Editing pictures is such a broad term. That could include everything from a small adjustment like cropping your pics all the way to more complex photo compositions and everything in between. So, when you're looking for the best photo editor for Mac, it's not necessarily a one-size-fits-all answer. But don't worry, this article will talk about apps that cover all those levels to help you find the best one for you.
Best Photo Editing Apps For Mac; Best Photo Editing software, free download; Download PhotoPad photo editing software for Windows/Mac to easily edit digital photos. Resize, crop, touch up or add any number of effects to any image. PhotoPad lets you easily remove red-eye and blemishes, enhance colors, crop photos and more. As a free Mac photo. Answer (1 of 9): The Photos application that comes with the Mac OS is very adequate for most basic photo editing needs and a good place to start. How many images are you dealing with? What kind of “editing” functions do you need? Image adjustment or image manipulation? Jan 01, 2021 Free photo editing software for Mac: 11 of our favorites. Where you can use it: Mac. Why we love it: We thought we’d start with the OG of Mac photo editors. Photos made its first appearance. Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Here's a list of the best photo apps for Mac you'll read about:
- Lightroom
- Affinity Photo
- Photoshop
- Gimp
- Photolemur
- Snapheal
- Pixelmator
- Preview
- Fotor
- Google Photos
Editing pictures can quickly create duplicate versions of the same picture. You could end up with an edited and an original copy of all of your photos. So, it's good to get into the habit of checking and cleaning up your duplicates. And thankfully, you can use the app Gemini 2. It's an app that will scan your hard drive for similar-looking, as well as exact copies, and let you delete them within minutes.
1. Lightroom
If you're looking for the best photography app for Mac, look no further than Adobe Lightroom. It's an industry standard for all photographers, from budding amateurs to professionals.
The nice thing about Lightroom is that you can also use it as a photo manager. Cataloging the pictures you edit and even copy and pasting edits between images. It's a robust tool that will allow you to do any retouching you want to your photo.
2. Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is the app that's going to give you the most bang for your buck. While it's loaded with all of the essential retouching tools like red-eye correction, blemish healing, and cloning. But it also has more powerful editing features like masking, filters, and layer adjustments.
One of the nice things about this app is that it's a non-destructive editor. This means when you make any edits, it doesn't destroy or save over the original image. So, if you push an edit too far and don't like what you've done, you're able to revert back to the original. However, Affinity Photo doesn't have an image management feature. Which may make it easier for some people to use, but it also makes it harder to keep track of which pics you've already edited.
3. Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is arguably the most popular photo editor on this list, and it's also the most powerful one. There is absolutely nothing you can't do with this app. In fact, its name has become a synonym for photo editing. When people say they edited an image, it's not uncommon for them to say, 'I Photoshopped that.'
But Photoshop isn't for everyone. Because it's so robust, it might be a bit of overkill if you're only doing basic retouching to your photos. On the other hand, if you're looking for more advanced features, you might find the Adobe subscription is worth the price.
4. Gimp
If you're looking for free photo editing software for Mac, then you'll want to check out Gimp. It's like a much simpler and free version of Photoshop. All the things that might have confused in Adobe Photoshop have been simplified and decluttered in Gimp. It's a great app that gives you total control over your photos, so you can edit them however you'd like.
5. Photolemur
Photolemur bills itself as the easiest and fastest way to edit your photos. Once you import your picture, it analyzes it before using its algorithms and AI to automatically enhance it. And don't worry, you can always adjust how much your pic is improved if you don't like how Photolemur edited your image. Photolemur is a great app for beginners and those of you who are only dipping your toe into the photography water.
6. Snapheal
If you've ever taken a photo only to look back at it and noticed a complete strange photobombing your pic, you can just launch Snapheal. Snapheal is an app that quickly gets rid of anything for your pictures. Whether it's a tiny blemish or an entire person in the background, fire up Snapheal and fix your photos fast.
7. Pixelmator
Pixelmator is a fun and easy-to-use photo editor on Mac that's going to take your photography game to the next level. With the app, you can combine two pictures together using their layers feature. You can make adjustments to contrast, lighting, and other various effects. And the great news is that it's still more inexpensive than both Photoshop and Affinity Photo.
8. Preview
When it comes to making very basic photo edits, look no further to Preview, the default Mac image editor. You can resize and crop pictures with it, but you can also make color adjustments, rotate the picture, or add shapes and text to your pics.
9. Fotor
Fotor is a simple and free photo editor for Mac. Loaded with all the basic tools you could need, like making color adjustments, adding borders or text, and rotating or tilting your images. The app lays out all of these tools in an easy-to-navigate interface, making it not only the most affordable editor on our list but also the easiest to use.
10. Google Photos
Even though Google Photos is usually thought of as a photo library manager, the app also has some useful tools to make small edits to your pictures. You can do things like add filters, adjust the light and saturation, and even rotate or crop your original image. While Google Photos is lighter on the number of tools to edit your pictures, the small adjustments it can make, it does them very well.
There are a ton of incredible apps that can help you edit your pictures. You just need to figure out which one works best for you and your photos. Can you get by with making quick edits in Preview, or do you need all the power an app like Adobe Photoshop can offer you? Hopefully, this article helps clear up some of those key differences between these apps.
- 1. Photos Transfer
- 2. Music Transfer
- 3. Contacts Transfer
- Since then, it’s cemented its reputation as the best free photo editing software for Mac. The tools are intuitive and simple to navigate, and the integration with iCloud Photo Library is seamless. Plus, as a built-in Mac app, it’s genuinely, totally free — which is why we’re more than happy to name it the best free image editor.
- This best photo editing is a real alternative to Adobe software. Gimp the best, because it is free and Gimp opens RAW files. The project is continuously updated and modernized – the application is fully adapted for OS X El Capitan. Functionality with filters and effects is surprising.
by Jenefey AaronUpdated on 2020-02-26 / Update for OS X
Best Free Photo Editor Software for Mac. Image Tricks: Image Tricks is a piece of fun and easy to use free image editor software for Mac OS X. It is based on Apple Core Image filters and includes about 35 Image Units, encouraging experimentation and offering the ability for a wide range of effects to be combined and applied to pictures.
Since Mac OS X 10.10.3 released, Apple Company showed Photos for OS X, but for iPhoto users, it would not be that happy. Like who get used to Aperture, Photos for OS X do lack of some functions. As well, for Windows users who cannot use iPhoto, is there any way to satisfy the need of those PC & Mac users? Here we prepared top 5 iPhoto alternatives; you must get one you like.
1. XnView, a freeware to view, organize and convert photos. With it, users can also create slide show, contact sheet and HTML pages.
This powerful cross-platform media browser, viewer and converter can be launched on Windows/Mac OS X/Linux. And it is compatible with more than 500 formats, it worth a try.
Pros:
Works well for making photographs orient correctly;
Good interface;
Easy to use with numerous useful functions.
Cons:
Will be prevented by various virus checkers;
No automatic going back to the first picture;
Tools are hard to figure out and programs may sometimes crash.
2. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom , it is kind of professional software for those photo lovers, but with this tool, users are allowed to quickly work with raw format images.You can manage all of your photos; showcase them in print, dynamic slideshow and interactive web galleries that are simple to create with Lightroom.
Pros:
Great for RAW files;
Does a great job enhancing photos;
Much more easier to use than Photoshop and also does a good job.
Cons:
Problems with processing some kinds of camera;
Too expensive and heavy on computer;
Image view time in develop mode is slower.
3. Picasa , a kind of photo editing software, which can transfer, find, organize, edit and share images, all with this easy-to-use product. Best free webcam software for mac os.
Pros:
Works fast and can automatically sync;
Easy to use and the running speed is fast;
Free gif animation software for mac download. Product by Google, can work with Google Photos.
Cons:
Google is no longer updating or supporting;
Does not play GIF files;
Import duplicates files and may go back years.
4. PhotoScape , an all-in-one style photo editor. Users can use it to view photos or make it as an editor. With lots of tools than your photos will be ever interesting.
Pros:
Good for non-professional users, easy to operate;
Does all the basic, good for simple editing.
Cons:
More functions can be added;
The interface can be more attractive.
5. FastStone Image Viewer , a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.
Pros:
Good for its free and quick and it works easy;
Convenient in usage;
Net design and friendly interface.
Cons:
Need to do some different effect for editing;
Does not support color management metadata;
Program runs slow when picture is in folder.
Most of these software are free iPhoto alternatives. You can pick up one and have a try.
Tips: How to Efficiently Transfer Photos from iPhone/iPad/iPod touch to Computer
In order to better edit the photos you shot by your iOS devices, transfer to PC/Mac can also be an important job. Tenorshare iCareFone for Mac, which is recommended by thousands of users, can transfer 9 kinds of files from your iDevice. As a powerful manager, you can also get benefit from this software. To learn more details about how to transfer your files, you can read the guide of Tenorshare iCareFone for Mac.
Open source high-end image-editing software is an unlikely concept when you think about it. For one thing, anyone who really needs an industrial strength image editing application for professional purposes can probably afford and will more often than not have the undisputed king-of-the-hill in bitmap graphics software, Adobe’s Photoshop CS, and most users – professional or amateur – will for that matter never test the limits of even Adobe’s much more affordable Photoshop Elements.
Alternatives to Photoshop CS
However, Photoshop CS is astronomically expensive at its list price of $649 (Elements 6.0 for Mac is more than a bit of a bargain at just $89.95). Then there’s Pixelmator, an aspirant Photoshop (at least Photoshop Elements) challenger that has a ton of power, a super attractive interface, and sells for an even more friendly $59.95.
And if you’re on a tight budget and really need advanced, full-featured image-editing capability, there is a robust and powerful freeware image editor alternative to Photoshop with the cumbersome moniker of GNU Image Manipulation Program (the GIMP, for short), an advanced open source bitmap imaging program available free for the downloading. Like Photoshop, the GIMP can be used to correct and retouch photographs, compose multiple images, and create artwork from scratch.
The GIMP: Freeware
The GIMP Is the image-editing standard for the Unix world, and because Mac OS X is Unix-based, you can run it on a Mac as well, but there is a major caveat, namely that the GIMP does not run in OS X’s Quartz/Aqua user interface layer, but rather in X Windows under X11, a program that enables X Windows applications to run under OS X.
X11 is an option that can be specified during an OS X install, and the a standalone X11 installer is also downloadable for free at:
The GIMP is also a free download, but a mighty big one – about 120 MB – and you can also download the GIMP HTML manual at:
X11 is addressed through a Unix command line, although you can configure the GIMP to be launchable without command line intercession after the initial setup, but that’s still a lot of hassle. Lansweeper keygen.
The GIMP’s graphical user interface is more Spartan (and Windows-ish) than OS X Aqua, and there are no Mac OS X menu bars. Rather, the program depends heavily on contextual menus. To print from the GIMP, you will need Gimp-Print and ESP Ghostscript software installed.
There is also a hacked version of the GIMP by Scott Moschella called GimpShop, in which Scott has renamed and reorganized GIMP’s tools, options, windows, and menus to closely resemble Adobe Photoshop’s menu structure and naming conventions. Many of the menu options and even whole menus were recreated to faithfully reproduce a Photoshop-like experience.
Here are the Photoshop and GimpShop Image menus side by side:
And the respective Tools Palettes.
It’s an improvement, and if you’re a Mac user, GimpShop is probably the most comfortable way to go, especially if you’re familiar with Photoshop. However, you’re still going to have to install X11, etc. GimpShop is supported by Mac OS X 10.3 and up.
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The GIMP is by all accounts an able and deep-featured image editor, and the price is certainly right, but if its user-demands sound too geeky for your taste (they are for mine), it is still possible to get some of the GIMP’s power in a much more user-friendly wrapper in the form of an excellent freeware program called Seashore.
Seashore
Seashore is an interesting and capable Open Source bitmap graphics program in Cocoa for OS X by Mark Pazolli that for many users could be a viable free image editing application.
From my personal perspective, I’m a big fan of the venerable Color It! bitmap image editing program, which dates back to the early 90s and which I find fast, slick, and pleasant to use. Color It! is still available to consumers in it’s last Classic iteration, version 4.3, but recently has been released in a $59.95 OS X-native (Carbon) version (4.5). It looks and works pretty much like Color It! always has, and I still love it, although for the same price you really want to give totally contemporary Pixelmator a look.
One of my very favorite things about Color It! is that it starts up almost instantly, and I’m happy to report that Seashore, while not quite as quick to get up and running as Color It!, is no slouch in launching either, as opposed to Photoshop Elements 6.0, which I love dearly, but which takes forever to start. Pixelmator is somewhere in between.
I’ve been playing with Seashore off and on for a couple of years now, and I like it, but it’s no Photoshop – or even a Photoshop Elements or Color It. Most notably, although Seashore has a nice selection of basic painting tools and layers support, there are no automated photo image cleanup and optimization and enhancement tools. Even the (very cool and exceedingly useful) freeware image utility ToyViewer is more capable in terms of button-click image correction, although Seashore has basic tools to correct things like brightness, contrast, color hues, saturation, and values, and so forth.
Like MacPaint for OS X
Seashore arguably is what the wonderful old MacPaint program that shipped with the original Macs back in the 80s might be like updated for the OS X era. The Seashore interface is strongly reminiscent of MacPaint’s attractive, clean, quick, and user-friendly look and feel.
However, Seashore is a more powerful and capable program than MacPaint ever evolved to being, featuring gradients, textures, clone and smudge tools, and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. It is based around the GIMP’s technology and uses the same native file format.
Seashore’s features include:
- Full support for the GIMP’s native XCF file format
- Read and write support for the TIFF, PNG, JPEG and JP2000 file formats
- Read-only support for the BMP, PICT, PDF, XBM and GIF file formats
- Layers with over 20 merging effects
- Individual primary and alpha channel editing
- Thorough transparency effects including semitransparent gradients
- Arbitrary selection regions
- Anti-aliased brush strokes
- 6 basic gradient effects with 16 variations
- Tablet support
- ColorSync support (including embedded profiles in TIFFs and CMYK previewing)
- Plugin filters
Seashore is sleek-looking and a lot better-documented than many of today’s commercial software programs, with a thorough and detailed user’s manual in PDF format. It also integrates tightly with the Mac operating system and is thoroughly object-oriented. It is intended serve the basic image editing needs of most computer users, rather than to provide a replacement for Photoshop, which is more the GIMP’s (or GimpShop’s) role. However, parts of the GIMP are present in Seashore in everything from the code that drives the brush and gradient tools to the brush shapes and textures themselves.
Using Seashore
You can create a new image from scratch or from the pasteboard (previously known as the clipboard) by selecting “New from Pasteboard…” in the “File” menu.
Seashore works with two color modes – full color and grayscale. Images can be converted between the color modes using the “Mode” submenu of the “Image” menu.
Images can have an alpha channel that specifies what parts of the image are transparent. Seashore creates all new images with an opaque background – creating a new layer and then deleting the opaque background layer allows images with transparency. When saving, Seashore will automatically include or exclude the alpha channel of an image based upon its utility.
Seashore, like Photoshop, also supports layers, which are like images (or slides) piled one on top of another to form a grand image. Apart from drawing, layers can be manipulated in a range of ways, some of which involve using the layer buttons. All layers in Seashore have their own boundaries. You can reveal a layer’s boundaries using the “Show Boundaries” menu item in the “Window” menu and you can adjust a layer’s boundaries using the “Boundaries…” menu item in the “Layer” menu.
Each layer in Seashore has either two or four channels. In the case of a grayscale image, these are the grey and alpha channels, and in the case of a color image, they are red, green, blue, and alpha channels. Seashore typically works on all channels at once. For example, dragging the paintbrush across a layer adjusts both the layer’s primary and alpha channel together.
Seashore also allows you to edit the primary or alpha channels individually using the radio buttons under the “Channels” tab in the layers and channels panel.
Seashore’s Tools
The 14 tools available in Seashore can be accessed through the toolbox. You can reveal a tool’s options by double-clicking on its button in the toolbox. A number of tools also support textures, including the pencil, the paintbrush and the paintbucket. A number of tools also rely upon a brush shape to work, including the paintbrush, the eraser and the smudge tool.
Selections can be made using the selection tools, and also by using various operations in the “Edit” menu. Selections can be either anchored or floating. The selection tool can select using three possible shapes: a rectangle, an ellipse, and a rounded-rectangle. The ellipse and rounded-rectangle are anti-aliased, so when they are filled their edges appear smooth to the user.
The Lasso tool allows you to select an arbitrary shape. To do so, simply click at the point where you want the shape to begin, trace out the shape with the mouse button down, and release once complete.
The Color Selection tool selects all pixels on a single layer that surround a given pixel and are within a given tolerance range. This allows the user to select all nearby pixels of similar color. To use the tool simply click on the desired base pixel.
The Position tool allows you to adjust the position of a layer on the canvas; it also allows you to scale layers and floating selections – and to rotate floating selections.
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The Zoom tool allows you to zoom in on any part of the canvas. To do this, simply point-and-click on the part of the canvas you wish to zoom in on. You can also zoom out by holding down the option key while you click.
The Pencil allows you to draw squares on the current layer. The squares can range in size from 1 to 21 pixels. The pencil deliberately does not use anti-aliasing, as it is intended for users who wish to edit a handful of pixels in a very precise manner.
The Paintbrush allows you to draw various brush strokes on the current layer. By default, Seashore comes with a range of brush shapes and, using Brushed, users can add their own. The Paintbrush uses anti-aliasing so as to create smooth flowing brush strokes.
The Paintbucket allows you to flood an area of similar color with a single color or texture. To determine what area of the layer to flood, the paint bucket relies on a tolerance range that works the same way as the color selection tool.
The Text tool allows you to place a line of text anywhere on the current layer. To place the text, simply click where you want the baseline of the text to go. Then type the text in the following dialog that you want written and press the “OK” button.
The Eraser allows you to erase pixels from the current layer. In the case of a layer with its alpha channel disabled, this means setting pixels to the background color.
The Color Sampling tool allows you to set the foreground color to that of a pixel or a group of pixels on the canvas. To achieve this, simply click on the position of the pixel or pixel group that you want to use for the foreground color.
The Gradient tool allows you to create a gradual shift from the foreground color to the background color. The area affected by the tool is constrained to the selected area of the active layer – or the whole layer if no area is selected.
The Smudge tool allows you to smudge part of the current layer using the current brush shape. To smudge part of the layer, simply click the point where you want the smudge to begin and drag to the point where you want the smudge to end.
The Crop tool allows you to adjust the boundaries of an image so that they match a particular rectangle. This rectangle is formed by a click-and-drag operation similar to what you would use to select items in the Finder. Once you have selected the desired rectangle, press the “Crop” button (from the tool’s options box) to finalize the change.
Seashore’s Effects
- Blur (Blur) – Blurs the image by mixing colors from surrounding pixels. This is repeated a user-specified number of times.
- Gaussian Blur (Blur) – Blurs the image using a Gaussian blur. This is faster than a standard blur applied multiple times and produces a similar result.
- Brightness and Contrast (Color) – Adjusts the brightness and contrast of the image according to user input.
- Grayscale (Color) – Turns part of a color image to grayscale using Apple’s ColorSync. Not available for grayscale images.
- Invert (Color) – Inverts the primary channels of the image.
- Posterize (Color) – Reduces the number of colors per channel to a user-specified amount.
- Threshold (Color) – Makes the image black and white. The user-specified region of the histogram becomes white.
- Sharpen (Enhance) – Sharpens the image according to a user-specified value.
Seashore and ColorSync
Seashore uses Apple’s ColorSync technology to allow you to transfer images between devices while ensuring that the colors appear similar.
When loading images, Seashore is aware of embedded ICC profiles in all TIFF and JPEG files. When saving images, Seashore embeds the main display’s profile in all TIFF files and in certain JPEG files, depending upon the selected options. Currently, Seashore does not embed ICC profiles in JPEG 2000, PNG, or XCF files.
To create a JPEG with an embedded profile, select “Export…” from the “File” menu then in the following save dialog press the “Options” button in the accessory view. A dialog should appear giving you the option to target the Web or print. If you elect to target print, the JPEG you save will be embedded with the ICC profile of your display. Conversely if you elect to target the Web, the JPEG you save will not be embedded with an ICC profile.
SVG and JPEG 2000 Support
The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format is an image format that uses shapes as opposed pixels to describe images. SVG is fast emerging as an important image format industry, and there are already a number of SVG collections available online. Seashore supports the SVG format through a Java add-on based on the Apache Software Foundation’s Batik project. The add-on requires Java 1.4 or later to be installed on your computer. You can download it from http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.html
The JPEG 2000 format is an image format that supersedes JPEG. Unlike its predecessor, JPEG 2000 supports alpha channels and lossless compression, as well as featuring better results at low compression values. As of Mac OS X 10.4, Seashore supports JPEG 2000 without the need for additional add-ons. Support for JPEG 2000 is still limited in many browsers, so use for this format is limited. JPEG 2000 is not supported on systems running Mac OS X 10.3 or earlier.
Seashore supports the GIMP’s XCF file format. It ignores but preserves the GIMP’s vector paths and ignores and destroys the GIMP’s selection channels. It also destroys the mask of a layer by composting it on to the alpha channel of that layer. Seashore may inadvertently interfere with other aspects of an XCF file, so make sure to keep a copy of important XCF files before editing them with Seashore.
Unfortunately, Seashore’s save options are pretty basic, and, for example, there is no option to save just the selected area of an open window.
The Information Panel
The information panel presents the user with information on the current cursor position, selection size, and pixel group color. Both the cursor position and selection size can be quoted in any of three measuring units: pixels, millimetres, and inches. To toggle between the units, press the numerical values in the information panel.
An Options palette with three tabbed panels lets you select image attributes, brush sizes and textures.
The image window can be displayed with or without rulers.
Seashore isn’t perfect by any means. Minor to middling annoyances include the inability to save just a selected area of an open window, and you can’t select-copy and drag a portion of an image using a keyboard modifier (i.e.: Option in Color It! or Command Option in Photoshop) while leaving the original selected area undisturbed. You have to copy and paste, which is a lot more cumbersome.
I’m also not enamored with Seashore’s feature of graying out all but the selected area of a document window.
Conclusion: Seashore is a basic (and free), more Mac-like “the GIMP lite” for the less-geekily-oriented, but it’s no Photoshop (or GIMP) replacement for photo correction or advanced image editing. Rating: 4 out of 5.
System requirements: Most features work on Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and later, with the exception of JPG 2000 support, for which Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is required.
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Rating:
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Best Free Photo Editing Program For Mac
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