Whether you are a professional photographer or just a beginner, you need some software to edit and organize all your shots. Regardless of what gear you use to take pictures, if you really want those pictures to look good, you will want to import all of them into your PC, organize them well, select the best ones, edit them, and print or share them online.
Depending on what you want to do with your photos, we have compiled a list of best photo-editing software that can help you make your already-great shots extraordinary. Let’s get started!
1. Adobe Photoshop CC
No list of ‘best photo-editing software’ can be completed without mentioning Adobe Photoshop – one of the best tools for every photographer and graphics artist. Whether you want to apply a bunch of filters, add overlay text, or retouch your photos, Photoshop is your go-to tool. But if you are a beginner who just want a basic photo editor that can make photos look better by simply dragging and dropping filters, then you might want to skip this one.
Photoshop is a paid software that is designed for professionals who want to work on their portfolios and make them look a lot better. Adobe has improved Photoshop and added a bunch of useful tools in the 2018 edition to make editing a lot convenient.
2. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019
Adobe Photoshop Elements is easy-to-use, fun, and a creative editing tool available for both Macs and PCs. It has a gentle learning curve for beginners that enable them to make most of their photos without working too much on them. Its interface is divided into three modes: Quick, Guided, and Expert mode. You can select any of these three modes according to your editing experience level.
This is Adobe’s only program that doesn’t require a subscription – you will just need to make a one-time payment of roughly $100. Once you buy it, you will get access to about 90 amazing filters, a lot of tutorials, blemish removing tools, HDR tools, and a lot of other useful features that you need to make your photos look awesome! However, the only downside of Adobe Photoshop Elements is its Photo Organizer that is in a separate application.
3. Corel PaintShop Pro
Corel PaintShop is close to Adobe Photoshop Elements in terms of usage, features, and advantages, but a little cheaper than it. It is a powerful photo-editing software that is easy to use for novices and comes with a bunch of additional tools including 360-degree photo editing. It features numerous learning sources and a user-friendly interface that helps a lot in making the editor convenient for you to use. It is a paid software that will cost you $79.99, and if you want to test it before buying, you can try its 30-day free trial.
The only drawback is that it is available for Windows only, not Macs.
4. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic/CC
If your main work is just photo enhancement, not manipulation, then you might not even need Photoshop at all. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC has all those tools and features that you would need for everyday image organizing and enhancement. It includes powerful lens and perspective corrections, local adjustments, creative effects, tone and color tools, and not to mention the support, for plugins and external editors. If you want to enhance and manipulate your images, it is a perfect partner of Photoshop.
It supports a wide range of camera raw formats and automatic lens profiles. In Lightroom CC, you can store all your photos online and access them from anywhere but the storage costs are high. In short, if you want a powerful editor that can make your photos look much better and enhanced, then Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC is a good choice to go for.
5. Affinity Photo 1.6
Affinity Photo was originally launched as a Mac-only product but now, it is available for Windows too. It is a powerful Photoshop alternative that provides you with the same tools and features, without breaking the bank. Designed by Serif for professionals, this software comes at a cheap price but nothing is cheap about its working and features. It includes excellent retouching, cloning, and healing tools. Plus, its Inpainting tool automatically removes the objects while the dedicated Liquify option opens another workspace where you can manipulate the picture and apply localized image distortion effects. These are just a few of them, Affinity Photo is loaded with tons of features like that. However, it does not yet have any browsing or cataloging tools, so you might need to use other tools for organizing your photos until Serif launches their digital asset management application.
6. Apple Photos
Apple Photos is only for Apple users and doesn’t have editing tools as powerful and robust as other editors on our list it surely but is a free, fun, and an extremely easy application to organize, access, and share your photos/videos. Plus, you can also sync your media across multiple Apple devices without wasting your time in transferring data to various devices.
7. GIMP
For professionals who want more power and control over their editor, GIMP is the best choice currently available. It is an open-source photo editor that allows you to go under the hood and customize the program according to your preference. Gimp consists of amazing editing tools but it doesn’t provide any kind of guidance for the user, which makes it a complex software to use than other photo editors.
Its features include photo enhancement, file management and organization, digital retouching, clone and touch-ups tools, support for multiple plugins, and many more.
8. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is an easy-to-use software for people who are looking for a complete package that allows to edit, retouch, and make collages of photos. You can be as creative as you want with PicMonkey. Before investing your money into it, we recommend you to get a free trial so you can test out all its features beforehand.
Its features include basic creative filters, collage effects, templates, automatic resizing for different social media platforms, empty canvas size, and much more. Not to mention its print-ready functionality, that enables you to print cards, photos, canvases, and many more directly from PicMonkey. An excellent choice for people who want to quickly edit their photos without going through any complex process.
9. Canva
Not everyone likes desktop editing software, and Canva is for them. It is a simple online tool for graphic designing and photo-editing that is used by a large number of users to make their images and designs look outstanding. Canva offers a vast range of editing tools and features that you can drag and drop to use. You can even download the Canva app on your mobile and edit photos on the go. Plus, if you want to create visual content for your website (like a logo or banner), you have access to tons of templates and icons.
Its features include a variety of fonts, over 8000 templates, creative effects, design grids and framing tools, stickers and badges, textures, photo enhancer, and the list goes on. Indeed, a great choice for people who don’t want to deal with any kind of complexity just edit or retouch their photos.