Images speak a thousand words. Whether it be in capturing memories of loved ones or cherishing ones we want to keep with us all through our lives, photographs cradle that important bridge linking us from the present to incidents of the past. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, editing a photo before you store it or upload it to an image sharing site is second nature to us today
A good edit can bring to life aspects of an image which would otherwise go unnoticed, help bring focus to the object being photographed, change the lighting to suit a mood…and so much more. A good photo-editing application helps you do just that and, in the process, turn a picture into one that is truly incredible.
A question anyone looking to dabble into image editing might have is what software will best fit their natural creativity in allowing them to bring a moment to life. From free options like Gimp to subscriptions options like the Adobe Photography suit, there are numerous products in the market today that you might find helpful in your creative pursuits. So, in answering your question to, “What are the best photo editing software?”, we have compiled a list of options that will supplant you with the best tools software currently has to offer.
One cannot compile a list of the best photo editing software without including this product from Adobe. If the majority of your photo editing endeavours are in enhancing an image rather than adding external aspects to it, Lightroom is a software you should be looking at. It is very intuitive and comes with a host of very powerful features and presets, mainly for colour correction and photo editing where admittedly photoshop lags. On the subject of photoshop, it is also worth mentioning that Lightroom is much simpler to learn and master and can add incredible enhancements to an image. It is the best-taken advantage of when used alongside Photoshop.
Currently the most widely used software by professionals for photo editing, it includes all the features one might find necessary for colour correction, image restoration, design and digital drawing and does all of them extremely well. It has regular updates and an incredible number of functions and tools that allow you to add beautiful effects, corrections, customizations as well as external features to an image. It is the standard software in the industry for photo editing software, however, it is not a perfect product by any means. It’s the user interface, functions and features are quite complicated giving rise to difficulty in mastering the same for beginners. However, once that step is out of the way, it can be your tool in making unlimited customizations according to your creative sense.
Though Luminar is relatively new in the photo editing space, it has quickly gained a lot of ground. This can be attributed to a host of different and very useful features such as, AI-augmented editing slider which automatically fixes the brightness, contrast, focus, toning, etc. in your photos to the extent you like. It is a one-stop-solution to all your photo editing needs and is also very intuitive and easy to learn. It can also be used standalone or integrated into Photoshop, Lightroom or Apple Photos. Also worth noting are its incredible filters, such as the exclusive Sunrays filter which adds realistic sun rays to your image, Orton filter to blur parts of the image while leaving others in focus and a single upfront payment in purchasing the software, all contribute in making Luminar a great addition to your creative space.
Previously known as Light phase Capture, this software from the camera manufacturing company, Phase One, in very unique in its own ways. It allows for professional-level manipulation of colour, retouching, etc. and also comes equipped with a host of presets which help speed up the workflow. As for peculiarities, however, it is best to point out that the software works best with cameras from Phase One. This software, powerful as it is, is very resource-heavy like photoshop and has quite a complex user interface.
ON1 Photo RAW is a combination of Lighroom’s simplicity and Capture One Pro’s toolset. It is well equipped to tackle challenging editing endeavours, allowing users to perform a host of edits such as photo defect correction, colour correction, photo retouching, etc. Its limited toolset as compared to Photoshop and slow operation might be a disadvantage for certain users, however, it does include all of the most important features one might need in editing a photo and its interface, though confusing at first, is pretty easy to learn. As for disadvantages, the software sometimes lags and takes longer to export when running in the background.
Do let us know which photo/video editing software do you use?
