Best Free Raw Photo Editor Mac

Movavi Photo Editor – Most Popular Software. Users sometimes use a RAW photo editing software to edit multiple photos at once, some RAW editing software feature sync edit options to copy specific changes you’ve made to one photo to another, which saves you the time to repeat all the changes you. Best for: Editing digital images OS: macOS. Price: Free trial, then $39.95. This JPEG / RAW Editor & Manager can be used and synced across iOS devices for advanced RAW real-time editing. This conversion software for Mac allows you to rate, flag, filter, organize, and manage your photos with an extensive suite of editing features. Sep 15, 2021 How to edit RAW images? Picking a professional RAW photo editor is the answer. Let’s have a look at the 6 best RAW photo editors, both free and paid. 4 Free RAW Photo Editors #Darktable. Darktable is an open-source, free RAW photo editor available for Linux, Mac, Windows, and more.

Raw image editor. This is a work in progress, I still have lots of work to do on it. If you have any suggestion, feedback, wants specific camera support, found a bug, please report them on the github page. A simple raw image editor that support NEF, DNG, Jpeg, Png, Tiff, pentax, sony, canon, panasonic. It allows viewing, basic editing and saving. Chasys Draw IES. Chasys Draw IES is another good image editor software that supports Raw image formats. You can easily open and carry out Raw image editing here. This Raw image is absolutely free to use and can help you carry out a wide range of editing on images.

Whether you’re a professional photographer or just need to occasionally crop or add some text to an image, it’s important to choose the best photo editing apps for your mac.

Good image editing software will make it quick and easy for you to adjust the look of your photos and create simple graphics for your website and social media.

For simple photo editing, there are plenty of free apps to choose from. If you’re really into your photography or graphic design, you might want to pay for more professional software to access premium features.

Either way, we’ve rounded up some of the best photo editing apps for Mac in 2021 to help you choose.

1. Apple Photos & Preview (Best Free Apps for Quick Edits and Photo Management)

We’ll start with the easiest and most obvious tool, as it’s free and comes pre-installed with MacOS.

Photos is more of an image management tool, but you can use it to make simple edits to your photos (including RAW files) such as resizing, cropping, rotating, adjusting colors and contrast, and applying pre-set filters.

Windows 10 raw photo editor

You can also use the one-click enhancer to automatically adjust and improve your photos.

All users get access to 5GB of free cloud storage and you can upgrade for more for a small monthly fee. The app will also sync across multiple devices. This makes Photos a useful tool for backup as well as editing.

Apart from the Photos app, another useful free app that comes pre-installed on Macs is Preview.

The editing function of Preview isn’t too obvious so many users don’t know it’s there. But it’s a very handy way to make quick changes to your photos such as resizing, adjusting colors, and adding text and simple shapes.

Price: Free

More info:

2. Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom (Best Pro Image Editing Tools for Photographers)

We’ve bundled these tools together because they’re now available together under a monthly subscription plan. Although you can pay for them separately, it’s not any cheaper.

Photoshop has been the undisputed king of photo editing apps since the ‘90s, and no professional digital artist or designer would be without it.

Whatever you want to do with your images or whatever kind of graphic you want to create, you can do it with Photoshop.

In fact, this app is so powerful and well known that “Photoshop” has become a verb. We no longer talk about “editing” photos to remove a blemish from a selfie or replace a dull background with a more appealing one. Instead we “Photoshop” them.

However, the tool is not without its downsides. The software is resource-intensive and can run slowly on older macs or those that don’t have a lot of memory. Opening up Photoshop is overkill if you just want to make a quick edit.

It’s also not exactly the cheapest option but for many people who are serious about image manipulation, it’s the only choice.

While Photoshop is the ultimate app for image manipulation, most photographers prefer working in Lightroom for more subtle edits. It’s not the tool for advanced photo retouching down to the pixel, but it’s perfect for adjusting the overall color balance, tone, and contrast of your images.

In Lightroom, you can record a series of edits, called a preset, and batch-apply this preset to several images to speed up your workflow.

This app is also one of the best choices for organizing your photos, and if you’re using the Cloud based version it’s a useful tool for backup too.

Pricing

Adobe moved from a traditional software model a few years back and Photoshop is now only available as a “Creative Cloud” subscription. You can still use Lightroom as the “Classic” non-cloud version but need to pay a monthly subscription to access it regardless.

A Creative Cloud subscription starts from $9.99 a month, which includes Photoshop for desktop and iPad, the cloud and Classic versions of Lightroom, and 20GB of cloud storage.

For Lightroom only, you can opt for a plan that includes 1TB of cloud storage for $9.99 a month.

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There’s also a Photoshop-only subscription for $20.99 a month, which includes 100GB of cloud storage and a drawing and painting app called Adobe Fresco.

For those who like Photoshop but don’t need the full suite of editing tools, Photoshop Elements is an alternative to consider. This software costs $99.99 as a one-off payment with no monthly subscription needed.

More info and download:

  • Creative Cloud Photoshop Lightroom

3. Affinity Photo (Best Budget Alternative to Photoshop)

Affinity Photo is a great budget alternative to Photoshop and has become more popular since Adobe changed to a subscription-only pricing model.

As well as all the editing features you’d expect, Affinity includes professional tools such as HDR merge, panorama stitch, and 360-degree image editing. You can also edit PSD files with full layer integrity, plugin support, and smart object import.

Affinity Photo is a cross-platform application that has full file format compatibility so you can work across multiple devices including Mac, Windows, and iPad.

Like Photoshop, there’s a learning curve to making full use of the app and it may be too advanced for those just wanting to do basic edits. But for anyone looking for a cheaper alternative for working with existing PSD files, it’s an excellent choice.

Pricing: $24.99 for the Mac version. The iPad app is an additional $9.99.

4. GIMP (Free Alternative to Photoshop)

GIMP is often described as the open-source version of Photoshop, and its suite of advanced editing tools is certainly more than what you’d expect from free software.

As it’s open-source, there are also a lot of third-party plugins available to extend its functionality and provide filters and tools for speeding up your workflow.

However, while GIMP may be powerful, it’s not the most user-friendly app on this list. There are also very few tutorials (official and user-created) compared to other software.

This app also has its own scripting language that you can use to automatically run a series of edits on a batch of photos, much like Lightroom actions. But the process of setting this up is pretty intimidating if you don’t have any coding experience.

GIMP is definitely a tool for the technically inclined. If you don’t mind spending the time to learn and the unappealing user interface, you can do a lot with it. But it’s not as advanced as Photoshop and lacks a mobile version for on-the-go edits.

Pricing: Free

5. Pixelmator (Good Budget All-Rounder)

Pixelmator is a very popular and easy-to-use image editing app for Mac that’s also very affordable.

This app comes in two versions: Classic and Pro. Classic is still available and includes all the tools you’d expect from an image editor including making selections, adjusting colors, retouching, adding effects, and adding your own text, vector shapes, and freehand painting. This version is no longer being actively developed.

The Pixelmator team is now concentrating on the Pro tool, which includes additional and enhanced features such as non-destructive workflow, a new painting engine with dual-texture brushes and advanced blending, and enhancements for fast performance.

Pricing: Pixelmator Classic is currently available for $4.99, while Pixelmator Pro is normally $39.99 but is on sale for $19.99 at the time of writing

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6. Luminar (Best AI Tool for One-click Image Enhancement)

Luminar is an AI-powered editing tool that can help to improve your photography by making automatic tweaks guided by its internal algorithms. This means that it’s very easy for beginners to use to improve their photos without needing to learn how to make advanced photo edits.

You can also use Luminar to carry out more sophisticated changes such as replacing the sky in landscapes and adding effects like sunrays and digital fog, and perfecting skin and features in portrait photography.

Luminar is a great choice for anyone who wants to make their photos look more impressive at the click of a button. But while it has all the basic editing options, it’s probably not the best choice if you dislike auto-edits and filters and prefer to have more fine control over edits.

Side note: The popular free AI-powered photo-editing app Photolemur is no longer available and is now part of Luminar AI.

Pricing: From $73.70 for a single computer license for Luminar 4. Luminar AI costs an additional $108.90, which includes a license for two computers.

7. Fotor (Free Basic Editor with Upgrade Option)

If you’re looking for a free photo-editing app with basic functionality, you might want to give Fotor a try. This app is the perfect antidote to complicated software with dozens of options. You can also install it on multiple devices.

Fotor includes all the basic photo editing tools you need to adjust the color, contrast, sharpness, and saturation of your images. You can also apply photo effect filters in a single click and use the portrait retouching tools to enhance your pictures of people.

There’s also a suite of design tools so you can easily add borders, stickers, and text to create photo collages, graphics, posters, flyers, and more. The app includes thousands of pre-designed templates that you can edit as needed.

Pricing: Fotor Basic is free to download and use. Fotor Pro is also available from $8.99 a month. This version includes advanced editing tools and more photo effects, layouts, and templates.

8. PhotoScape X (Simple Free Image Editor & GIF Creator)

PhotoScape X is another free image editing tool that makes it easy for you to adjust and enhance your photos.

The software comes with a number of filters and photo effects to create artistic looks with your photography. There are also hundreds of frames and patterns to create graphics, and a collage and cut out tool.

You can edit your RAW images with this app, and it also includes a handy GIF creator.

Price: Free

9. Movavi Picverse (Best for Photo Restoration)

Movavi Picverse Photo Editor is an easy-to-use image editing app. It’s designed to meet the needs of beginners and professional photographers alike.

Its AI-powered tools make it quick and easy to enhance your photos, remove or replace image backgrounds, remove objects from images, and restore scratches, stains, and noise from scans of old photos.

You can apply one of hundreds of filters to change the look and effect of your photos instantly.

There’s also a suite of advanced photo retouching tools for improving portraits including removing blemishes, applying makeup, and enhancing smiles.

Pricing: $59.95

What is the Best Photo Editing App for Mac?

So, how to decide on the best photo editing software for you? You must first consider how much you’re willing to pay for it.

The free Photos tool that comes pre-installed on your Mac will do just fine for basic edits, or you can use a free app like PhotoScapeX or Fotor for more filters and options.

When you want to get into serious photo manipulations, you’ll need a tool that has a more advanced suite of editing tools.

If you have a spare $10 a month, check out the Photoshop/Lightroom combo. There’s no doubt this will help your images look amazing. If you’re making money from your photography, it’s worth the investment.

For those on a more modest budget, try Affinity Photo or Pixelmator Pro. They’re both impressively powerful for a very low one-off cost.

Artificial intelligence technology has made it possible to instantly improve your photos in a single click. You can also achieve tasks such as removing unwanted objects or people from your photos in a fraction of the time it would take you to do manually. If you want an AI-powered image editing app, take a look at Luminar or Movavi Picverse.

Do you take a lot of photos on your phone and post them directly to social media? Or prefer working on the go from your iPad? If so, it makes sense to choose an app that has cross-platform support. Photoshop, Affinity Photos, and Pixelmator all include cloud syncing tools. This means you can access your images and edit on mobile devices.

Best Free Raw Photo Editor Mac Free

You might also want to take a look at our list of web-based photo editing tools. You can use these services to make quick edits on most devices.

  • January 02, 2021
  • 28 min to read

A comprehensive review of the best RAW photo editors on the market

There are many RAW photo editors available, and they get better every year. It can be hard and time-consuming to try all of them, so we’ve tried them for you and come up with a list of the best RAW photo editors you should consider right now.

Professional photographers shoot in RAW to preserve as much detail as possible. They want high-resolution images with a wide dynamic range, natural-looking colors, and sharp details. RAW files are large files that need powerful editors. A good RAW photo editor is able to edit RAW files while preserving image quality and color accuracy.

The first criterion in choosing a RAW photo editor is how good the RAW processor is and how well it renders the RAW data. But there are also other criteria to consider, such as support for batch processing, digital asset management, preset libraries, layers and masks, and local editing tools. Practicality is also important. Consider system requirements, processing speed, the user interface and workflow, and, of course, the price.

Because RAW editors are sophisticated software that require a long time to develop, you’ll hardly find free RAW photo editors. The only free editors on our list are darktable and RawTherapee, cross-platform image processing programs with enthusiastic communities around them. Nevertheless, all paid RAW photo editors on this list offer free trials that allow you to test them before buying.

The best RAW photo editors on the market

1. Luminar AI

Released at the end of 2021, Luminar AI is a RAW photo editor that includes AI-based technology. Yes, it provides support for most RAW file formats and all the basic adjustments you need, but it also provides content-aware automatic adjustments. Its smart features and friendly interface have already convinced many professional photographers to become Skylum Ambassadors.

Luminar’s AI-based features analyze your images and make decisions based on their contents. Luminar AI recognizes objects and people and applies custom adjustments for different types of pictures. It includes AI-based features for sky replacement, skin and portrait enhancement, structure enhancement, general image enhancement, and adding sun rays.

Moreover, Luminar AI comes with more than 70 built-in presets, called Looks, that provide easy access to the most popular artistic styles. You can also create your own presets and download Signature Looks designed by renowned photographers from the Luminar Marketplace.

Luminar AI allows you to fine-tune every aspect of an image, which is great because in RAW editing, every detail counts. Luminar works with layers and masks and provides easy tools for controlling opacity and blending modes. The workflow is fluid and easy to learn, and you’ll find features such as batch processing, adjustment synchronization, digital asset management, and image rating and labeling.

Luminar AI works as standalone software, a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, and an extension for Apple Photos. It’s available for Mac and Windows and costs $89.

2. Aurora HDR

Aurora HDR was the first Skylum solution for RAW photo editing and is one of the most appreciated HDR photo editors. It’s the perfect choice if you want to create images with a wide dynamic range. Aurora provides tools for bracket merging that create high-quality images without halos, chromatic aberrations, or artifacts. It also includes basic tools such as color toning, a polarizer filter, detail enhancer, and LUT mapping.

Like Luminar 4, Aurora HDR makes use of AI technology to separate noise from detail and deliver exquisite denoising and detail enhancing tools. As Aurora is a RAW photo editor, its support for layers and masks is especially useful. Also useful are the presets designed in collaboration with professional photographers, which deliver amazing effects in seconds.

In terms of practical features, Aurora HDR offers batch processing, support for most popular cameras, and the ability to run as standalone software or a plugin for Adobe and Apple products. Aurora HDR is available for Windows and Mac and costs $110.

3. Adobe Lightroom

Due to its prestigious producer, Adobe Lightroom has been the standard in RAW photo editing for a long time. But it has lost many fans since Adobe introduced the monthly subscription plan. Yes, Lightroom is a RAW photo editor that gives you access to cloud space and synchronizes your edits across all your devices. But it’s expensive, and people have started to look for cheaper alternatives. Adobe Lightroom costs $9.99 per month, which means almost $120 per year. That’s more than other software costs for a lifetime license.

For this money, Adobe Lightroom offers endless sharing capabilities, image synchronization, exquisite image management tools, and easy-to-use image editing tools. It also has many presets, and you can find more in the large Adobe community, which also offers books, tutorials, and video materials.

Adobe Lightroom is available for Windows and Mac, but check the system requirements before you buy it because it requires relatively new operating system versions.

4. ACDSee Photo Studio

ACDsee is known for its image organizing software, but its latest products show that it has become a powerful competitor on the photo editor market. Photo Studio is a complete editing solution that includes RAW processing, image editing tools, and the amazing ACDSee digital asset management.

ACDSee Photo Studio Professional 2021 supports more than 500 camera models and offers RAW editing tools such as LUTs, non-destructive color grading, lens corrections, noise and haze removal, contrast and brightness adjustments, layers and masks, selection tools, and local adjustments. It’s fast and supports many file formats, offers batch processing, and has a lot of tools for zooming, previewing, and reviewing images. In terms of the interface and image management, it’s one of the best RAW photo editors.

ACDSee Photo Studio Professional 2021 is available only for Windows. There’s also a separate ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 6. You can choose between a monthly subscription at $8.90 and a lifetime license for $99.95.

5. PhotoDirector 365

With PhotoDirector 365, Cyberlink aims to deliver a photo editor that accumulates the functionalities of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom at a better price. PhotoDirector 365 supports many RAW file formats and provides AI-based tools for image retouching, layer editing, and presets.

This software is aimed at a wide variety of users, from professional photographers to the general public. It mixes powerful content-aware image adjustments with tools for making videos out of images, frame templates, and 360-degree photo editing. Delivering a wide variety of features isn’t always the best idea, however. Professional photographers are more interested in color accuracy, noise reduction, and detail preservation than in applying brushstrokes that simulate painting styles.

But despite the features unrelated to RAW editing, PhotoDirector 365 is very good at recovering blurred images, eliminating haze and fog, and retouching portraits. It also provides image management tools, cloud storage, and additional products such as special effects and dedicated plugins.

PhotoDirector 365 is available for Windows and Mac and costs $74.99.

6. Capture One Pro 2021

Capture One develops a RAW photo editor that supports many RAW file formats and has dedicated versions for Fuji and Sony camera users. Capture One Pro 2021 is a complete photo editing solution for all cameras, and it provides tools for image editing and management.

While Capture One Pro 2021 isn’t very easy to learn and use, once you get to know it, you’ll have full control over every aspect of your images. This software’s features range from tools for basic image adjustments (fixing exposure, color, and contrast) to HDR tools, advanced color adjustments, and presets. Essential for a RAW editor, Capture One Pro 2021 works with layers and masks and provides non-destructive editing.

Capture One Pro 2021 is a powerful photo editor even if its workflow isn’t for beginners. It provides lens and camera profiles, lens correction, high color accuracy, and tools for printing and creative artwork. All these features come with a price, however: Capture One Pro 2021 costs $27 per month. It’s available for Windows and Mac.

7. DxO PhotoLab

Like Capture One Pro, DxO PhotoLab is a complex RAW photo editor for professional photographers. It focuses on color accuracy and camera compatibility. DxO PhotoLab matches the rendering of over 60 camera models and provides optical corrections and custom lens profiles.

Among its best features are exquisite color tools such as ICC profiles, Moiré removal, and the new HSL tool, more than 40 presets, haze removal based on colorimetric component analysis, noise removal that’s been optimized to process RAW files at high speed, and local adjustments. DxO PhotoLab is an editor for color perfectionists and aims to satisfy the most demanding professionals.

DxO PhotoLab provides digital asset management with all you need for organizing images in a neat interface. It’s available for Windows and Mac and costs $140.

8. PaintShop Pro

PaintShop Pro is one of Corel’s solutions for photo editing that includes RAW functionalities. Keeping to Corel’s long tradition in graphic design, PaintShop Pro provides not only photo editing tools but also graphic design tools. So if you want tools for creating artistic compositions, drawing, and painting onto images, PaintShop Pro is the best editor for you.

In terms of RAW photo editing, PaintShop Pro offers a powerful RAW processor, lens correction, HDR editing, geometric transformations, basic adjustments for image retouching, and layers and masks. It doesn’t have too many filters and presets, but it offers support for third-party plugins such as the NiK Collection from DxO and Topaz Labs plugins. This may cover the need for extra features, but these plugins come with an additional cost.

In terms of useful functionalities, PaintShop Pro doesn’t have digital asset management, but it does provide batch processing and support for many file formats. PaintShop Pro is easy to learn and has a customizable workspace. But if you don’t need graphic design tools, they’ll only slow you down.

PaintShop Pro is available only for Windows and costs $79.

9. AfterShot Pro

Best Free Photo Editing Programs

Another RAW photo editing solution from Corel is AfterShot Pro. Designed to compete with Adobe Lightroom, AfterShot Pro focuses on increasing processing speed while delivering high-quality images.

Unlike PaintShop Pro, however, AfterShot Pro is dedicated to photography. This means is has RAW camera profiles, lens corrections, a large library of presets, and highlight recovery for images with a wide dynamic range. It also provides efficient digital asset management and integrates with other editors. In exchange, it doesn’t have graphic design tools.

In terms of RAW photo editing, we’re more interested in color accuracy, noise reduction, and HDR tools than in drawing tools. Still, the advanced selection tools provided by Corel’s programs are always welcome for local adjustments and subtle image retouching.

AfterShot Pro is a better option than PaintShop Pro for RAW editing. It’s also more expensive, as it costs $99.99. But if you compare it with Adobe Lightroom, you’ll see that it’s worth the money.

10. Darktable

Best Free Raw Photo Editing Software For Mac

Darktable is an open-source, free RAW photo editor available for Linux, Mac / macports, BSD, Windows, and Solaris 11 / GNOME. It’s designed to be a virtual darkroom and allows you to view negatives through a zoomable lighttable.

Aiming to be more than a RAW convertor, darktable provides tools for image enhancement, batch processing, and tethered shooting. It also allows you to develop your own image processing modules and add them to the program.

For a free editor, darktable offers exquisite tools, from an optimized RAW processor that can manage large files to non-destructive edits and professional color management. It has ICC profiles, several demosaicing methods, base and tone curves, lens corrections, and tools for dithering, haze, fringing, noise removal, color, contrast, and white balance adjustments. It also offers a few filters for creative effects.

However, darktable has minimal image organizing functionalities. It does allow you to search for images by tags, stars, and labels, and it works with metadata.

11. RAW Power

Gentlemen Coders offers a RAW photo editor for Mac and iOS called RAW Power that can run as standalone software or a Photos extension.

RAW Power uses Apple’s RAW decoder to provide high-quality images. Among its best features are support for hundreds of camera models, precise curve adjustments, white balance recovery, lots of presets, and perspective and chromatic aberration corrections.

RAW Power also provides digital asset management, batch processing, synchronization between devices via iCloud Photo Library, multiple editing windows, and batch export. It comes as an extension to Apple Photos and costs $29.99

12. RawTherapee

RawTherapee is a free RAW photo editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides high-quality images with high dynamic range and uses state-of-the-art demosaicing algorithms. Although it’s open-source software, RawTherapee supports most common RAW file formats, including those from Pentax and Sony.

Among its best features are RAW histograms, adjustments for fixing exposure, contrast, detail, and color, color profiles, and advanced controls. RawTherapee also lets you save your current editing profile for later use or batch editing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support layers, and you have to apply all adjustments to the same layer, which may be confusing.

RawTherapee has a neat workspace that allows you to find all you need in seconds. It’s intuitive, well-labeled, and has shortcuts for everything. It also provides file browsing, ratings, and color labeling, and it supports metadata. For those who want to see how printed images will look, RawTherapee runs a simulation with a specific printer profile.

13. Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo provides powerful photo editing and graphic design tools. Alongside RAW editing, it provides HDR editing and focus stacking, panorama stitching, support for editing Adobe Photoshop files, and painting tools.

In terms of RAW photo editing, Affinity Photo’s big advantage is its ability to process very large files (more than 100 Megapixels) and to offer smooth zoom at 60 frames per second. It gives you full control over the smallest details of your images and provides editing tools such as levels, curves, HSL, and exposure and white balance adjustments. All edits are non-destructive because Affinity Photo works with layers and masks. You can perform local adjustments using advanced selection tools, analyze histograms, and edit EXIF information.

Affinity Photo provides lens corrections, noise reduction, and hot pixel removal, which is essential for RAW editing. It also provides presets and effects, including brush libraries and text and vector tools. It’s one of the best RAW photo editors for creating artistic compositions and collages.

Affinity Photo is available for Windows, Mac, and iPad and costs $49.99 respectively $19.99.

In conclusion

We’ve tested the most powerful RAW photo editors on the market, but the final decision is yours. Choose the best editor for your needs. Consider your budget, frequency of use, skills, and artistic preferences. For example, you shouldn’t buy an editor with graphic design functionalities if you don’t do abstract photography and strong editing. If you work with large amounts of similar images, batch processing is a must. So is digital asset management when you have lots of albums and catalogs. Keep in mind that trying before buying is the wisest thing you can do.