Even if you can't afford to purchase photo editing software, you can still find free software to create and edit images. Some are developed by individuals, and some are feature limited or an earlier version of a more advanced program. In some rare instances, there are no strings attached, but most often you will need to provide information to the company by registering, or endure ads or nag screens.
Though these are all stand-alone applications you also might want to take a look at the free mobile apps from Adobe. They include:
Dubbed by BBC as the lite Photoshop, Fotor is the best free photo editing software for mac! Ranking top in Mac Store in over 80 countries, Fotor is the only image editor you need on Mac! Version: 3.4.1 (Support Mac OS X 10.7 or later) User Guide. Features Review Release Notes. Batch Processing. Save yourself editing time with Batch. Image Tricks is a fun and easy to use free image editor for Mac OS X. It is an application that encourages experimentation and offers the ability for a wide range of. Seashore (Free) is another image editor based on the GIMP’s technology, but has an interface that fits more with Mac OS X. It also focuses on providing basic image editing tools for most users. Install Movavi Photo Editor on any Apple personal computer compatible with Mac OS versions 10.7–10.13, for example, OS X Lion, OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra. The app is so easy to learn that you don’t even have to know the basics about how to edit photos on Mac.
Also don't forget there are also mobile apps from SketchGuru, Skitch, and a number of other Android and iOS imaging apps such as Instagram which gives you the ability to play with images by applying a variety of preset effects and filters to your images.
Finding the Best Photo Editing App for You
The key decision behind using any imaging application lies with what the requirements are for the task at hand. You need to closely research the product and get really clear on both the product's strengths and its weaknesses. Also, take the time to look at the work others have created with the product. For example, if you are looking to create simple graphics or to touch up family photos, then an application without a serious number of filters and effects may just fit the bill. On the other hand, if you want to do compositing and add effects then a limited feature set may not be ideal for your needs.
Also, it is important that you check out whether the application has been updated recently. A lack of updates is the first clue that this software may just be on its last legs. Also just doing a simple Google or Bing search around the application will tell you volumes. For example, Picassa, one of the apps mentioned in this piece has been withdrawn. That's the bad news. The good news is its feature set has been folded into Google Photos which is free.
GIMP for Mac OS XWhat We Like
What We Don't Like
GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the 'free Photoshop,' it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop.
Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for OS X without significant problems. GIMP is not compatible with Mac OS 9 and earlier.
Pinta
Pinta is a free pixel-based image editor for Mac OS X. One of the most interesting aspects of Pinta is that it is based on the Windows image editor Paint.NET.
Pinta offers the basic drawing tools that you'd expect from an image editor, as well as some more advanced features, such as layers and a range of image adjustment tools. These features mean that Pinta is also a viable tool for users looking for an application to allow them to edit and improve their digital photos.
Image Tricks
Image Tricks is a fun and easy to use free image editor for Mac OS X. It is an application that encourages experimentation and offers the ability for a wide range of effects to be combined and applied to pictures.
Image Tricks is an ideal application for less experienced users to achieve creative results, thanks to the range of filters and masks that are available. There is also a paid Pro version that offers more filters, though you can see the effects that they produce in the free version, without saving them.
GraphicConverter XWhat We Like
What We Don't Like
GraphicConverter is a multi-purpose graphics tool for converting, viewing, browsing, and editing hundreds of image types on the Macintosh platform. If there is a file format or image processing task that your existing software can't handle, chances are that GraphicConverter can do it if you're willing to tackle the learning curve.
GraphicConverter is a worthwhile tool to have on hand but needs some serious work in the usability department. The application is not free, but you can use the shareware without time limitation if you don't need batch processing features.
Photoshop is expensive, and while many are happy to fork out a monthly fee for Adobe’s revised Creative Cloud system, others will always turn to free software first. One thing is for sure: if you’re the proud owner of a camera that shoots raw, you really should be taking advantage of it.
I’ve trawled the Web for the best free raw processors for Mac OS X, though many of these have Windows versions too. Be aware that though these are designed to edit raw image files, that doesn’t make them good all-round image editors in general. This software is simply designed to process your raw, uncompressed exposures into something that can be viewed, shared and edited in standard software.
Manufacturer’s Software
It turns out raw files are pretty useless on their own. You can’t print them, the image you see is just a preview and they’re way too big to bother sharing as is, so instead you’ll need to process them first. This is a good thing, because it means your camera manufacturer has to provide you with something to process your images.
This usually comes in the form of first party (and sometimes third party) software on a CD, but most can also be downloaded from manufacturer support websites. Not so long ago you might have had trouble getting Mac-specific software, but thankfully this is no longer the case. This software certainly isn’t necessarily going to be as complete as Photoshop (which uses Adobe Camera RawHow To Edit RAW Photos in Adobe Camera RawHow To Edit RAW Photos in Adobe Camera RawRead More), and rarely does it even come close to Lightroom or Aperture standards.
But that’s ok, because something is better than nothing. You can find the relevant support website for downloading your manufacturer’s recommended software below:
Free Photo Editing Software Mac Os X 10.5 8
The software on offer varies in quality, but most does just fine for first-pass editing. Once you’ve adjusted your image you’ll probably want to throw it into an editor of your choice for further adjustments to be made.
The following are a selection of free third-party RAW editors for editing RAWs that have come straight off your camera, on your Mac.
RawTherapee
A true cross-platform editing monster, RawTherapee is available in 64 and 32 bit flavours for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux (including binaries for Ubuntu and Gentoo, to name but a few). The program stuffs a lot into its cost-free package, including a very high quality processing engine, multi-threading and a huge range of supported cameras and manufacturer filetypes.
Also featured are some rather special demosaicing, denoising and enhancement tools, though you should expect to spend some time inside of the manual in order to get to grips with everything. There’s a surprising amount of depth here, and while the interface does look a little cluttered compared to that used by Adobe’s Camera Raw, it’s only a matter of familiarising yourself with the sheer number of things you’ve got to play around with here.
Picture Editor
Other highlights include a tone-mapping feature for creating HDR-like photos from a single exposure, a range of tools for correcting lens distortions and a nice side-by-side before and after view so you can see what all those tweaks have achieved. You can even batch edit, and there are an exhaustive list of presets to fiddle with (and you can create your own) too. Simply too much for me to fit into this description, download RawTherapee and wallow in its free and open source goodness!
Raw Photo Processor
A very simple editor, Raw Photo Processor actually hides quite a lot of power beneath its number-heavy interface. The main thing to note here is that RPP doesn’t use sliders, instead favouring a numeral-first approach to changing parameters like exposure, contrast and even white balance. It’s a little confusing to start with, but that doesn’t mean it should be instantly discounted.
In addition to supporting a wide range of cameras, the application boasts a 4-channel white balance adjustment complete with histogram and implements compressed exposure compensation which, according to developer Andrey, is important to “preserve highlights in more film-like style instead of clipping used in traditional linear exposure compensation.”
By far the biggest thing many users will struggle with is the interface, which depends largely on a keyboard to adjust values before hitting Apply (Command+R) and seeing the changes take place. Once you’ve worked with it for five minutes, it becomes rather methodical. It’s worth noting that this package really claims to be different to the usual processors, including the pricey Photoshop, particularly for recovering badly underexposed images. That is as good a reason as any to give RPP a shot.
GIMP on OS X
Just what it says on the tin, GIMP on OS X is a version of the popular image editor known as GIMP ported to OS X. It’s still actively maintained, with full compatibility with OS X 10.8. Before you rush to the comments section to tell me that GIMP doesn’t do raw processing, think again because GIMP on OS X comes with the rather fantastic UFRaw plugin pre-installed and ready to go out of the box.
That means you not only get a standard image editor in the form of GIMP, but a free RAW processor that integrates nicely too. Simply open a raw file with GIMP and the UFRaw plugin will launch, allowing you to manipulate exposure, white balance, contrast as well as applying curves and various greyscale models. I’m not a massive fan of GIMP myself, but UFRaw left me rather impressed with the relative ease with which results can be achieved.
If Raw Photo Processor is for those of you processing with mathematical accuracy, GIMP on OS X with UFRaw is aimed more at users who want to move the sliders around and experiment with the UI. Being able to drop your image straight into GIMP and crop, straighten and export straight up is a nice add-on – and that’s coming from someone who gets headaches just looking at the GIMP interface.
Steer Clear of PicasaPicture Editor For Mac Free
It’s true that Google’s free image editor Picasa does process raw images, but that’s where the good news ends. Picasa does not invite you to get hands on with the raw conversion process, it merely converts your 12 or 14 bit image into a standard 8 bit JPEG, before offering up the usual enhancements you can perform on any old image. The conversion is done before you get a chance to edit anything, so if you’re only editing your raw files in Picasa, you might as well be shooting in JPEG.
Download Photo Editor For Mac
Picasa was designed to make working with raw (and image processing in general) easy. Rather than scare users with thousands of sliders and corrections, Google decided to implement simple raw conversion and the standard editing options that come with the program. Picasa isn’t bad for editing lossy JPEGs, but it’s not going to do your raw files justice, so steer clear. For more information, check out Sergiy Kyrylkov’s comparison between Picasa and Lightroom.
Unfortunately, there’s not an awful lot else to choose from when it comes to free raw processors for OS X, though these three third-party efforts should suffice in case the tools that came with your camera simply don’t cut the mustard.
And if you’re on the lookout for image viewer apps for your MacThe 5 Best Mac Image Viewer Apps With Unique FeaturesThe 5 Best Mac Image Viewer Apps With Unique FeaturesLooking for a more powerful image viewer for your Mac? Have a look at these choices that provide lots of flexibility.Read More, we have a few excellent apps to recommend:
Image credit: PlaceIt.Breezi.com
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