Today's best Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 deals
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. Look no further than our list of the best Mac apps available around the internet, from excellent productivity tools to social media apps, entertainment, and security software! Whatever you need.
Editor's Note: Photoshop Elements 2019 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 Photoshop Elements 2018.
With Adobe serving as an industry leader in photo editing software, it is no surprise that Photoshop Elements 2018 is the best Mac photo editing software. This easy-to-use program has a variety of standard and professional tools, as well as access to a quality photo manager. With its editing tools, sharing capabilities and support options, this is the best photo editing software for Mac users.
Adobe sells this software for $99.99, but we were also able to find it selling cheaper on Amazon. It is one of the most expensive programs in our review, but considering it is an Adobe product that doesn’t require a subscription, it's pretty well priced. If you're not sure if this program will fit your needs, check out the 30-day free trial.
Elements 2018’s editing tools are scattered between its three editing modes: Guided, Quick and Expert. You can switch from one mode to another at any time without having to close your project. Each mode has preset options and specialty tools.
The Guided mode is ideal for beginners, as it teaches you how to complete common editing tasks using step-by-step tutorials. For example, this mode contains instructions on how to remove an object, as well as a tutorial that teaches you to adjust settings to create desired effects. In addition to being a great resource for beginners, advanced editors can use the Guided mode to refresh their understanding and learn skills they may not know.
This mode houses several of the standard editing tools, including red eye removal, crop and selection tools. It also contains unique tools like one that removes red eye on pets. This tool is specially calibrated for animals and is used like the normal red eye tool.
The Quick Edit mode has a dropdown menu with common corrections for lighting and color. This mode allows you to make quick edits to your photos such as adjusting the contrast and brightness.
In the Expert mode, you have unrestricted access to all of the program’s tools, creative filters and effects. The software has over 90 filters you can apply to your photos, changing the texture and color of your images. The program has a variety of basic and advanced features, including background removal and lens distortion corrections.
It also has a selection of tools not found in other Mac photo editing software. The Content Aware Fill tool allows you to select an object in your photo and move it somewhere else. The content-aware function then fills in the hole where the object was. This tool is handy when you want to reposition the people or objects in your picture.
Elements 2018 also has several automatic edit options, including Auto Tone. This tool automatically corrects the lighting and color tones in your picture. It also remembers your preferred output settings and adjusts the auto corrections according to your most common edits.
Photoshop Elements does not come with a built-in photo organizer. Instead, it comes packaged with Adobe Elements Organizer 2018, a separate photo organizing software. While this program makes it easy to manage, sort and rate photos, switching back and forth from one program to another becomes cumbersome. If you'd prefer a program that has an organizer built into it, you might be interested in CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra.
Using Elements Organizer 2018, you can create custom groups and albums to sort your photos in. You can then categorize your photos by criteria like ranking, name, date and time. The program comes equipped with an advanced image search, so you can find your photos later on.
This photo editor for Mac is compatible with most image files. You can open and edit RAW images, as well as JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD and PDF files. The software is compatible with 10 image file formats and helps you optimize your images for the web.
You can choose from a variety of sharing options when using this Mac photo editor. If you want to share your edited pictures directly to social media sites from the software, you can use it to post to Flickr, Twitter and Facebook. There are even more sharing options in Elements Organizer 2018, which gives you the option of emailing your photos or creating slideshows and posting them directly to YouTube. With Elements Organizer 2018, you can also store pictures and albums in the cloud. This allows you to access your photos anywhere you have internet access.
Photoshop Elements 2018 is powerful Mac photo editing software. This full-featured program guides you as you are first learning how to edit photos and grows with you as your skills develop. If you are looking for a program that maintains its usability and offers plenty of support, Elements 2018 is worth consideration.
Today's best Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 deals
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
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
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.
Free Mac Image Editor
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
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
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
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
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
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
Best Free Photo Editor Download
A comprehensive browser-based photo editor for quick results
Pixlr X is the successor to Pixlr Editor, which was one of our favorite free online photo editors for many years.
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
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. PiZap
A fun photo editor for preparing your pictures for social media
Best Photo Editors For Mac
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.
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.
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