Skip to main content

Do you want professional photo editing software on Mac or Windows so that you can perfect your photos? Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, editing your photos before uploading them to your photography website is essential. In this guide, we’ll share the best photo editing software for photographers.

The best photo editing software can help to bring focus to an image, highlight your key subjects and transform an average picture into something truly incredible.

But the question for most photographers is: how do you choose the right editing software to supplement your skills?

There are countless different photo editing software options, from better-known systems like Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom to simple but effective choices like Canva. There’s even some great free options, too.

So, in today’s post we’ll find out once and for all, “what is the best photo editing software for photographers?” We’ll look at:

  • Today’s free and paid top-rated software
  • Features of each software
  • How maximize your software options

Let’s get started!

Why Should You Edit Your Photos?

Photo editing is part of the job if you’re a photographer. Through editing, you can make your already stunning photos even more perfect by adjusting metrics like exposure, white balance and color. 

Plus, editing your photos helps to reduce the size of your image files. This is especially important if you plan on posting your images online to your photography website or to a social media account. Smaller images will improve your WordPress sites’ loading speed, which will in turn improve your search engine rankings. And, smaller image files post faster and with better quality on your social accounts.

So, photo editing is a win for you all around!

Having an intuitive and easy-to-use photo editing software can help you save time on photo editing while taking your images to the next level.

Let’s take a look at some of the best photo editing software available online today. We’ll be evaluating these software on three core principles:

  1. Ease of Use
  2. Functionality
  3. Opportunities for Expansion

In other words, how intuitive are these programs to learn? What capabilities do they have — and not have — as photo editors? And finally, do they offer opportunities to expand their functionality through additions like plugins or presets?

Without further ado, let’s see what these photo editing software have to offer!

1. Adobe Lightroom

01-lightroom

2. Skylum Luminar

02-luminar

3. Adobe Photoshop

03-photoshop

4. DxO PhotoLab 4

04-dxo-photolab4

5. ON1 Photo RAW

05-on1-photo-raw

6. Corel PaintShop Pro

06-paintshop-pro

7. ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate

07-acdsee

8. GIMP

08-gimp

9. Canva

09-canva

10. PicMonkey

10-pic-monkey

11. Pixlr Editor

11-pixlr

12. Snappa

12-snappa

13. PortraitPro

13-portraitpro21

14. Fotor

14-fotor

15. Inkscape

15-inkscape

16. Capture One

16-capture-one

17. Serif Affinity Photo

17-affinity-photo

We hope this guide has helped you to find the range of photo editing software for photographers. Let us know your experience with these picks in the comments!

Be sure to check out our most popular articles.

If you like this guide, then join our email list on the right side of this page and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more free photography tips.

Leave a Reply