Photo editing apps forMac
Here’s our pick of the six best digital darkrooms to choose from
Finding the right photo–editing app for you can be a challenge, as different photographers will have different requirements. You may want to quickly boost an iPhone snap’s colors and tweak its tones before sharing on social media. Alternatively, you might capture photos on a high–end camera like a digital SLR and need to counteract lens–induced distortions, remove color fringing, and smooth out luminance noise before selling your shots as prints or on stock photo sites.
If you’re a pro photographer, you may need an app that lets you edit in raw format so you can squeeze more detail from over– or under–exposed areas. Or you may be happy to shoot, edit, and share in compressed JPEG format and not need to worry about working with raw files. Whatever the case, finding the right tool can sometimes take a great deal of work.
Adobe Photoshop has continued to lead the charge as the industry– standard photo–editing app, but now there’s a horde of comparable ones. Indeed, some of the apps here boast tools present in the full version of Photoshop, yet cost less because they only charge a one–off fee.
All the apps tested are capable of darkroom techniques, such as cropping to improve image composition and selectively fixing exposure problems. Some have simple workspaces that will let you hit the ground running; others will require you to explore tabs and menus to discover powerful photo– manipulation tools. This group test is designed to help you find an app that will suit you, whatever your needs.