No matter where you are on your journey as a photographer, you will eventually need to step up your game with photo imaging software. Whether you want to brighten a dark photo, remove a distracting background, or let your creativity lead you in a whole new direction, there’s an app for that.

1. Best Free Photo Editing Software For Mac
2. Mac Based Photo Editing Software Free Download Software

Get the biggest choice of photo editing tools for Mac. Combine different apps’ functionality to fit your needs.

Photo editing apps for Mac come with a huge variety of features and at many different price points, but some great image editors are completely free to use. While a few of them have a steep learning curve, and others push in-app purchases, all enable you to turn drab, lifeless shots into photos that pop. We’ve rounded up the best free photo editing software for Mac computers, so all you have to do is start creating.

The free photo editing software for Mac we recommend

Dec 23, 2019 The Best Photo Editing Software for 2020. Whether you're a casual smartphone shooter or a professional using a DSLR, you need software to get the most out of your images. If you’re looking for totally free photo editing software for Windows or Mac, you’ve come to the right place. Download our Photo Editor for free and enjoy basic photo editing tools offline –. Free Photo Editor – Top 9 Free Photo Editing Software (For Mac and Windows) 2020 Update: We’re breaking down the best free photo editors again just because you loved the last one so much. A lot has changed, so make sure to check out all the entries. Free Download Try Web App. Best Photo Editing Software for PC - Free Download:exclamation: From a simple editor to quickly enhance your photos to a professional editor equipped with cutting-edge features, you'll find something in the list below that suits your needs.

We've tested and ranked the best free photo editors, so you can get your pictures looking perfect without spending a penny on costly editing software. Whether you're looking for a fully fledged.

In our search for the best free photo editors for Macs, we found five great options that offer a wide range of features for photographers of all experience levels. Many will find that these free apps are all they need to up their photography game. Others will use them as a stepping stone until they are ready to splurge on advanced software with premium features. So, here are our top picture editors for Mac, in no specific order:

1. CameraBag Pro
2. Fotor
3. PhotoScape X
4. Image Tricks
5. Preview and Photos for Mac

CameraBag Pro: Lightweight photo editor for quick adjustments

If you’re looking for basic tweaks in an easy interface, CameraBag Pro may be the best editor for your Mac. The app comes with over 200 professional filters and configurable presets. The best part of CameraBag Pro is the easy auto adjustments, which allow you to apply gorgeous edits with a click of a button. You can flexibly use it for batch editing, which is an asset professional designers and photographers will appreciate. You can purchase the app for $20 or use it as a part of Setapp subscription for $9.99 per month.

Fotor: The best intuitive photo editor for Mac

While there’s no point in comparing Fotor to Adobe Photoshop this lightweight photo editor for Mac does have some interesting features. It excels at one-click fixes and filters, and is perfect for busy photographers looking for a quick edit. Fotor’s focus is less on fixing mistakes and making corrections to lighting and tone, and more on creating stylized images that can be shared on social media. There’s definitely a place for this type of editing in your tool kit, and it may work great in conjunction with other image editors on this list.

PhotoScape X: Powerful photo editor that tackles RAW files

If you’ve moved past the novice photographer stage, you’ve likely started shooting your images in the RAW format so you can fine-tune your edits a bit more precisely. PhotoScape X makes editing RAW photos a breeze, and it provides a lot more than basic retouching. The powerful editing toolkit is very easy to navigate, and advanced features include batch editing, panorama and collage options, and numerous filters. Because the interface is easy to figure out, you will find that your editing skills improve dramatically with experimentation. No matter what your experience level is, PhotoScape X will help advance your technique.

Image Tricks: Artistic rendering made simple

Image Tricks won’t replace any of the standard photo editors for Mac that we’ve included in this list, but it’s worth noting for the fun array of image filters that can be used to liven up your photos. With Image Tricks, you can add text overlays, frames, and wild distortions to your pictures, as well as make a few basic adjustments like highlights and color saturation. When you’re finished creating your masterpiece, there’s a good chance that your photo will look nothing like it did when you started, but that’s part of the fun. If you enjoy experimenting with Image Tricks, you may even be tempted to download Image Tricks Pro, which comes with more advanced filters for $9.99.

Preview and Photos for Mac: Native apps for quick photo edits

Mac’s native photo organizer and preview tool may not seem like the best apps to fine-tune your photos, but Preview and Photos for Mac are surprisingly versatile. Photos is primarily a photo storage platform, allowing you to group photos based on the time and place they were taken, use face detection to find photos, and quickly order prints. But not everyone knows that it comes with impressive editing tools, like retouching, white balance adjustment, and noise reduction. As for Mac’s Preview, you can use it to adjust the color and size of your photos before exporting them in a variety of file formats.

Which free image editor for Mac you choose will depend a lot on your level of experience and how much time you’re willing to put into learning a new tool. If you’re a beginner, you’ll likely be happy with Mac’s own Photos or an app like Polarr, and if your level is more advanced, you’ll enjoy learning the ins and outs of Photoscape X. Whatever editing app you choose, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve your photos and apply your own creative flair.

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Editing your photos on your iPhone is one thing, but editing your photos on your Mac can take your photography skills to a whole 'nother level.

Many of us still keep our main libraries on our Macs because of its faster processors, larger storage, and all-around bigger computing power. The Mac is still the best device for serious photo editing, so you need some serious photo editing apps to make an impact.

The built-in Photos app on Mac offers several useful photo editing tools. You can crop, adjust lighting and color, set the white balance, add filters, remove unwanted blemishes, and a few more things. However, in all honesty? It's not really meant to be a robust editing app, so If you are looking for something to really finish your photos right, we've got a list of the best photo editors for Mac right here. Let's go!

Affinity Photo

If you're looking for a photo editing app that goes above and beyond for the pricetag, while still allowing you complete creative control over your images, then it might be worth it to take a peek at Affinity Photo.

Affinity Photo supports unlimited layers, groups, layer adjustments, filters, masking, and more: you also have access to tools like dodge, red-eye fix, burn, blemish, clone, and patch (so pretty much Photoshop without all the convoluted bells and whistles). Nondestructive auto-saving makes undoing everything you've done easy, so if you need to start from the beginning, the option is there.

Play, manipulate, edit, and get hella creative with Affinity Photo whether you're a serious graphic designer or someone who's just looking to do some basic editing. Your photography will seriously thank you.

• $49.99 - Download now

Fotor Photo Editor

Best Free Photo Editing Software For Mac

Searching for a super simple, straight-forward photo editing app that's there to help you edit and not confuse you to the point of ripping out your hair? Then check out Fotor Photo Editor!

With this photo editor, you can easily adjust contrast and color of more washed-out photos, add borders, tilt and shift your images, add different text, slap on a few filters, and so much more, all from the easy-to-find toolbox on the right side of the app. You can even create collages of your photography masterpieces!

The BBC once called Fotor Photo Editor 'light Photoshop', and they're kind of right! You can go above and beyond editing your images with Fotor Photo Editor without getting bogged down by more complicated editing buttons and tools.

• Free - Download now

Mac Based Photo Editing Software Free Download Software

Lightroom

When you look into photo editing software, one of the first things that'll pop up is Adobe's Lightroom, and for good reason! It's essentially a staple in the photo editing community.

Lightroom is great for photographers who need to manage a large image library, and who are prepared to commit to (and pay for) Adobe's cloud storage space. But it is purely a photography tool that's a little outside the regular Adobe design ecosystem. (Creative Bloq)

Pretty much anything you want to do with your photo, you can accomplish with Lightroom. You can blend and merge shadows and highlights, sharpen dull, blurry images so they look crisp and clear, add details and tint colors to make a photo stand out, and so, so much more.

While it is a bit more on the complicated side, people who use the program and know how to navigate it are hooked. Keep in mind, there are two versions of the app — there's the Classic version, which is more preferred, and the 2018 CC version.

If you're hesitant about the program and paying for it, you can download Lightroom free for 30 days as part of a trial period. After that, you can add it to your Photoshop CC subscription for $9.99 per month. Download cloud app for mac.

• Free trial - Download now

Pixelmator

Amp up your photo editing skills with a little bit of help from Pixelmator!

This particular photo editing app allows you to combine two different photos into one (while still allowing you to edit over each layer), add shapes, gradients, filters, tints, and more, and completely change and edit your photography to make it fit perfectly to your aesthetic. You can even mask and cut off certain areas of the photo, giving you more creative control over your final image.

Similar to other photo editing apps, you can also adjust contrast, color, saturation level, definition, and so much more.

It's another great alternative to Photoshop, at least according to our managing editor Lory Gil.

• $29.99 - Download now

GIMP

Love Photoshop (or the idea of Photoshop..) but don't want all the complicated components and nonsense that comes along with it? Then it might be worth it to take a peek at GIMP.

Similar to Photoshop, GIMP allows you full control over editing your photos: it's an advanced image manipulation program with detailed customization for color reproduction.

You can add layers to your photos, edit and tweak colors, adjust contrast, crop, adjust saturation, and so much more. If you're someone who admires Photoshop but is terrified of the price (or just thinks it's not worth it) then GIMP might be the perfect pal for you.

• Free - Download now

Snapheal

Say 'bye-bye' to nasty photobombs, zits, perky distractions, and so much more in your photos thanks to Snapheal!

Snapheal is a little bit unique in the sense that it's more of a 'delete now, ask questions later' app. It's more about cleaning up a photo than it is editing it and adding a whole bunch of layers. The tools can either remove large objects or smaller imperfections depending on the mode. You can even adjust the masking tool, use a magic rope, or clone stamp your way to a new photo.

If you're someone who's a perfectionist when it comes to your photography and you just can't stand that one stupid, distracting blur in the background, then Snapheal is the guy for you.

• $7.99 - Download now

Preview

I know what you're thinking: 'Preview? Really, Cella?'

To which I respond: 'Uh, yeah. Duh, my dude. You use it every day!'

Sure, you can't do a bunch of fancy things with Preview like add filters, adjust contrast, and fix saturation, but you can quickly crop a photo, adjust the color, rotate it, add shapes, texts, and a signature, export as a different format, and more.

Yes, Preview isn't perfect, but it is easy to use and fantastic for making small, fast changes to your photography.

• It's already on your Mac.

How do you edit your photography?

What is your favorite photo editing app for the Mac? Why does it work the best for you? Let us know what your top picks are in the comments down below!

Updated August 2018: All the choices on this list are still the best of the best!

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