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.
If you’re looking for an amazing free photo editor and you don’t want to purchase expensive software like Photoshop, you have many choices.
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
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
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.
- 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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Whether you would like to make music for fun or would like to be a professional songwriter, a good songwriting software can help you in creating beautiful music. You don’t need to have a band, as these applications have features that could give you background accompaniment. With this, you can create songs at the comforts of your home and while on the road. Some of these programs are available for free, while others need to be purchased.
10. Easy Songwriter
Easy Songwriter is an easy to use program that helps in the step-by-step creation of your song. Whether you are a professional or a beginner, this would be useful for you. If you do not have a band or you don’t know how to play an instrument, you can still compose your own song. Demo tracks can be created as if you’re on a music studio. It offers several features including multi-track recorder, reverb special effects, change tempo, channel mixer and track synchronizer. If there is a part of the song that you wish to change, this can be easily done with this program. You can edit a specific part until you are happy with the result.
9. Virtual Music Composer
Virtual Music Composer is a free software that you can install on computers running Windows 7, XP, Vista and 2000. It creates a new music depending on the choices you make. Choose the key signatures, scales, motif modes and phase modes and wait for the application to compose a new theme for you. You can get inspiration from the new music it creates, which can help you in composing your own song. You don’t have to be a computer wizard to use this as it has a simple and user friendly interface.
8. ChordPulse
With 102 music styles, 16 chord types and more features that can help you in songwriting, as well as practicing, this is one of the finest programs that music lovers can use. A 14 day free trial is available. Once the free trial is over, you can continue using the application by purchasing it for $24.95. Create music or practice even without a backup band as it offers full accompaniment, chords only background, as well as drum machine. Some of the features that you can enjoy are changing of song key, tempo and chords, optional fade out, repeat specific parts, master tune and backing music export to midi file.
7. Ableton Suite
This is one of the best applications that you can try. This is perfect not only for songwriters but for everyone that needs to create or modify music like DJs and beat creators. It has tons of features that even professionals would find amazing. Some of its fantastic features include 1,600 expressive sounds, new effect racks, sounds objects lite, construction kits, thousands of presets and song templates. You can also take advantage of its MIDI modulation section, extract groove patterns, endless overdubs, first loop sync, overdrive, limiter, crossfades, multi-track recording and built-in software instruments.
6. Chord Miner
If you love playing the guitar and you would like to compose your own music with it, Chord Miner is a useful application for you. Get access to more than 7000 chords, including chords of popular songs. If you are curious about the chords used on a specific song, you can search its long list of chords to find what you are looking for. You can get inspiration from these songs. You can also rearrange the chords or make your own interpretation using the application.
5. Song Bank
No, this is not the bank that you go to if you want to deposit or withdraw some money. Song Bank is a free application from Nickersoft Corporation that lets you save, organize, enhance, as well as create digital copies of songs you make. Add more information to your songs including the album title, inspiration and instruments used on the songs. You can also add artwork from the album that they belong to. It also comes with a built in rhyming dictionary that you can use for finding words that rhyme with specific words on your lyrics. Songs can then be easily shared or exported on e-mail or other sites.
4. 4 Chord Songs
This is another free songwriting application, which was developed by Flextron Bt. Experiment and get inspiration for your new music by selecting 4 chords and choosing your preferences on various settings including the music style and accompanying instruments like piano, guitar, bass and drums. There are also preset chords that you can try. There are 50 music styles to select from such as jazz, pop, Latin and swing. The program is compatible with computers running Windows 7, Vista and XP.
3. Lyricist
This is one of the ultimate songwriting applications that you can use. It combines all the features you need in a songwriting program including song database, editing features and dictionary for rhyming words. There is no need to use different applications as Lyricist offers everything you need. Get this application for $54.95 and enjoy creating and experimenting new songs. It comes with 4,080 guitar chord symbols that you can easily insert on your music. Format the text of your lyrics based on your own preference. Each time you write new songs, the lyrics will have the same format. Organize your songs by placing them in the album that they belong to. This makes searching easier. Furthermore, you can open an album to have access to all the songs under it. It also offers a feature to copyright your songs online.
2. Masterwriter
This is a dictionary software that is a useful tool for songwriters, as well as poets. You can get this program for $199. Well known musicians and songwriters like David Foster and Rob Thomas use Masterwriter in writing their songs. One of the most important components of a great song are its lyrics. With this application, you’ll never find yourself running out of the right words to add on your song.
1. TuneSmith
This is a free application that is available for computers running Mac OS X 10.6 and later. Write and edit songs easily with its lyrics editor. Manage songwriting and song information including copyrights and cover artists. Purchase the Rhyme Genie plug-in to make songwriting even more convenient.