses.
It’s also a raw converter, and DxO has applied just as much scientific rigour to this process as its lens corrections. You can browse the images on your computer, folder by folder, then select an image and choose from the default conversion/correction setting or a range of presets
The results are excellent. However, it would never be your one and only image-editing tool.
10. Camera+
The Camera app that comes on the iPhone by default is not brilliant: yes, you can use it to take some decent shots, but it doesn’t offer you much creative control.
This is where Camera+ excels. The app has two parts: a camera and a photo editor, and it truly excels at the latter, with a huge range of advanced features. Camera+ doesn’t just limit you to editing new pics – you can quickly import your existing photos into the Lightbox where you can breathe new life into them.
11. Paint.net
- Platform: Windows
- Price: Free
Paint.net is a surprisingly capable and useful tool, available completely free of charge. The focus is on ease of use, and there’s a definite tendency towards photo editing rather than artistic creation.
That said, there are a range of special effects available, allowing you to easily create fake perspective, blend and push pixels around the canvas, tile and repeat selections, and so on.
A good range of selection tools, support for layers, and adjustments such as curves and brightness/contrast mean that Paint.net is a great alternative to Photoshop for photo editing, especially if you can do without some of the more recent additions to Photoshop’s toolset.
12. Sumo Paint
- Platform: Web browser (requires Adobe Flash Player)
- Price: Free for basic online version, $19 for pro version with offline app
Sumo Paint is a highly capable browser-based image editor. All the standard features you’d expect from a desktop tool are present and correct and by buying the Pro version for $19 you can install a desktop version of the app if you prefer. You need the Adobe Flash Player to use this tool, so you’re not going be using Sumo Paint on your iPad.
The standard range of tools and adjustments you’d expect are all included. Brushes, pencils, shapes, text, cloning, gradients and so on are all quickly accessed from the Photoshop-esque floating toolbar. It can also open saved documents from your hard drive, making Sumo Paint a perfectly viable option for editing and reediting.
There are, however, limitations that will put off some users. The most important of these is that the editor appears to be RGB only, limiting its use to screen-destined artwork only. No CMYK, Lab or other colour models to be found here.
13. Pixelmator
- Platform: Mac
- £28.99
Pixelmator uses Mac OS X libraries to create fast, powerful image editing tools, which allows the software to integrate seamlessly with the likes of iPhoto and Aperture, as well as iCloud. There are also built-in export tools for Facebook and Flickr.
Colour correction tools such as Hue/Saturation, Shadows/Highlights and Contrast are all present and correct, and Pixelmator supports filters and comes with a collection of 150 to play with. You can also open and save images in many of the popular formats, including PSD, TIFF, PDF and PNG.
When saving or opening Photoshop documents, layers are preserved allowing you to collaborate effectively with colleagues using Adobe’s software.
14. Handy Photo
The selling point of photo editor Handy Photo is its interface, which uses the corners of the screen to cater for rotating menu options. It’s all designed to keep the central area of the screen clear, allowing you to use swipe gestures to tone your effects up or down.
It’s a powerful photo editor; the UI isn’t for everyone, but this is an amazing price for the effects you get. The ‘Move Me’ tool enables you to clip out objects and move, resize or flip them.
15. Photo Editor by Aviary
- Platform: Windows 8/iOS/Android
- Price: Free
Aviary is a very pleasantly designed app that strikes the perfect balance between serious photo-editing and playful photo-decoration functions without looking bland or childish.
However, the selection of filters and stickers are fairly small, so any future updates would give this app great room for play.
Related articles:
- PaintShop Pro X9 review
- How to create a retro logo with Affinity Designer
- 15 Photoshop CC web and app design tips
Powered by WPeMatico
