Computer Programs For Photography
In this article, I want to talk about the ultimate PC build for photography and other needs, and discuss my personal preferences for working with Lightroom catalogs and RAW files in terms of file management and performance optimization.
- Free Photo Programs For Computer
- Computer Programs For Photography
- Best Photography Programs For Computer
Best Photo Editing Software of 2019 - Programs for Less Than $100
We thoroughly tested each program by manipulating the same set of photos to see how each program handled the edits. The programs all scored differently based on how intuitive the software's interface is. We also evaluated the photo organizing system to see how well the system helped us find and arrange our photos. Our testing helped us identify Corel PaintShop Pro 2019 as the best photo editing software in our review. Its user-friendly interface and advanced editing tools are good for both beginners and seasoned graphic designers alike. The photo organizing system helps you arrange your photos in a variety of ways so you will be able to find the images you need quickly.
Best Overall- But it’s a difficult program to master without formal training, and it’s not the cheapest option out there. That’s why we’re taking a look at the best free photo-editing software on the.
- Best Photo Editing Software of 2019 - Programs for Less Than $100. We thoroughly tested each program by manipulating the same set of photos to see how each program handled the edits. The programs all scored differently based on how intuitive the software's interface is. We also evaluated the photo organizing system to see how well the system.
PaintShop Pro 2019
This software's basic and advanced tools can help you make professional-level photo edits to your images. The variety of photo organizing options allows you to create a system that makes the most sense to you.
Best ValueAffinity Photo
It doesn’t include a photo organizing system, but this program has some of the most powerful editing tools you’ll find in software you can buy without paying a subscription. It has a steeper learning curve for beginners, but it can help you become a pro.
Best for BeginnersCyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10
The editing and photo organizing interfaces are clean and easy to maneuver. It is a good program for beginners to learn on, but it also has the advanced editing tools that will satisfy a more experienced editor.
Product | Price | Overall Rating | Pricing | Editing Tools | Organizing Options | File Compatibility & Sharing | Help & Support | Supported Configurations | Trial Period | Ease of Use Score | Editing Tool Score | Number of Filter Presets | Organizing Tools Score | File Compatibility Score | Sharing Options Score | Help & Support Score | Windows 10 | Windows 8 | Windows 7 | Mac OS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Corel PaintShop Pro 2019 | View Deal | 4.5/5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 30 Days | 100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖ |
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 | View Deal | 4.5/5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 30 Days | 100 | 95 | 98 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 9 | View Deal | 4.5/5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 30 Days | 100 | 93 | 93 | 100 | 50 | 100 | 60 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Zoner Photo Studio X | 4/5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 1.5 | 5 | 30 Days | 100 | 38 | 38 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 60 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖ | |
ACDSee Photo Studio Professional 2018 | 4/5 | 4.5 | 2.5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2.5 | 30 Days | 100 | 60 | 60 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Affinity Photo | View Deal | 3.5/5 | 4.5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2.5 | 5 | 10 Days | 17 | 57 | 57 | 17 | 100 | 25 | 40 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer | View Deal | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 2.5 | 0 | 30 Days | 33 | 140 | 140 | 33 | 75 | 75 | 60 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖ |
Best Overall
PaintShop Pro 2019
This software offers some automatic editing tools, which is helpful for beginners, but it also provides hands-on editing tools that allow you to tweak your images exactly the way you want.
The Smart Photo Fix tool allows you to compare the original image alongside an edited preview as you make alterations, which can help you make the changes you want.
The interface is clean and organized so you can easily find the tools and menus you need. You can organize your photos by rating, keywords, people and places to help you find your photos faster. It also keeps track of your images' EXIF data so you can look up the exact settings your camera used to capture your photos. It also works with a wide variety of file types, including RAW, PSD and PDF files so you can edit just about any project using this software. One thing that helps this program stand out from the others is its extensive help features and resources. The learning center tool allows you to get information quickly about any of the tools in the program. PaintShop Pro also has hundreds of tutorial videos on its YouTube page so you'll be able to find help on any subject.
Best Value
Affinity Photo
This software offers all of the advanced photo editing tools that an experienced photographer or graphic designer might want, including content aware tools, EXIF data, HDR tools and more.
While each of the programs on this review can make edits, this software creates the most professional-grade edits. Surprisingly, this program is relatively cheap and only requires a one-time payment instead of a subscription like many of the top programs on the market.
As a more advanced feature, this program's Assistant Manager allows you to make presets to each of the editing tools so that when you select a specific tool it automatically adjusts brush settings, adjustment tools, masks and layers to match your predesignated specifications. This program lacks a built-in photo organizing system. While it isn't necessary to have one, it can make the editing process easier when you can quickly locate your photos.
There are dozens of tutorials on the Affinity Revolution YouTube channel and even more throughout the web so you can learn various effects from experienced users. It is compatible with all the basic files along with PSD, RAW and PDF files. This program is available on both Windows and Mac so it is more likely to suit your needs. A full version of the software recently became available for the iPad.
Best for Beginners
CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10
PhotoDirector 365 MonthlyThis software is split into six different sections to help you find the tools you need without overwhelming you with too many options at once, which is especially helpful when you're a beginner.
A user guide is available within the application to help explain the various tools, and there are dozens of video tutorials online to help you learn and achieve more effects. You can add text and a number of text effects to your photos using this program. This software's watermark feature allows you to easily create and place an identifying mark on your photos so you can feel better about sharing them online. In addition to editing your photos, this software also allows you to create slideshows complete with music, transitions and accompanying text.
The Library section helps you to find and arrange your photos by rating, tags and name. To save you time, this program allows you to use batch editing to complete the same edits to a group of photos. It also features a content-aware removal tool which allows you to seamlessly remove items from your images and fills the empty space in a way that matches the rest of the photo.
Best For Learning Adobe
Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Elements is the gateway software for Adobe CC. The program's interface is divided into Quick, Guided and Expert mode, designed to help beginning users grow and come to an intermediate editing level.
Free Photo Programs For Computer
You can toggle between the modes to learn how to use the software until you are comfortable enough to stay in the Expert mode. Adobe offers the best editing tools on the market and this is made evident by its impressive content-aware fill tool, which allows you to remove unwanted objects, like trash or electrical poles, from your images and fill in the space believably with just a couple button clicks.
This is one of the only Adobe programs that doesn't require a subscription. You'll just need to make a one-time payment, albeit it a pricey one, of roughly $100. This will give you access to 90 creative filters, plenty of tutorials, HDR tools, blemish removing tools and many more useful features. Like many of Adobe's programs, this one expects you to work with other Adobe software to fulfill your editing goals. The photo organizer is a separate program that opens in a different window. While this is nice in getting you ready for how other Adobe software works, it can also be a little annoying popping between the two programs.
Best Built-In Photo Organizer
ACDSee Photo Studio
Photo Studio Professional MonthlyACDSee Photo Studio offers over 60 filters so you can quickly add stylization to your photos. It also features plenty of drawing and painting tools as well as background removal tools.
However, the reason it didn't score as highly as other programs is because this software doesn’t work in layers, which is standard for most photo editing software. This means you cannot view and select your separate elements as easily as you can with other programs. This software also requires that you take a few extra and somewhat unnecessary steps before you can finalize your editing changes to your file, which is why it didn't score as highly in the ease of use category.
If you don't mind the lack of layers and the extra steps it takes to edit your photos, this program is a great choice. It has a phenomenal photo organizer that allows you to separate, rate and organize your images in a variety of ways so you can find them in the way that makes the most sense to you. You'll find plenty of online support including an active user forum, tutorials and live chat so you can find answers to questions quickly.
Why Trust Us
For the past nine years, we have reviewed photo editing software to find the best programs available. We spent over 85 hours in the last 12 months using these editing programs to manipulate photos. Our testers are skilled editors with backgrounds in photography and graphic design. We used the same set of photos so we could compare each program's editing capabilities against each other.
We contacted John Yoo, Head of Sales at CyberLink, to see what he finds most important for any photo editing software. He told us, 'The basic functions – crop, adjust exposure, contrast, white balance, noise reduction – all of these features are not only important but the software needs to be able to adjust these accurately and easily.' We completely agree.
Programs that completed edits in a quick, intuitive fashion while truly enhancing the photos received higher scores in our review. Programs lacking main features or offering them in a clunky fashion scored lower. Since tutorials and forums are such an important part of learning the photo editing process, programs with better instructive and help features scored higher.
We also evaluated each programs' help features and organizing abilities to determine which offered the best options overall. We paid attention to each program's ease of use to see which were best for beginners to learn on. Since file compatibility is such an important part of the editing process, we scored programs higher if they accommodated the main photo file types: JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD, PDF and RAW.
How We Tested
We used the same 12 photos in each of the programs we tested to see how well each one performed basic and advanced edits. We began by using the most basic editing tools like cropping, red eye removal and filters before moving on to more advanced editing tools like using mask layers to adjust hue, tone and brightness, or creating HDR images. We compared the final images from each program to see which software performed editing tasks the best.
Some programs provided the same level of editing finesse but forced you to go through several unnecessary steps before completing a task. For this reason, we scored clean, simple and well-organized interfaces higher. This year's best photo editing software, PaintShop Pro 2018, beautifully creates basic and advanced image enhancements through an easy-to-use interface.
If the program you want requires a subscription, make sure you understand the payment schedule. For instance, find out if the $20 payment is due quarterly or monthly.
If you are a beginner wanting to become a more advanced editor, make sure you purchase a program that allows you to work in layers.
How Much Does Photo Editing Software Cost?
Beginner to Intermediate-level photo editing software costs between $40 and $100, though some programs are subscription based and require a monthly or annual payment that typically totals to about $50 per year. More professional-level photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop CC will cost you roughly $21 a month or more. Before deciding on a program, make sure it has the features and editing tools that you will likely use the most.
Things to Consider With Photo Editing Software
File Types
Most professional photographers prefer to work with RAW images since it gives them more control over brightness, color and overall image quality. PSD is another popular file type since it saves the individual layers of your photos so you can edit them at any time. If you plan on becoming a serious photo editor, it is best to learn to work with these files.
Computer Programs For Photography
If you take a lot of photos and plan on editing them on a regular basis, it can really help you save time if you get a program that offers batch processing. For example, if you wanted all of your photos to be a little brighter, you can use batch processing to quickly brighten all of the photos you select instead of taking the time to do it individually. This feature is commonly found in the photo organizing section of photo editing software.
Simple Tips for Good Photography & Editing
- One of the most crucial parts of editing is taking a good picture to begin with. You’ll save hours of work if you learn to set up your camera and lighting correctly from the start.
- To capture better details, get as close as you can to your subject while still keeping it in focus.
- Try not to work in direct sunlight, as the harsh cast shadows can be very distracting. This is why many photographers prefer to shoot on cloudy days or during the golden hours – just after sunrise and just before sunset when the light isn’t as harsh.
- If you must work in direct sunlight, try to counterbalance the sun's harshness with diffuser or reflector panels, the camera flash, light boxes, and shade.
- Learn how to use shutter speeds. To capture crisp details in fast-moving subjects, such as wildlife, you need a shutter speed of over 1/500th of a second.
- Engaging landscape photography often has a foreground, middle ground and background. Try to incorporate all three when taking a shot.
- When taking portraits, try to help your subjects loosen up. You’re more likely to capture genuine expressions and body language this way.
- Practice, practice, practice. If you want to get better, get out there and learn. Experiment with aperture sizes and learn which lenses and settings you like best.
- If you make too many edits, your image may look less organic, amateurish or downright bad. Be conservative with your edits – as the saying goes, “less is more.”
- Keep a copy of the original image in case you don’t like your edits. Before finalizing a photo, focus on something else for 10 minutes and then come back to it. Your fresh eyes will be able to tell if the image looks good or if it needs tweaking.
- Learn from the pros. Many photographers offer tips on YouTube or their websites. Ask questions and learn as much as you can.
- Pace yourself. Photography equipment and editing software are expensive, so you’ll likely have to acquire everything bit by bit.
More Photo Editing Guides:
What Kind of Photo Editing Software Do You Need?
Whether you merely shoot with your smartphone or you're a professional photographer with a studio, you need software to organize and edit your photos. We all know that camera technology is improving at a tremendous rate. Today's smartphones are more powerful than the point-and-shoots of just a few years ago. The same can be said for photo editing software. 'Photoshopping' pictures is no longer the exclusive province of art directors and professional photographers. Whether you're shooting from an iPhone XS or a DSLR, if you really care how your photos look, you'll want to import them into your PC to organize them, pick the best ones, perfect them, and print or share them online. Here we present the best choices in photo editing software to suit every photographer, from the casual to the professional.
Of course, novice shooters will want different software from those shooting with a $50,000 Phase One IQ3 in a studio. We've included all levels of PC software here, however, and reading the linked reviews will make it clear which is for you. Nothing says that pros can't occasionally use an entry-level application or that a prosumer won't be running Photoshop, the most powerful image editor around. The issue is that, in general, users at each of these levels will be most comfortable with the products that are intended for them.
Note that in the table above, it's not a case of 'more checks mean the program is better.' Rather, it's designed to give you the quick overview of the products. A product with everything checked doesn't necessarily have the best implementation of those features, and one with fewer checks still may be very capable, and whether you even need the checked feature depends on your photo workflow. For example, DxO Photolab may not have face recognition or keyword tagging, but it has the finest noise reduction in the land and some of the best camera- and lens-based profile corrections.
Free Photo Editing Options
So you've graduated from smartphone photography tools like those offered by Instagram and Facebook. Does that mean you have to pay a ton for high-end software? Absolutely not. Up-to-date desktop operating systems include photo software at no extra cost. The Microsoft Photos app included with Windows 10 may surprise some users with its capabilities. In a touch-friendly interface, it offers a good level of image correction, autotagging, blemish removal, face recognition, and raw camera file support. It can even automatically create editable albums based on photos' dates and locations.
Apple Photos does those things too, though its automatic albums aren't as editable. Both programs also sync with online storage services: iCloud for Apple and OneDrive for Microsoft. With Apple Photos, you can search based on detected object types, like 'tree' or 'cat' in the application (Microsoft Photos now offers this feature, too). Apple Photos also can integrate with plugins like the excellent Perfectly Clear, appeasing power users who lament the company's discontinuation of the prosumer-level Aperture program.
Best Photography Programs For Computer
Ubuntu Linux users are also covered when it comes to free, included photo software: They can use the capable-enough Shotwell app. And no discussion of free photo editing software would be complete without mentioning the venerable GIMP, which is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It offers a ton of photoshop-style plugins and editing capabilities, but very little in the way of creature comforts or usability. Other lightweight, low-cost options include Polarr and Pixlr.
How to Edit Your Photos Online
In this roundup, we've only included installable computer software, but entry-level photo shooters may be adequately served by online photo-editing options. These are mostly free, and they're often tied to online photo storage and sharing services. Flickr (with its integrated photo editor) and Google Photos are the biggest names here, and both can spiff up your uploaded pictures and do a lot to help you organize them. They even approach the two entry-level installed programs here, but they lack many tools found in the pro and enthusiast products. The latest version of Lightroom CC includes a good deal of photo-editing capabilties in its included website, too. Other notable names in web-based photo editing include BeFunky, Fotor, and PicMonkey.
Image Editing for Enthusiasts and Prosumers
Most of the products in this roundup fall into this category, which includes people who genuinely love working with digital photographs. These are not free applications, and they require a few hundred megabytes of your disk space. Several, such as Lightroom and CyberLink PhotoDirector, are strong when it comes to workflow—importing, organizing, editing, and outputting the photos from a DSLR. Such apps offer nondestructive editing, meaning the original photo files aren't touched. Instead, a database of edits you apply is maintained, and they appear in photos that you export from the application. These apps also offer strong organization tools, including keyword tagging, color-coding, geo-tagging with maps, and in some cases face recognition to organize photos by what people appear in them.
At the back end of workflow is output. Capable software like Lightroom Classic offers powerful printing options such as soft-proofing, which shows you whether the printer you use can produce the colors in your photo or not. (Strangely, the new version of Lightroom CC—non-Classic—offers no printing capability at all.) Lightroom Classic can directly share photos to sites like Flickr and SmugMug. In fact, all really good software at this level offers strong printing and sharing, and some, like ACDSee and Lightroom, offer their own online photo hosting.
The programs at the enthusiast level and the professional level can import and edit raw files from your digital camera. These are files that include every bit of data from the camera's image sensor. Each camera manufacturer uses its own format and file extension for these. For example, Canon DSLRs use CR2 files and Nikon uses NEF. (Raw here simply means what it sounds like, a file with the raw sensor data; it's not an acronym or file extension, so there's no reason to capitalize it.)
Working with raw files provides some big advantages when it comes to correcting (often termed adjusting) photos. Since the photo you see on screen is just one interpretation of what's in the raw file, the software can dig into that data to recover more detail in a bright sky, or it can fully fix an improperly rendered white balance. If you set your camera to shoot with JPGs, you're losing those capabilities.
Enthusiasts want to do more than just import, organize and render their photos: They want to do fun stuff, too! Editors' Choice Adobe Photoshop Elements includes Guided Edits, which make special effects like motion blur or color splash (where only one color shows on an otherwise black-and-white photo) a simple step-by-step process.
Content-aware tools in some of these products let you do things like move objects around while maintaining a consistent background, or remove objects entirely—say you want to remove a couple of strangers from a serene beach scene—and have the app fill in the background. These edits don't involve simple filters like you get in Instagram. Rather, they produce highly customized, one-off images. Another good example is CyberLink PhotoDirector's Multiple Exposure effect, which lets you create an image with ten versions of Johnny jumping that curb on his skateboard, for example.
Most of these products can produce HDR effects and panoramas after you feed them multiple shots, and local edit brushes let you paint adjustments onto only specific areas of an image. Affinity Photo has those features, but its interface isn't intuitive, and it lacks management and lens profile corrections. Capture One, Paintshop Pro, and Lightroom have those and even more precise tools for local selections in recent versions. For example they let you select everything in a photo within a precise color range and refine the selection of difficult content such as a model's hair or trees on the horizon.
Professional Photo Editing Software
At the very top end of image editing is Photoshop, which has no real rival. Its layered editing, drawing, text, and 3D-imaging tools are the industry standard for a reason. Of course, pros need more than this one application, and many use workflow programs like Lightroom, AfterShot Pro, or Photo Mechanic for workflow functions like import and organization. In addition to its workflow prowess, Lightroom offers mobile photo apps so that photographers on the run can get some work done before they even get back to their PC. Those who need tethered shooting (taking pictures in the software from the computer while it's attached to the camera) may want Capture One, which is offers lots of tools for that along with its top-notch raw-file conversion.
Photoshop offers all and more of the image editing capabilities in anything mentioned above, though it doesn't always make producing those effects as simple, and it doesn't offer a nondestructive workflow, as Lightroom and some others do. Of course, some users with less-intensive needs can get all the Photoshop-type features they need from other products in this roundup, such as Corel PaintShop Pro. DxO OpticPro is another tool pros may want in their kit, because of its excellent lens-profile based corrections and unmatched DxO Prime noise reduction.
Photoshop is also where you find Adobe's latest and greatest imaging technology, such as Content-Aware Crop, Camera Shake Reduction, Perspective Warp, and Detail Enhancement. The program has the most tools for professionals in the imaging industry, including Artboards, Design Spaces, and realistic, customizable brushes.
Another advantage of pro-level photo editing software is that you can take advantage of third-party plug-ins such as the excellent Nik Collection by DxO. These can add more effects and adjustments than you find in the base software. They often include tools for film looks, sharpening, and noise reduction.
Some users have taken umbrage at Adobe's move to a subscription-only option for Photoshop, but at $9.99 per month, it hardly seems exorbitant for any serious image professional, and it includes a copy of Lightroom, online services like Adobe Stock, and multiple mobile apps. It definitely makes the app more affordable for prosumer users, too, when you consider that a full copy of Photoshop used to cost a cool $999.
If you're an absolute beginner in digital photography, your first step is to make sure you've got good hardware to shoot with, otherwise you're sunk before you start. Consider our roundups of the Best Digital Cameras and the Best Camera phones for equipment that can fit any budget. Once you've got your hardware sorted, make sure to educate yourself with our Quick Photography Tips for Beginners and our Beyond-Basic Photography Tips, too. That done, you'll be ready to shoot great pictures that you can make better with the software featured in this story. Click the links below for to read the full reviews.
Best Photo Editing Software in This Roundup:
Adobe Photoshop CC Review
MSRP: $9.99
Pros: Multitude of photo correction and manipulation tools. Slick interface with lots of help. Tools for mobile and web design. Rich set of drawing and typography tools. 3D design capability. Synced Libraries.
Cons: No perpetual-license option. Premium assets aren't cheap. Interface can be overwhelming at times. Lacks support for HEIC.
Bottom Line: Adobe continues to improve the world's leading photo editing software. The 2018 edition adds a new auto-select tool, raw camera profiles, loads of font and drawing capabilities, and support for the Microsoft Surface Dial.
Read ReviewAdobe Lightroom Classic Review
MSRP: $9.99
Pros: Excellent photo management and organization. Camera and lens-based corrections. Brush and gradient adjustments with color and luminance masking. Face detection and tagging. Plug-in support. Connected mobile apps.
Cons: Although improved, import is still slow. Initial raw conversion is slightly more detailed in some competing products.
Bottom Line: Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom remains the gold standard in pro photo workflow software. It's a complete package, with top-notch organization tools, state of-the-art adjustments, and all the output and printing options you'd want.
Read ReviewAdobe Photoshop Elements Review
MSRP: $99.99
Pros: Many powerful image-manipulation tools. Strong face- and geo-tagging capabilities. Excellent output options. Auto-tagging and powerful search options. Helpful guidance for advanced techniques.
Cons: Large disk footprint. No HEIF support on Windows. No chromatic aberration correction or lens geometry profiles. Lacks many social sharing outputs. No local help system.
Bottom Line: Adobe Photoshop Elements, our favorite consumer-level photo editor and organizer, adds AI-powered auto-curation, an open closed eyes tool, and new Guided Edits.
Read ReviewDxO PhotoLab Review
MSRP: $129.00
Pros: Clear interface. Best-in-class noise reduction. Excellent autocorrection based on camera and lens characteristics. Haze remover. Geometry corrections. Powerful local adjustments.
Cons: Few workflow tools. Highest noise-reduction setting can require long waits.
Bottom Line: Though it's still not a complete photo workflow solution, DxO PhotoLab can deliver image results beyond what's possible in other photo software.
Read ReviewCorel PaintShop Pro Review
MSRP: $79.99
Pros: Photoshop-like features at a lower price. Powerful effects and editing tools. Tutorials. Good assortment of vector drawing tools.
Cons: Interface can get cluttered. Ineffective chromatic aberration removal. No face or object recognition. No Mac version.
Bottom Line: Corel continues to add new photo editing possibilities to its PaintShop Pro software, making it a worthy Photoshop alternative at a budget-conscious, one-time price.
Read ReviewCyberLink PhotoDirector Review
MSRP: $99.99
Pros: Friendly yet powerful interface. Effective noise reduction. Cool multiple-exposure and faux HDR effects. Body shaper and other powerful editing tools. Layer support. Cool AI styles. Tethered shooting support.
Cons: Not enough lens-profile corrections. Inadequate chromatic aberration correction. No geotag maps.
Bottom Line: Photo workflow and editing program CyberLink PhotoDirector offers a smooth interface and powerful capabilities. New in this version are multiple-exposure effects, more layer options, and a video-to-photo tool.
Read ReviewPhase One Capture One Pro Review
MSRP: $299.00
Pros: Excellent raw file conversion. Pleasing interface. Fast import. Good photo-adjustment toolset. Keyword tagging tool.
Cons: Some usability quirks. No online-sharing features. No face recognition. No panorama or HDR merging capabilities.
Bottom Line: Phase One Capture One offers pro and prosumer digital photographers excellent detail from raw camera files, and local adjustments including layers, but it trails in organization tools.
Read ReviewACDSee Photo Studio Professional Review
MSRP: $99.99
Pros: Full set of image editing tools. Good performance. Lens-profile-based geometry correction. Face recognition and geotagging. Good skin-improvement tools. Responsive performance. Cloud storage integration.
Cons: Interface not as polished as others. Lens-profile-based image correction tools less effective than the competition's. Weak noise and chromatic aberration tools.
Bottom Line: ACDSee's pro-level tool offers many powerful photo organizing and editing tools, but it falls short of competitors in raw camera file conversion and usability.
Read ReviewExposure Review
MSRP: $149.00
Pros: Pleasing interface. Lots of nifty effects and filters. Fast image transfer. Layers and local adjustments. Good printing options.
Cons: No auto-correction tools. Weak lens-profile corrections. No chromatic aberration correction. No face or geo-tagging.
Bottom Line: Photo-workflow application Exposure is similar to Adobe's Lightroom. It boasts lots of filter effects, but it's missing some key capabilities, such as automatic image correction.
Read ReviewSkylum Luminar Review
MSRP: $69.00
Pros: Pleasing interface. Good automatic photo fixes. Lots of filters. Local adjustments with brush and gradients. Curves. Multiple workspaces and catalogs.
Cons: Some speed and reliability issues on Windows. No Library search. Some standard controls are buried. No face recognition or keyword tagging.
Bottom Line: Skylum Luminar offers effective automatic photo enhancement, a modern interface, and some unique filters and adjustment tools. Its organization capabilities, however, fall short of the competition's.
Read Review
Best Photo Editing Software in This Roundup:
Adobe Photoshop CC Review
MSRP: $9.99Pros: Multitude of photo correction and manipulation tools. Slick interface with lots of help. Tools for mobile and web design. Rich set of drawing and typography tools. 3D design capability. Synced Libraries.
Cons: No perpetual-license option. Premium assets aren't cheap. Interface can be overwhelming at times. Lacks support for HEIC.
Bottom Line: Adobe continues to improve the world's leading photo editing software. The 2018 edition adds a new auto-select tool, raw camera profiles, loads of font and drawing capabilities, and support for the Microsoft Surface Dial.
Read ReviewAdobe Lightroom Classic Review
MSRP: $9.99Pros: Excellent photo management and organization. Camera and lens-based corrections. Brush and gradient adjustments with color and luminance masking. Face detection and tagging. Plug-in support. Connected mobile apps.
Cons: Although improved, import is still slow. Initial raw conversion is slightly more detailed in some competing products.
Bottom Line: Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom remains the gold standard in pro photo workflow software. It's a complete package, with top-notch organization tools, state of-the-art adjustments, and all the output and printing options you'd want.
Read ReviewAdobe Photoshop Elements Review
MSRP: $99.99Pros: Many powerful image-manipulation tools. Strong face- and geo-tagging capabilities. Excellent output options. Auto-tagging and powerful search options. Helpful guidance for advanced techniques.
Cons: Large disk footprint. No HEIF support on Windows. No chromatic aberration correction or lens geometry profiles. Lacks many social sharing outputs. No local help system.
Bottom Line: Adobe Photoshop Elements, our favorite consumer-level photo editor and organizer, adds AI-powered auto-curation, an open closed eyes tool, and new Guided Edits.
Read ReviewDxO PhotoLab Review
MSRP: $129.00Pros: Clear interface. Best-in-class noise reduction. Excellent autocorrection based on camera and lens characteristics. Haze remover. Geometry corrections. Powerful local adjustments.
Cons: Few workflow tools. Highest noise-reduction setting can require long waits.
Bottom Line: Though it's still not a complete photo workflow solution, DxO PhotoLab can deliver image results beyond what's possible in other photo software.
Read ReviewCorel PaintShop Pro Review
MSRP: $79.99Pros: Photoshop-like features at a lower price. Powerful effects and editing tools. Tutorials. Good assortment of vector drawing tools.
Cons: Interface can get cluttered. Ineffective chromatic aberration removal. No face or object recognition. No Mac version.
Bottom Line: Corel continues to add new photo editing possibilities to its PaintShop Pro software, making it a worthy Photoshop alternative at a budget-conscious, one-time price.
Read ReviewCyberLink PhotoDirector Review
MSRP: $99.99Pros: Friendly yet powerful interface. Effective noise reduction. Cool multiple-exposure and faux HDR effects. Body shaper and other powerful editing tools. Layer support. Cool AI styles. Tethered shooting support.
Cons: Not enough lens-profile corrections. Inadequate chromatic aberration correction. No geotag maps.
Bottom Line: Photo workflow and editing program CyberLink PhotoDirector offers a smooth interface and powerful capabilities. New in this version are multiple-exposure effects, more layer options, and a video-to-photo tool.
Read ReviewPhase One Capture One Pro Review
MSRP: $299.00Pros: Excellent raw file conversion. Pleasing interface. Fast import. Good photo-adjustment toolset. Keyword tagging tool.
Cons: Some usability quirks. No online-sharing features. No face recognition. No panorama or HDR merging capabilities.
Bottom Line: Phase One Capture One offers pro and prosumer digital photographers excellent detail from raw camera files, and local adjustments including layers, but it trails in organization tools.
Read ReviewACDSee Photo Studio Professional Review
MSRP: $99.99Pros: Full set of image editing tools. Good performance. Lens-profile-based geometry correction. Face recognition and geotagging. Good skin-improvement tools. Responsive performance. Cloud storage integration.
Cons: Interface not as polished as others. Lens-profile-based image correction tools less effective than the competition's. Weak noise and chromatic aberration tools.
Bottom Line: ACDSee's pro-level tool offers many powerful photo organizing and editing tools, but it falls short of competitors in raw camera file conversion and usability.
Read ReviewExposure Review
MSRP: $149.00Pros: Pleasing interface. Lots of nifty effects and filters. Fast image transfer. Layers and local adjustments. Good printing options.
Cons: No auto-correction tools. Weak lens-profile corrections. No chromatic aberration correction. No face or geo-tagging.
Bottom Line: Photo-workflow application Exposure is similar to Adobe's Lightroom. It boasts lots of filter effects, but it's missing some key capabilities, such as automatic image correction.
Read ReviewSkylum Luminar Review
MSRP: $69.00Pros: Pleasing interface. Good automatic photo fixes. Lots of filters. Local adjustments with brush and gradients. Curves. Multiple workspaces and catalogs.
Cons: Some speed and reliability issues on Windows. No Library search. Some standard controls are buried. No face recognition or keyword tagging.
Bottom Line: Skylum Luminar offers effective automatic photo enhancement, a modern interface, and some unique filters and adjustment tools. Its organization capabilities, however, fall short of the competition's.
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