Ever since Steve Jobs put a camera into the iPhone, everyone has become a photographer. However, just because you have a camera, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you are a great photographer. Anyone can point a lens and press a button.
Fast Image Resizer 1.0.0 - Simple image resizer. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate Download, install, or update Fast Image Resizer for Mac from MacUpdate. FastStone Image Viewer is 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, retouching and color adjustments. Filmora Video Editor or Filmora Video Editor for Mac is a full-functional video editing software you can't miss. It helps users split, merge, trim, crop, or edit all regular videos for sharing with people worldwide.
While some photos are works of art, others need editing, and we’re not just talking about slapping an Instagram filter on it. This means you need some easy-to-use photo editing apps. Here are the best photo editing programs for beginners.
1. Photoscape
While many photo editing programs have interfaces that are similar to Photoshop, this app goes a completely different way. It aims to be easy for beginners, and once you get the hang of the interface, you’ll have a lot of power at your fingertips.
Photoscape is also one of the best ways to open a PSD fileThe 7 Best Ways to Open a PSD File Without PhotoshopThe 7 Best Ways to Open a PSD File Without PhotoshopWhat is a PSD file, you ask? A PSD file is Adobe's image file format. We'll show you how to open a PSD file without Photoshop.Read More.
2. IrfanView
Irfanview is an oldie but also a firm favorite among my friends and colleagues. Many people who don’t need to do a lot of image editing can make do with Irfanview. Which, as a bonus, is completely free.
One of the best features of IrfanView is its handling of batch conversions. You can rename a huge number of files in seconds, as well as resize them. You can also scan directly from a flatbed scanner, make screenshots, set wallpaper, and install plugins to extend the features even more.
3. SnagIt
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— NadineNBone (@NadineNBone) January 31, 2019
SnagIt is a simple photo editing software. Even though it’s surrounded by free rivals, the developer TechSmith seems to think that SnagIt is worth $50. But in its defense, the screenshots are 100 percent perfect.
The current version is tightly integrated with all other TechSmith products. You can also upload to Google Drive and Microsoft Office, record your screen, and edit your screencast by trimming out the parts you don’t need. Other features include the ability to blur sensitive details, highlight important parts, and annotate images.
4. FastStone
At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was Windows Explorer, as it does bear some similarity with its yellow folder tree-like structure. However, this image editing app boasts some impressive features, and once again, it’s completely free.
As well as covering all of the usual image formats, FastStone also supports RAW image formats from all of the major camera manufacturers. You can then crop and resize your images, as well as apply the usual filters like red-eye removal and color adjustments. There’s also flatbed scanner support, the ability to edit EXIF data, and batch processing to rename and resize quickly. A portable version of FastStone is available.
5. Paint.NET
The venerable Paint.NET seems to be the crowd-pleaser, being installed on pretty much everyone’s PC. Starting life as a Microsoft product, it is now being compared to Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Photo Editor, and GIMP. It prides itself on being “immediately intuitive and quickly learnable,” making it the ideal photo editing software for beginners.
Images open in their own individual tabs and you have an unlimited history, so you can undo and redo image alterations as much as you want (disk space permitting). You also have Photoshop-like tools such as the Magic Wand feature, the Clone Stamp feature, and Layers.
And if you get stuck, you just need to consult the forum where someone should be glad to help out.
6. GIMP
GIMP is the best photo editing software for beginners who want to have Photoshop-like features but with a slightly easier learning curve. But unlike Photoshop, GIMP is free of charge and open source. It is also cross-platform and comes with a portable version that you can throw on your USB stick.
What is really great about GIMP, though, is the army of plugins and scripts which make it even more useful. From the GIMP extensions pack for Windows, to 3D screenshots, to turning photos into comic book images—there are a huge amount to choose from.
7. Photos for macOS
Photos is the photo viewing and editing app for macOS. Photos is backed up by iCloud Photo Library, meaning that your photo collections are available on all of your Mac and iOS devices.
You can connect your camera to have your photos imported, drag a photo directly into Photos with your mouse, and also take advantage of the editing and sharing options. And if you want an easy-to-use photo editor, look no further—Photos offers one-click enhancements of a photo’s colors.
8. XnView MP
XnView MP supports over 500 file formats, with all the usual suspects (JPG, PNG, GIF) as well as some lesser-known ones such as Amiga IFF, Amstrad CPC, and Kodak RAW. Cross-platform for Windows, macOS, and Linux, you can also do batch conversion tasks and use the program under various translated languages.
Ratings, color labels, and categories ensure that your photos remain completely organized.
9. Zoner Photo Studio
Zoner has a free edition and a paid edition. When you download it for the first time, you are immediately put on one month of Pro. After the 30 days are up, if you choose not to pay for Pro, then you are switched to the free version.
The Pro version costs $89. At that price point, you would be hard-pressed to find a reason to buy the app. As a comparison, the professional Adobe Lightroom is only $9.99/month.
Zoner has extras such as photo frames and templates, a script to view PS and EPS files, and several extras for RAW file formats. Other features include camera photo imports, batch renaming, batch re-organizing, a range of editing tools, and more.
10. Pixlr
Pixlr is a web app for editing photos. This is another easy-to-use photo editor that’s ideal for beginners. You can use the app to open an image from your desktop or from the web.
There’s support for masks and layers, plenty of adjustment, effect, and filter options, and a way to add text to your images. It should be noted that Pixlr is ad-supported.
Editing Photos on Your Smartphone
The photo editing apps for beginners in this article all work on your desktop. However, there are times when you might need to edit photos on your smartphone. To learn about some of the options available, check out our articles listing the best photo editors for Android and the best photo editors for iOS. If you’re looking for web apps instead of mobile apps, try these simple single-purpose online apps for editing photos.
When you’re ready to share your photos with the world, try one of these Squarespace photo site templatesThe 6 Best Squarespace Templates to Display Your Photos and ArtThe 6 Best Squarespace Templates to Display Your Photos and ArtHere are the best Squarespace templates to display your photos or artwork. Invaluable for creatives of all types!Read More before you set up a website from scratch.
Explore more about: Image Editor, Photo Album, Photography.
Really easy to use is Fotoworks - Fotoworks with 'F'.
As Devi said:
> Easy-to-use
> newbie
> Gimp
Uh-huh. Great idea. Not a good idea…Try Fotoworks with 'F' that’s really easy!
> Easy-to-use
> newbie
> GimpUh-huh. Great idea.
Why the aversion towards KRITA - free, intuitive, fast, multiplatformed piece of software that's way ahead in terms of 'newbie-friendly' than GIMP is ever gonna be?
Great list, Thanks
I prefer all in one such as Photolemur.comI like Photolemur too! It's doing magic.
None of you mentioned Lightzone (as you guessed) aLightroom clone.
Also free of charge.Thanks for sharing the post. I must agree that online picture editing tools are one of the best ways for creating stunning artwork in no time. I have used many like, Picasa, Photo pos pro, Pixlr etc. I must say they all are really great.
please which ones are good and easy for just food blogging
Hello I'm a newbe photographer, have just done a Formal or Prom for a young lady, happy with most of my pics, but some need a bit of work , I'm not real savvy on the computer ???? Can anybody recommend one for a dummy ha ha
YesssS.at!Free Studio on Windows 10 ; )
No pixler or picmonkey?
Two free and capable programsGive Polarr - https://www.polarr.co/ - a try. Very similar to Lightroom, handles RAW and is FREE !
Photofiltre is also quite easy to use and without all the whistles and bells
i use the free photofiltre for years. great program
there are (now) 3 versions
6 free and easy
7 latest, free, adds layers
studio (not free)
many free adds-on are available
5 thumbs up !
I like Pixlr - https://pixlr.com/
I like pixlr too, it's very easy to use but the free version has many limitations.
So I use PT Photo Editor to do most pro-quality adjustments. Also free!
http://www.photo-toolbox.com/free/pt-photo-editor.html
Mark, have you tried PicPick? I use the portable version and it is awesome. I use IrfanView as my default image viewer.
Cyberlink's PhotoDirector 6 is fun and stable, and has lots of downloadable presets for retouching your photos.
Looks like Zoner, PhotoDirector, and Corel's AfterShot are all Lightroom's clones. They do all much of the same, and have almost the same GUI layout.
I like these kinds of applications because you get a lot of power to make your photos more interesting, but don't have all that huge toolbox that are included in say, Gimp or Photoshop which are geared toward image creators. Having all those tools make me feel a little confused and overwhelmed, so I feel a little more at home whit less tools but equal power.
Apple Macs are great devices for photo editing, especially for professionals. The Mac’s Retina display, coupled with powerful processors, make for a seamless image editing workflow.
No matter if you’re an amateur looking to enhance your family vacation photos or a professional photographer working under pressure, there are Mac image editors to suit your needs.
Free Video Editor For Mac
Here are the best free and paid image editors for Mac.
The Best Free Mac Image Editors
If you’re looking for a basic editor, you don’t need to buy a fully featured editing suite. A basic image editor is both easy to use and has all the features that you’d need to fix and enhance your personal photos.
1. Photoscape X
Photoscape X is a great basic image editor for Mac you’ve probably never heard of. It’s an all-in-one app that lets you edit RAW images, fix photos, add filters, and more. Using the brush tool you can quickly fix small issues with your photos. Photoscape has a batch mode that lets you resize and rename photos with just a click.
Download:Photoscape X (Free)
2. GIMP
GIMP is an open source project that’s been in active development for over twenty years. It’s often referred to as the best free photo editor. Thanks to its community-based development, it offers professional features that you only otherwise find in paid apps like Photoshop.
GIMP is laid out like a professional editing tool and has a steep learning curve. But it has all the basic and professional features you would expect from a graphic design suite. GIMP’s Layers feature is powerful and you can even use some Photoshop plugins with GIMP. If you’re new to GIMP, use our introductory guide to GIMPAn Introduction to GIMP Photo Editing: 9 Things You Need to KnowAn Introduction to GIMP Photo Editing: 9 Things You Need to KnowGIMP is the best free photo editing app available. Here's everything you need to know about editing photos in GIMP.Read More to learn the basics.
Download:GIMP (Free)
3. Photos
If all you’re looking for is a simple way to manage your photo library on Mac8 Starter Tips for Managing Your Photos Library on Mac8 Starter Tips for Managing Your Photos Library on MacAre your Mac photos a mess? Follow these beginner's tips to get them under control and improve your picture organization.Read More and perform some basics edits to fix or enhance your personal photos, the built-in Photos app will be more than enough.
The Photos app has a good auto-enhance tool, a crop tool, basic image editing, and filter support. Plus, it has a familiar user interface. If you feel comfortable editing photos in the iPhone Photos app, you’ll be right at home on the Mac version as well.
Mac Simple Image Editor
4. Pixlr X
Pixlr X runs smoothly on any modern web browser. If you only need to edit a couple of photos every now and then, it doesn’t make sense to download a feature-rich image editor. Instead, see if Pixlr’s web-based image editor is enough for you.
Pixlr X has all the basic image editing features you’d expect. You can crop, resize, add filters, and easily remove the background from any image. There are a couple of tools for adjusting the visual elements of the picture and you can add text and doodle over images. If you have a stock image, you can use Pixlr X to quickly create a poster or flyer as well.
Visit:Pixlr X (Free)
The Best Paid Mac Image Editors
If you’re serious about photo editing, you’ll need professional tools. A fully-featured photo editing suite will help improve the quality of your work. Because paid apps are designed for professionals from the ground up, you’ll end up saving a lot of time once you get used to the workflow.
1. Lightroom
Lightroom is the default photo editor for professional photographers. Lightroom’s workflow sets it apart. Other than the stellar photo editing features, it also has a simple yet robust image organization feature. And this is why a lot of professionals stick with Lightroom.
If you’re clicking thousands of photos for a project and you need to select a couple of dozen good ones, Lightroom makes the process easy for you. You can skim through thousands of RAW files, mark the important photos, move them to a different directory, edit them in a particular style, save that style as a preset, go back and apply it to other photos, and then finally export the images in multiple formats.
And once you’re done with the project, you can use Lightroom’s library to keep the important photos and back them up using your Adobe Cloud account. For professionals, this is what makes Lightroom’s $9.99/month starting price palatable.
Download:Adobe Lightroom ($9.99/month)
2. Photoshop
Photoshop is a different kind of photo editor. You can think of it as Lightroom’s bigger brother. Photoshop is designed specifically for image manipulation and enhancement. Photoshop is famous for its advanced selection tools, complex layer system, and infinitely customizable brushes.
You can use Lightroom to bring out all of the details from a RAW image file or to enhance an image aesthetically (to fix colors and saturation levels). Once you’re done with that, you can import the image in Photoshop to kick things up a notch. In fact, you can’t edit RAW images in Photoshop without the Camera RAW plugin.
Photoshop is a massive, complex application with over two decades of consistent updates. It has way too many features, but once you master the basics, Photoshop gives you the tools to turn your imagination into reality.
Using Photoshop, you can merge multiple images together, completely change the color palette of an image, and fix parts of an image to make them better (particularly portraits).
Download:Adobe Photoshop ($9.99/month)
3. Affinity Photo
You can think of Affinity Photo as a lightweight version of Photoshop. It has the most common features from Photoshop like the advanced selection tools, brushes, and layer support. Affinity Photos weighs in at 350 MB instead of the 2GB behemoth that is Photoshop. Affinity Photo is also much faster than Photoshop, especially on Macs without a dedicated graphics card.
Plus, unlike Photoshop, you can buy Affinity Photo outright for $49.99. If you don’t like Adobe’s shift towards subscription pricing and increasing dependence on cloud syncing, take a look at Affinity Photo. If you’ve already learned the basics of Photoshop (you can open PSD files in Affinity Photo), it will be much easier to pick up Affinity Photo.
Download:Affinity Photo ($49.99)
4. Pixelmator Pro
Pixelmator Pro is a powerful image editing app that’s designed to be easy to use. It’s an all-in-one tool for image manipulation. Pixelmator Pro is a mix of Lightroom, Photoshop, and Illustrator. It has basic features from all three apps.
You can use it to edit RAW images, enhance photos, fix parts of images, and create posters by adding beautiful text and other elements. Pixelmator Pro can stretch itself from being a basic photo editing app to a graphic design suite, depending on your needs and skillset.
Download:Pixelmator Pro ($39.99)
Other Great Mac Apps Worth Using
There’s something for everyone in the apps listed above. We recommend most people start with Pixlr X and see if that does the trick. However, if you’re looking for a fast, beautiful, and feature-rich photo editor that’s designed for the Mac, Affinity Photo is a great choice.
There are many more great Mac apps out there just waiting to be explored. Take a look at our list of the best macOS appsThe Best Mac Apps to Install on Your MacBook or iMacThe Best Mac Apps to Install on Your MacBook or iMacLooking for the best apps for your MacBook or iMac? Here's our comprehensive list of the best apps for macOS.Read More to discover some of the apps you should be installing on your Mac.
Explore more about: Adobe Photoshop, Batch Image Editing, Image Editor, Photography.
I would definitely add Luminar - https://macphun.com/luminar
It was initially developed for Mac, but they had announced the open Windows Beta just today.
For Mac, it has really useful and effective tools, even 'AI' enhancement filter, which is a prototype of the legendary 'Make it awesome' button everyone was looking for.
Take a look at it, you won't regret it!For RAW images editing i would like to recommend 'Raw Therapee', pretty full featured free software, very simular to Adobe Lightroom.
Affinity for the Mac is my choice, that is just my opinion. The one time cost
is well worth it. The app has the 'apple feel', almost intuitive. Apple-Mac
architecture is not for every one but this paring is a winner.
There is a tutorial, that is only basic or go to the Tube.
How about 'Affinity Movie'?I think PhotoScape X is more full-featured than Fotor.
Pinta is a worthy mention. I prefer it's UI over GIMP and GIMPShop. It's the cross platform version to Paint.NET. http://pinta-project.com
Adobe sales Photoshop CC plus Lightroom for $9.99 a month. Not $19.99.
Really! Agreed. Where does the author derive his opinions from?! Affinity is not only excellent as a standalone application, they also have extensions in support of Apple's Photos as well.
Agreed. Affinity is very powerful and one of the best looking app to work with :)
No Affinity Photo? Really? Where do you live?