Asking which is the best pixel-based photo editor for Mac OS X may sound like a simple and straightforward question, however, it is a more complex question than it may at first seem. There are lots of factors to consider when deciding which is the best photo editor and the importance of the various. Finding the Best Photo Editing App for You The key decision behind using any imaging application lies with what the requirements are for the task at hand. You need to closely research the product and get really clear on both the product's strengths and its weaknesses.
Today's best Pixelmator 3.3 deals
at
Image 2 of 6
Easiest Photo Editor To Use
Image 4 of 6
Image 6 of 6
Editor's Note: Pixelmator 3.8 is now available. Clicking the Buy button will take you to this version for purchase. We will evaluate, rank and review the new version when we next update the Mac Photo Editing Software reviews. Meanwhile, enjoy our review below about Pixelmator 3.3.
The Mac photo editing software Pixelmator is a full-featured software offered at an affordable price. The software includes a wide selection of basic and advanced editing tools, sharing capabilities and file compatibility.
You'll only be able to purchase this software directly from the company so there is no Amazon buying option. It sells for roughly $30, which makes it one of the least expensive programs we tested. To get a better feel for the program, check out the 30-day free trial period.
Pixelmator comes with a wide variety of editing tools, all available on the program’s clean interface. The software features a black workspace you can customize by moving around floating windows.
This Mac photo editor serves as a good option for beginners. In addition to being very usable, the software has all the basic tools you need to successfully edit your photos. You can crop, zoom, resize, select, paint and draw. You also can adjust the colors in your photos.
Pixelmator uses layers, so you can make changes to your photos without permanently altering the original. You also can use layer masks to hide unwanted objects without erasing parts of your image, or you can use the cloning tool. While they alter your photo, the layers protect your original image.
You also can use the healing tool to remove objects from your images or fix blemishes on your subjects’ faces. The content-aware fill tool can be used in this process to intuitively fill in the removed spots based on samples taken from the surrounding area.
Photo Editing For Mac
In addition to this software’s advanced capabilities, the program includes several tools to help you perfect your images. You can apply one of the 126 creative filters to add texture or adjust the color of your photo. You also can use the color management tools or highlight and shadow adjustments to change your picture’s appearance.
While this photo editor for Mac offers a variety of both standard and professional tools, it lacks some capabilities. This application cannot create HDR images or panoramic photos. It also does not have a lens distortion corrector, which can be helpful when working with images taken on digital cameras. If you'd like your photo editing software to have these features, you'll be interested in Corel AfterShot Pro.
Like several of the Mac picture editors on our lineup, Pixelmator does not have a built-in photo organizer. Instead, it relies on Apple’s Photos app to organize and manage your images. If you use your Mac’s built-in photo organizer to manage your photos, you need to relaunch Pixelmator in order to see any changes.
While the software does not have a photo organizer, it does have a photo browser that allows you to browse, preview and search for images to edit. When you use Pixelmator’s photo browser, it automatically pulls photos, albums and libraries from Photos. You can view the image files whether Photos is open or not.
Pixelmator supports a wide variety of file formats, including popular image files like RAW, JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD and even PDF. You can also optimize your photos for online content by using the Export for Web feature, which resizes your file to allow for quick page load times.
This Mac photo editor makes it easy to share your photos with friends and family. You can post individual photos or entire albums to social media sites like Facebook and Flickr. You also can send your edited photos in an email directly from the application.
Pixelmator offers extensive technical support options. You can access video tutorials, FAQs and a user forum directly from its website. You also can access links to third-party tutorials that help you learn how to perform certain edits. If you still need help, Pixelmator lists a technical support email on its website. We found that Pixelmator always responded quickly to our inquiries with useful information.
Not only does Pixelmator offer an extensive list of photo editing tools, but it also is easy to use and a good program to learn on. While the photo editor does lack an organizer, the photo browser is compatible with the photo manager that comes preinstalled on Macs. Between the advanced capabilities, ease of use and support options, Pixelmator serves as a good option to beginner and professional photographers alike.
Today's best Pixelmator 3.3 deals
at
There are dozens of free photo editors out there, so we've hand-picked the very best so you can make your pictures look amazing without paying a penny.
We've spent hours putting a huge range of photo editors to the test, and picked out the best ones for any level of skill and experience. From powerful software packed with features that give Photoshop a run for its money to simple tools that give your pictures a whole new look with a couple of clicks, there's something for everyone.
Many free photo editors only offer a very limited selection of tools unless you pay for a subscription, or place a watermark on exported images, but none of the tools here carry any such restrictions. Whichever one you choose, you can be sure that there are no hidden tricks to catch you out.
1. GIMP
The best free photo editor for advanced image editing
No ads or limitations
GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the best free photo editor around. It's packed with the kind of image-enhancing tools you'd find in premium software, and more are being added every day.
The photo editing toolkit is breathtaking, and features layers, masks, curves, and levels. You can eliminate flaws easily with the excellent clone stamp and healing tools, create custom brushes, apply perspective changes, and apply changes to isolated areas with smart selection tools.
GIMP is an open source free photo editor, and its community of users and developers have created a huge collection of plugins to extend its utility even further. Many of these come pre-installed, and you can download more from the official glossary. If that's not enough, you can even install Photoshop plugins.
2. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2019
Fuss-free photo editing with automatic optimization tools
Fine manual controls
If you've got a lot of photos that you need to edit in a hurry, Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2019 could be the tool for you. Its interface is clean and uncluttered, and utterly devoid of ads (although you'll need to submit an email address before you can start using it).
Importing pictures is a breeze, and once they've been added to the pool, you can select several at once to rotate or mirror, saving you valuable time. You can also choose individual photos to enhance with the software's one-click optimization tool. In our tests this worked particularly well on landscapes, but wasn't always great for other subjects.
If you want to make manual color and exposure corrections, there are half a dozen sliders to let you do exactly that. It's a shame you can't also apply the same color changes to a whole set of pictures at once, but this is otherwise a brilliant free photo editor for making quick corrections.
For more advanced editing, check out Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 7 – the premium version of the software with enhanced optimization tools.
3. Canva
Professional-level photo editing and templates in your browser
Includes free cloud storage
Canva is a photo editor that runs in your web browser, and is ideal for turning your favorite snaps into cards, posters, invitations and social media posts. If you're interested in maintaining a polished online presence, it's the perfect tool for you.
Canva has two tiers, free and paid, but the free level is perfect for home users. Just sign up with your email address and you'll get 1GB free cloud storage for your snaps and designs, 8,000 templates to use and edit, and two folders to keep your work organized.
You won't find advanced tools like clone brushes and smart selectors here, but there's a set of handy sliders for applying tints, vignette effects, sharpening, adjusting brightness, saturation and contrast, and much more. The text editing tools are intuitive, and there's a great selection of backgrounds and other graphics to complete your designs.
4. Fotor
One-click enhancements to make your photos shine in seconds
Batch image processing
Fotor is a free photo editor that's ideal for giving your pictures a boost quickly. If there's specific area of retouching you need doing with, say, the clone brush or healing tool, you're out of luck. However, if your needs are simple, its stack of high-end filters really shine.
There's a foolproof tilt-shift tool, for example, and a raft of vintage and vibrant colour tweaks, all easily accessed through Fotor's clever menu system. You can manually alter your own curves and levels, too, but without the complexity of high-end tools.
Fotor's standout function, and one that's sorely lacking in many free photo editors, is its batch processing tool – feed it a pile of pics and it'll filter the lot of them in one go, perfect if you have a memory card full of holiday snaps and need to cover up the results of a dodgy camera or shaky hand.
5. Photo Pos Pro
Advanced photo editing tools packaged in a simple interface
Beginner and advanced modes
Photo Pos Pro isn't as well known as Paint.net and GIMP, but it's another top-quality free photo editor that's packed with advanced image-enhancing tools.
This free photo editor's interface is smarter and more accessible than GIMP's array of menus and toolbars, with everything arranged in a logical and consistent way. If it's still too intimidating, there's also an optional 'novice' layout that resembles Fotor's filter-based approach. The choice is yours.
The 'expert' layout offers both layers and layer masks for sophisticated editing, as well as tools for adjusting curves and levels manually. You can still access the one-click filters via the main menu, but the focus is much more on fine editing.
6. Paint.NET
Looking a little dated, but still a dependable all-rounder
Plugin support
More is not, believe it or not, always better. Paint.NET's simplicity is one of its main selling points; it's a quick, easy to operate free photo editor that's ideal for trivial tasks that don't necessarily justify the sheer power of tools like GIMP.
Don't let the name fool you, though. This isn't just a cheap copy of Microsoft's ultra-basic Paint – even if it was originally meant to replace it. It's a proper photo editor, just one that lands on the basic side of the curve.
Paint.NET’s interface will remind you of its namesake, but over the years, they’ve added advanced editing tools like layers, an undo history, a ton of filters, myriad community-created plugins, and a brilliant 3D rotate/zoom function that's handy for recomposing images.
7. PhotoScape
Raw image conversion, batch processing and much more
Great selection of filters
PhotoScape might look like a rather simple free photo editor, but take a look at its main menu and you'll find a wealth of features: raw conversion, photo splitting and merging, animated GIF creation, and even a rather odd (but useful) function with which you can print lined, graph or sheet music paper.
The meat, of course, is in the photo editing. PhotoScape's interface is among the most esoteric of all the apps we've looked at here, with tools grouped into pages in odd configurations. It certainly doesn't attempt to ape Photoshop, and includes fewer features.
We'd definitely point this towards the beginner, but that doesn't mean you can't get some solid results. PhotoScape's filters are pretty advanced, so it's if good choice if you need to quickly level, sharpen or add mild filtering to pictures in a snap.
8. Pixlr X
A comprehensive browser-based photo editor for quick results
Stylish design
Pixlr X is the successor to Pixlr Editor, which was one of our favorite free online photo editors for many years.
Photo Editor To Use For Poshmark
Pixlr X makes several improvements on its predecessor. For starters, it's based on HTML5 rather than Flash, which means it can run in any modern browser. It's also slick and well designed, with an interface that's reminiscent of Photoshop Express, and a choice of dark or light color schemes.
With Pixlr X, you can make fine changes to colors and saturation, sharpen and blur images, apply vignette effects and frames, and combine multiple images. There's also support for layers, which you won't find in many free online photo editors, and an array of tools for painting and drawing. A great choice for even advanced tasks.
9. Adobe Photoshop Express Editor
A convenient way to correct lighting and exposure problems
Stylish design
As its name suggests, Adobe Photoshop Express Editor is a trimmed-down, browser-based version of the company's world-leading photo editing software. Perhaps surprisingly, it features a more extensive toolkit than the downloadable Photoshop Express app, but it only supports images in JPG format that are below 16MB.
Again, this is a Flash-based tool, but Adobe provides handy mobile apps for all platforms so you won’t miss out if you’re using a smartphone or tablet.
This free online photo editor has all the panache you’d expect from Adobe, and although it doesn’t boast quite as many tools as some of its rivals, everything that’s there is polished to perfection. Adobe Photoshop Express Editor is a pleasure to use. Its only drawbacks are the limits on uploaded file size and types, and lack of support for layers.
10. PiZapFree Photo Editor For Mac
A fun photo editor for preparing your pictures for social media
Templates for social media
Free online photo editor PiZap is available in both HTML5 and Flash editions, making it suitable for any device. You can choose to work with a photo from your hard drive, Facebook, Google Photos, Google Drive, Google Search, or a catalog of stock images. This is an impressive choice, though some of the stock images are only available to premium subscribers, and you'll need to watch out for copyright issues if you use a pic straight from Google Images.
piZap’s editing interface has a dark, modern design that makes heavy use of sliders for quick adjustments – a system that works much better than tricky icons and drop-down menus if you’re using a touchscreen device.
What Is The Best Photo Editor To Use
When you’re done, you can share your creation on all the biggest social media networks, as well as piZap’s own servers, Dropbox and Google Drive. Alternatively, you can save it to your hard drive, send it via email, or grab an embed code. You can only export your work in high quality if you’ve opened your wallet for the premium editor, but for silly social sharing that’s unlikely to be a problem.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |