15 best photo editing apps

Adobe Photoshop

Rating: 5.0

Fotor is a legendary app that has created a whole folklore and a kind of subculture. In popular culture, the term “Photoshop” means not only and not so much a software product for bitmap image processing as the result itself – a processed photo or collage.

The very first version of Photoshop came out back in 1990, and since then it has rapidly evolved, quickly taking over the leadership of the photo processing industry. Over time, the distance between Photoshop and its closest competitors has only widened. As of March 2019, the most current version of the app for the Windows environment is CC 2019. There is also a full version for MacOS and all sorts of variations for mobile platforms.

hotoshop has the richest set of features when compared to any other photo processing application. Everything that has been invented in this industry is almost 100% likely to be implemented by Adobe developers either already in the base package or as a part of numerous plug-ins and add-ons.

The program provides a comprehensive set of tools for changing the basic image properties (brightness, contrast, saturation, color balance, etc.).), applying a variety of effects and filters, improving quality and correcting flaws, adding all sorts of graphical artifacts and inscriptions.

Using the handy “proprietary” toolbar, you can manually color a photo, cut out some parts, randomly transform the image. For making collages, the application features a convenient and clear layer system with simple and obvious controls. Typical repetitive actions can be “written” in a script format and then perform batch processing of large numbers of photos with just a couple of mouse clicks.

One of the most important features of Photoshop is the best current implementation of the requirements of modern printing industry. It is Photoshop and a number of other specialized Adobe software (Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) are the de facto industry standard in prepress for printing products.

Adobe to license the distribution of Photoshop uses several business models, including access by subscription, which makes this outstanding application available to virtually anyone who is engaged in professional photo processing and wants to work in a single environment without restrictions.

Advantages

• limitless possibilities;
• industry standard;
• universality;
• user-friendly, intuitive and highly recognizable interface
• Comprehensive compatibility with third-party applications;
• large community;
• inexpensive subscription access.

Disadvantages

• high system requirements.

ACDSee

Rating: 4.9

The Expertology rating of the best photo editing applications continues with ACDSee, the super-popular program from the Canadian developer of almost the same name. The program originally appeared as a conditionally free, fast and extremely convenient application for viewing photos, organizing albums and minimal editing. Having gained popularity among users around the world in a blink of an eye, ACDSee has quickly and consistently evolved into a full-featured and quite powerful photo editor, while going completely commercial.

Currently, the application comes in several variants of filling – the basic version, the professional version, the maximum version with some variations. The basic assembly in many respects remains an excellent organizer of the storage of images and a tool for easy browsing albums of photos. Starting with the Pro-version the application is enhanced by a huge set of various effects, tools to improve the expressiveness of images, remove imperfections, versatile photo conversion both in manual and batch modes.

The application supports many bitmap formats, including RAW, which not all photo editing programs can boast. There is also support for a quite wide range of vector graphics formats. A separate great feature is the ability to recognize faces in photos.

With ACDSee you can view photo archives on the fly, create presentations and animated objects, albums in HTML format, to process photos according to a template in batch mode.

The slightly unpleasant thing about this application is the flawed optimization. As the program was evolving, it kept adding new add-ons and superstructures and the development team could not keep up with their own actions. So cases of slow performance of a tool or module are not uncommon here. However, on the general acceptance and popularity of the application it influenced quite insignificantly.

Advantages

• usability;
• rich functionality;
• a wide range of filters and special effects;
• Supports a whole range of formats, including RAW;
• face recognition;
• officially russified interface.

Disadvantages

• impeccable optimization, which affects the speed.

Movavi Photo Editor

Rating: 4.8

Now consider an interesting software solution of domestic production. Pixlr: Avid Photo Editor is the fast, simple, and fun-to-use photo editor you’ve come to love. The application is an amazing combination of simplicity, functionality, convenience and successful implementation of truly original approaches to photo processing.

the developers have positioned Movavi as a family photo editor, with no pretensions to professionalism. This is its beauty and distinct advantage – it’s easy and pleasant to work in the Movavi environment while getting far more than trivial results. The application for all its simplicity and accessibility has a fairly rich arsenal of expressive means of editing photos and retouching portraits, imposing a variety of effects and filters (a huge selection, sorted into 13 categories), manual correction of color gamut, removing flaws, etc. d.

A notable advantage of Movavi is its ability to improve the quality of not-so-good photos in the automatic mode. The credit goes to the talented programmers of the company-developer, who managed to implement in the application surprisingly “clever” artificial intelligence, capable of guessing with amazing accuracy what exactly needs to be changed in the course of photo processing.

What the built-in AI can’t do, you can easily do on your own with minimal effort. Movavi lets you literally remove unwanted objects from photos in just a few steps, leaving not the slightest trace of them behind.

a free trial period to familiarize yourself with the application features. The cost of a one-time license is available to almost everyone – the pricing policy of the creators is extremely democratic.

Advantages

• elegant, user-friendly interface;
• Sophisticated optimization;
• low system requirements;
• support for a variety of formats;
• A wide range of filters and effects;
• highly intellectual and efficient subsystem for photo quality improvement;
• the successful implementation of original approaches to photo processing;
• affordable price.

Disadvantages

• no negative points have been detected.

ixlr

Rating: 4.7

Next in our ranking is an interesting photo editing application with an equally interesting implementation. The developers did everything to ensure that Pixlr from a technical point of view can be used by anyone. So, there are versions of the application for different platforms, paid and free builds and even a web application that works directly in the browser online.

Besides being multiplatform, Pixlr provides the user with a very rich functionality and a friendly interface, and it is very well optimized. The interface is well designed, so that anyone who has dealt with any other photo editing applications will immediately understand it.

In addition to the standard functions and a wide range of filters and effects, this application has a qualitatively implemented automated algorithm for changing the focus point. The developers emphasize the fact that the total number of filters and effects in the full range of combinations provides about two million (!) unique combinations.

The lion’s share of real Pixlr users are satisfied with the functionality of the free builds. Those who need all the tools of the Pro version can buy a monthly subscription, which costs a few dollars.

In general this photo editor is good as its level, the only unpleasant thing is that it does not understand RAW format. But the project is actively developing, and perhaps this gap will be eliminated in the very near future.

Advantages

• many variants of realization of the application;
• A huge number of filters and effects;
• intelligent function of changing the focus point;
• optimization;
• working speed;
• easy to learn and simple to use;
• very affordable monthly subscription price.

Disadvantages

• does not support RAW format.

hotoInstrument

Rating: 4.6

Now within our rating we will make a conscious transition from multifunctional photo processing applications to one of the most elementary – PhotoInstrument. Our experts have specially included this interesting program in the review in order to satisfy the request of users who have minimal knowledge in editing bitmap images, or have no such at all.

There are quite a few simple photo editing apps out there, but few can give you a truly valuable basic experience practically from scratch, and PhotoInstrument is one of them. The interface is intentionally designed with a certain amount of accessibility – large buttons, clear labels, tooltips everywhere and anywhere.

For all its external limitations, the application has everything you need for more or less quality editing of raster images, in an accessible form for beginners and even for the elderly. With PhotoInstrument it is possible to change key image parameters (brightness, contrast, saturation, color balance, etc.), as well as to adjust the imaging quality.), apply filters, add effects, scale and geometric adjustments, and draw using virtual tools and fixtures.

The application also includes complex tools with elements of smart recognition in the form of pattern filters. It’s easy to get rid of red-eye, take perfect selfies (clear skin, glamour), remove imperfections, get rid of unwanted objects, etc. d.

What’s more remarkable, this simple application is quite good at working with layers, sometimes as good as much more advanced programs. Installation of third-party plug-ins is also possible.

Advantages

• user-friendly and extremely accessible interface;
• tips and help at every step;
• speed of operation;
• a relatively rich toolkit, as for this class of application;
• It is easy to work with layers;
• The ability to install third-party plug-ins;
• Multi-language (there is Russian localization).

Disadvantages

• no integration with social networks.

Open Canvas

Rating: 4.5

Rounding out the list of the best paid video processing applications is a special program that stands apart from the above-mentioned solutions. It’s all about the fact that this program is more focused on digital painting. But at the same time, it perfectly accepts native Adobe Photoshop PSD format, has complete tools for fine work with the layers, has a set of filters, due to which is applicable for detailed study of individual areas of the photo.

Open Canvas is one of the most popular applications among anime artists, and it is natural, because the program was created by the Japanese. The creators have managed to achieve an amazing combination of compatibility with bitmap formats, a set of vector tools, built-in stylistic tricks and schemes. So, taking a photo of a beautiful landscape or interior, using a rich set of virtual artistic devices, fans of the genre create true works of art.

Also noteworthy is that the app has a built-in recorder that captures every step taken by the user. After you finish processing the photos and creating a drawing, you can literally watch a “documentary” with a detailed replay of the whole process.

Open Canvas is distributed on a one-time license that costs quite inexpensive. In addition, a record-long free trial period of 120 days will allow even the most meticulous and skeptical user to make an informed decision.

Advantages

• A rich set of virtual devices for digital painting;
• It has a built-in image recorder that captures all the actions performed on an image;
• Compatible with PSD (Adobe Photoshop) format;
• Full work with layers;
• Nice style;
• large community;
• long trial period;
• Relative affordability.

Disadvantages

• no objective drawbacks noticed.

Best free photo editing applications

The second category in our rating includes the best of the free photo editing applications, according to Expertology experts. Experts have identified six of the most notable solutions from a wide variety of software studios. these applications have been kept free for a long time, and it gives us reason to believe that they will not suddenly become commercial, as it often happens with new applications promoted by young startups.

hotoscape

Rating: 5.0

The nomination opens with a free photo editing application that can seem very simple at a cursory glance, but this impression is misleading because of the laconic interface. In fact, Photoscape has quite an impressive arsenal of tools and tools for working with bitmap images.

The application contains a very comprehensive set of effects and filters, a handy collage editor, and has a nice intuitive interface and a decent Russian localization. Its functionality includes all the basic image parameter settings, tools for creating GIF-animations from a set of photos with multiple settings, handy layout tools, screen captures, and more. The entire arsenal of tools can be expanded by installing add-ons.

Auxiliary and service tools allow you to process photos in semi-automatic batch mode. The application understands all popular formats, including RAW. A separate module is responsible for close integration with known social networks, so you can publish a photo after processing it in streaming mode, almost without distraction. In Photoscape the work with layers is wisely realized, just like in professional photo processing applications of high level.

Photoscape was created to work in the Windows OS environment and up to Windows 7 the new versions were based on the old time-proven engine. With the release of Windows the program had problems with optimization for a newer OS, and the developers have practically rewrote it. Photoscape X for 32 and 64-bit Windows 10, as well as for MacOS.

Advantages

• rich functionality;
• A neat, but clear and easy to use interface;
• batch processing;
• RAW format support;
• there is a Mac version.

Flaws

• the “good old” Photoscape does not work well in a Windows 10 environment, and Photoscape X does not suit some conservative users.

GIMP

Rating: 4.9

Continues this selection of rating interesting and quite powerful in terms of functionality application for photo processing – GIMP. The acronym stands for GNU Image Manip

GIMP is an open source program, and this phrase clearly underlines the application’s compliance with the ideology of open source and free distribution. The first versions began to be released in the mid-90s, and the idea was to create a worthy free alternative to the very expensive at the time Adobe Photoshop. The project was a success and is still going strong.

Application is very versatile, even without respect to its free status. It supports all popular file formats, full working with layers, and has a rich set of virtual tools for retouching, adding objects, color correction, various manipulations and transformations of bitmap images. Convenient means of batch processing of photos are implemented.

Besides internal tools for easy drawing, GIMP can also work correctly with pen tablets and other input devices, applicable to graphics.

More advanced users and even professionals will be surprised by the subtle and flexible tools for working with layers and masks in GIMP, as well as the ability to change RGB-channels for more sophisticated photo processing. Even the interface is flexible – you can customize its elements to your needs. The program opens correctly sources in PSD format, previously created in Adobe Photoshop with all the attributes.

All of the above features are already included in the basic package of the application. The photo processing capabilities of GIMP can be greatly expanded by installing any of the many free plugins.

The application is localized in dozens of languages, including Russian. Comes as a package for installation, as well as a portable version that does not require installation.

Advantages

• open source code;
• Rich functionality even in comparison with their paid counterparts;
• support for batch processing;
• Correct recognition of Photoshop sources in PSD format;
• flexibility of settings;
• serious claims to a professional level in general;
• multilingualism;
• there are versions for
• nux and other nix systems.

Disadvantages

• Some users have trouble learning and understanding the interface logic – it is recommended to take preliminary training.

icasa

Rating: 4.8



The rating continues with the well-known and widespread Picasa photo processing application from Google Corp. The program was first released in 2002 – at that time it was developed by the studio

• fescape. The startup was so successful that Picasa was bought by the search giant two years later, and the project has been in active development for 12 years. Unfortunately, in 2016, the development of the project was discontinued, but Picasa is still one of the most popular free applications for photo processing.

  Picasa app was originally designed as a convenient and quick way to view photos, organize, sort and do some minimal editing. As the project progressed, more and more functions were added to the application: special effects, tools for retouching and removing typical defects, quality enhancement, color correction. the program is able to write geodata into the processed image, it allows you to create slideshows and screensavers quickly and easily.

  Picasa has a strong emphasis on close integration with photo and video hosting services and popular social networks. The application also cooperates closely with its own photohosting of the same name.

  The application is lightweight, fast and stable, well-organized in terms of interface logic and perfectly localized for the Russian-speaking audience.

  Advantages

  • user-friendly interface;
  • speed of work;
  • Tight integration with social networks, photo and video hosting;
  • handy automatic backup facilities;
  • high quality russian localization.

  Drawbacks

  • The project is closed, there will be no more updates;
  • You can not view GIF-files and multi-page TIFF.

  ixBuilder Studio

  Rating: 4.7

  

  Next in our ranking is a simple photo editing application that has no pretensions to professionalism, but has a sufficiently rich functionality to cover most of the amateur level conditions. Its microscopic size and excellent optimization let you work comfortably with bitmap images on even the smallest of computers.

  The application has a built-in set of basic and advanced photo processing tools by juggling with key parameters (brightness, contrast, saturation, color balance, etc.). d.), the use of simple filters, tools for correcting individual areas, retouching. There is a standard set of manual drawing tools.

  The advanced photo processing tools pleasantly surprise against the background of the microscopic scale of the application as a whole. Thus, it has a full-fledged work with layers, full application of gradient masks, flexible selection, various transformations of objects and selected raster areas. The application remembers absolutely all user actions from the very beginning of work with the photo, and if you want you can rollback all the changes back to the original image state.

  The program has good support for keyboard shortcuts, quality optimization allows for high-speed processing of images with high resolution. The interface has been translated into several languages, including Russian. There is a portable version in the standard installation package.

  The application supports many popular formats, including even PSD, but the lack of compatibility with RAW format is disappointing. It does not allow the program to cooperate fully with modern digital cameras and portable gadgets.

  Advantages

  • minimal size and system requirements;
  • the speed of the work in general and with high resolution in particular;
  • full-fledged work with layers and other advanced tools;
  • interface in Russian;
  • there is a portable assembly in the standard package;
  • many levels of backtracking;
  • keyboard shortcuts support.

  disadvantages

  • does not read RAW format.

  Artweaver

  Rating: 4.6

  

  Now in our rating let’s take a place for the program which has a pronounced bias in digital painting, in addition to photo processing. This is actually the work of the German developer Boris Erich. Made with love, and without exaggeration, for which it has earned a lot of fans.

  The application has a comprehensive set of tools for adjusting the basic characteristics of bitmap images, as well as a set of the most popular types of filters, effects and tools: blur, masking, mosaic, blot, etc. d. Comprehensive work with layers and transparencies is implemented. The program is compatible with most of the popular formats, including PSD, but also has its own working format – AWD. Unfortunately, like the previous solution, Artweaver does not understand RAW format.

  One of the most interesting features of Artweaver is the emulation of specialized effects that give a characteristic natural look to the works of art: oil painting, acrylic, airbrush, pastel painting, and many other styles of fine art.

  Standard tools allow you to easily and easily make adjustments to individual parts of the photo, remove flaws, defects and unwanted objects caught in the frame. The application supports the connection of third-party plugins. To russify the interface, you must add the appropriate language file, and the translation may not be flawless, but it’s not critical.

  Advantages

  • high-quality emulation of artistic styles;
  • the speed of the work;
  • Compatible with the most important formats;
  • full-featured work with layers;
  • ability to use plugins.

  Disadvantages

  • No support for RAW files.

  Krita

  Rating: 4.5

  

  And to conclude the selection of the rating of the best free applications for photo processing according to Expertology, let’s consider another raster image editor with digital painting as a second specialization. On the part of drawing this program is much more powerful than the previous one, and on processing photos too, but Artweaver has its own beauty and its own advantages, so these solutions do not particularly overlap with each other in terms of competition.

  The idea of developers was to create an application for drawing on a digital canvas with unlimited dimensions. So it was done, but in time Krita developed and obtained new functions and extensions, and finally became a full-fledged photo editor with artistic specialization.

  The application recognizes a wide range of bitmap file formats, and not only that – unlike the two previous solutions, Krita understands RAW format. The standard package has a lot of tools for editing photos in different color spaces, retouching, applying dynamic filters, imitating canvas materials, hand painting with many virtual tools, each of which can be customized separately.

  Krita supports interaction with graphical tablets, without problems and delays mirrors and rotates conditionally infinite canvas, correctly uses different color models. The latest versions of the application are well optimized to work in the Windows 10 environment, both 32-bit and 64-bit. The interface is much like the well-known arrangement of windows and tools in Photoshop, and translated into many languages, including Russian.

  Advantages

  • a rich toolkit for drawing;
  • full-fledged work with layers;
  • support for graphics tablets;
  • RAW format compatibility;
  • conditionally infinite canvas;
  • optimization;
  • convenient and understandable interface;
  • Russian localization.

  Disadvantages

  • there are compatibility problems with users with video cards of IntelHD Graphics family – probably the problem will be solved with one of the updates;

  Best photo editing apps for MacOS

  The third nomination in Expertology’s ranking of the best photo editing applications includes a selection of three photo editors designed specifically for MacOS. Recall that some of the above software products have versions adapted for Apple computers, but here we will talk about applications originally designed for these systems, and which are more organically associated with them.

  ixelmator

  Rating: 5.0

  

  Let’s start with the bright and ambitious in a good way project, which was originally conceived as a worthy competitor to Adobe Photoshop, which already had a version for MacOS and was actively winning the preferences of Mac users. Lithuanian developers, for the most part, managed to realize their intentions and set the bar high.

  Pixelmator’s updated, advanced version with “Pro” prefix paradoxically presented itself with radically simplified interface, and this bold move of the developers played in favor of the project. If “usual” Pixelmator was notable for scattering of windows, sub-windows and other large and small workspaces, then the Pro-version has everything in one window and it does not scare the novice users anymore.

  As for its functionality, the application is certainly pleased with the following features. The basic configuration includes everything you might need for full-fledged photo processing: color correction, effects, filters, color models, tools for transformation, tools for painting, work with layers and masks and much more.

  On the implementation of the work with layers in Pixelmator Pro is worth a few words separately. This toolkit is controlled by a special neural network, which, when content from external files is added, automatically classifies the layer and gives it a name. Also the concept of neural networks was successfully used for selection tools – the application finds real object boundaries with amazing accuracy and thoroughness, thus ensuring impeccable processing quality. “Smart Selection” works with full clarity – any movement of the mouse over the image illuminates the areas that the tool recognizes as “candidates” for selection.

  You can save the standard settings to be applied unchanged to many of your photos in the form of so-called recipes and then apply them with a single click. Each of them, when hovered over, shows a preview of the photo, as it will look after you apply the recipe.

  Overall, the tools, design approaches and innovations of Pixelmator, namely the Pro-version is a real breakthrough in the field of photo processing. The application already supports 64-bit architecture and is still under active development. Explore its features for free during a 30-day trial.

  Advantages

  • richest toolset;
  • optimization;
  • innovative approaches;
  • “Smart” tools that use neural networks for perfect quality results;
  • a relatively reasonable price for the capabilities.

  Flaws

  • some users complain about the impossibility in principle to use third-party plugins.

  Luminar

  Rating: 4.9

  

  As the second number in this rating nomination we will consider another powerful photo editing application for MacOS by famous Macphun (later renamed to Skylum), which specializes in developing software to work with digital photos and other bitmap images. If the solution described above is seen by many as a replacement for Photoshop, then Luminar has been dubbed by many professionals as a worthy replacement for another Adobe product –

• ghtroom.

  In its newest configuration as of spring 2019, Luminar is a powerful photo editor and multifunctional digital asset manager. The basic image processing tools are present here in their entirety, and we will not dwell on them because of the obviousness. Much more interesting are the innovations and original solutions.

  Thus, in Luminar there is a set of latest filters which use powerful algorithms of built-in artificial intelligence. Deep optimization allows to process even very heavy high-resolution graphics with amazing speed.

  Users have a lot of interest in innovations such as real-time noise reduction, LUT support (Lookup

  ), intelligent sunlight filtering. Achievements in the field of artificial intelligence are used in Luminar even in the question of work space organization. The application automatically adapts the space taking into consideration the shooting style and instantly creates the most comfortable conditions for work for the user.

  Advantages

  • rich functionality;
  • The density of innovations and original solutions in one software product;
  • High adaptability of the workspace;
  • Highly efficient use of AI algorithms;
  • there is a version for Windows.

  Disadvantages

  • A noticeable percentage of cases of “thoughtfulness” in complex actions, the developers promise in the near future to bring the optimization to the proper level.

  Fotor

  Rating: 4.8

  

  And to complete the rating, let’s consider a pretty good software solution for photo processing, which is ideal for those who do not want to pay real money for the software. Since it’s free, don’t expect from the application the capabilities of a professional level, but Fotor was not created for that purpose.

  Fotor was originally a web based online photo editing application. Over time, the creators decided to release a separate standalone product, an application for Mac. The solution has received a mostly very enthusiastic feedback from users, and soon the program was scaled up to the Windows platform.

  The application consists of two separate modules. One specializes in photo processing, the other in creating collages. When the program starts, the user is prompted to choose what to do with the image. This is, by the way, the most controversial aspect of the program, causing a polarized reaction from users.

  In terms of photo processing Fotor has a very good auto-correction feature. You can get rid of most of the imperfections and unwanted artifacts in a photo literally in a couple of clicks. Here the best manifest themselves intelligent algorithms and automatic scripts of correction, which change the parameters depending on the conditions of the photo – sunny day, night, beach, flash, landscape, etc.

  There is a rich set of filters in the application for artistic photo processing. With their help, you can artificially age a photo, apply trendy “hipster” effects and all sorts of transforming the image.

  The processed photo can be saved in any of the popular formats or immediately published on any popular social networking site or photohosting site.

  Strengths

  • Easy to master;
  • speed of work;
  • A lot of filters and effects;
  • multiplatform.

  Disadvantages

  • The strict division into two functional modules (processing and collage) evokes a polar attitude among users.
  Read more  Canon's top 5 MFPs
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