Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Photoediting app

S

Spindel

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 5, 2020
521
655
So I've always loved to take photos.

But in the last couple of years lack of time and small kids have put editing on the back burner.

I still take photos but I really I haven't felt I have had time or energy to fiddle around with them. What little I have had to do I've done in the builtin photos app.

But now I'm looking forward to try to get this going again and now I'm asking you what programs do you think are suitable. Before I've mostly used Photoshop (a long time ago before CC days) and Gimp (because I ran a Linux computer many years ago and just kept going with it on mac).

The ones that seem to be well liked that I have looked at are Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro.

Does anyone here have any input that would be of help for me, pros and cons other suggestions?

And for the record, I'm not doing professional work I just do this as a hobby.

EDIT:// Also I recently moved to an M1 mac so apps with native support are a plus.
 
I think the built in photos app got quite capable. What exactly do you need that is not offered there? For my hobbies needs it is more than sufficient.
 
Spindel said:
Before I've mostly used Photoshop (a long time ago before CC days) and Gimp
Click to expand...
Per a thread in the Design and Graphics sub-forum, its been noticed that Gimp hasn't been updated for macOS Big Sur, and there is no timeframe of when that will happen, as, according to the post, their Mac developer(s) are not available.

As for me I have always gone with Pixelmator, and now a days Pixelmator Pro. It's good software and I enjoy using it. The recent update to the Pro version, making it 2.0, adds native M1 support and is available now.
 
For Pixel editing, Affinity Photo is inexpensive, non-subscription and well liked. It has most of the tools Photoshop has. For overall image processing, the application below is quicker and easier.

For overall image editing such as sharpening, cropping, rotating, lens correction, color correction, etc., DXO PhotoLab is quick and well liked. There are many presets to help automate the process. It also processes RAW or NEF (Nikon) files if your camera produces them along with JPEGs.

The following forum link covers retouching and editing of images. Beware there are posts from professionals as well as amateurs so don't get put off by the "experts". You don't have to be a Photoshop wizard to get good results.

DPReview - Retouching
 
  • Like
Reactions: James_C
hanser said:
I think the built in photos app got quite capable. What exactly do you need that is not offered there? For my hobbies needs it is more than sufficient.
Click to expand...
I want to do more than just touch up photos, I want to be able ”splice” different pictures togheter or add effects filters to limited areas.

I haven’t figured out how to do that in photos. I haven’t even found a way to just blur a selected area (can’t even find a selection tool).

So yeah my use case is all from making a photo look good to just being able to be creative. And I can’t figure out how to do that in photos if it is possible.

But yes for only touching up, adjusting levels etc photos app is capable.
 
Photoshop Elements is also a good photo editor... you can find it for $60 USD or less many places... it included many of the features included in Photoshop CC. I used it for many years before my company provided me with a PS subscription.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JDar
buttongerald said:
Per a thread in the Design and Graphics sub-forum, its been noticed that Gimp hasn't been updated for macOS Big Sur, and there is no timeframe of when that will happen, as, according to the post, their Mac developer(s) are not available.
Click to expand...
Gimp is definitely broken in Big Sur. It works, but horrendously slow, giving the impression that it has locked up, but is just redrawing the layer (and maybe for a quarter minute or more). It will work if you absolutely need to get something finished and moved, but I would start looking for something else if you only have a Mac. If you absolutely have to have Gimp (like me) then crank up a cheap Linux machine. Gimp works to perfection on 'nix, of course.

However, you can back down to Mojave and it works fine. I am not upgrading a Mini just for that app.
 
Another vote for Affinity Photo, I used Photoshop for years, but when they moved to a subscription model I kept using an older version until it no longer worked on the latest version of Mac OS, for the last couple of years I have been using Affinity as a result of reviews on this forum. Wish I moved sooner, don't miss Photoshop at all.

Both Affinity and Pixelmator are native for the M1 Macs.
 
Spindel said:
So I've always loved to take photos.

But in the last couple of years lack of time and small kids have put editing on the back burner.

I still take photos but I really I haven't felt I have had time or energy to fiddle around with them. What little I have had to do I've done in the builtin photos app.

But now I'm looking forward to try to get this going again and now I'm asking you what programs do you think are suitable. Before I've mostly used Photoshop (a long time ago before CC days) and Gimp (because I ran a Linux computer many years ago and just kept going with it on mac).

The ones that seem to be well liked that I have looked at are Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro.

Does anyone here have any input that would be of help for me, pros and cons other suggestions?

And for the record, I'm not doing professional work I just do this as a hobby.

EDIT:// Also I recently moved to an M1 mac so apps with native support are a plus.
Click to expand...
if you haven't gone through this thread yet, might be a good read:
forums.macrumors.com

What is a good non-subcription photo editor?

The native Mac app, Photos, is only ok (the iOS 6 era Photos was GREAT). Thanks. (let's see how many gloss over the non-subscription part ....)
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
I am going to go against the grain, and say PhotoLine. The latest point upgrade adds native ARM M1 Mac support.

Affinity Photo I also have in my collection of tools. To me it cannot compare: Affinity Photo has too many paper cuts. The basic workflow is flawed in several ways compared to either Photoshop or PhotoLine.

Aside from this: Humble Bundle's Luminar 4 deal is still going for 1 day! So if you are interested in a quick and efficient photo improvement tool, you can pick it up it for peanuts. The deal includes Aurora HDR! :)

www.humblebundle.com

Humble Software Bundle: AI-Powered Photo Editor with Luminar 4

Put the power of artificial intelligence to work for you and make jaw-dropping photos with the Luminar 4 AI-powered Photo Editor Bundle by Humble Bundle.
www.humblebundle.com www.humblebundle.com
 
Herbert123 said:
I am going to go against the grain, and say PhotoLine. The latest point upgrade adds native ARM M1 Mac support.

Affinity Photo I also have in my collection of tools. To me it cannot compare: Affinity Photo has too many paper cuts. The basic workflow is flawed in several ways compared to either Photoshop or PhotoLine.

Aside from this: Humble Bundle's Luminar 4 deal is still going for 1 day! So if you are interested in a quick and efficient photo improvement tool, you can pick it up it for peanuts. The deal includes Aurora HDR! :)

www.humblebundle.com

Humble Software Bundle: AI-Powered Photo Editor with Luminar 4

Put the power of artificial intelligence to work for you and make jaw-dropping photos with the Luminar 4 AI-powered Photo Editor Bundle by Humble Bundle.
www.humblebundle.com www.humblebundle.com
Click to expand...
You also can get Luminar AI or Aurora HDR with promo code "MACLIBS" applied, which will give you extra discount up to 20% OFF. :D
 
Affinity Photo, Pixelmator Pro and GIMP are all fine photo editors.

I suggest you take a look at GIMP first. For Mac users it is back from the dead after 14+ months of stagnation. The GIMP project has a new MacOS maintainer and hopefully this new fellow will provide years of timely updates.

I picked up both Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro heavily discounted during their early existence. They have turned into very fine applications.

I liked Affinity Photo so much I even bought it for my Windows systems. I still have GIMP on everything though.
 
I have used DXO Photolab 3 but this software doesn't not support ProRAW and seems not to be supported in the future either. So I now use Pixelmator Pro instead. Very good software!
 
A lot of suggestion here are for full all bells dancing photo editing, but are you wanting to do adjustments or replace objects in a photo?

For editing my photos I use Capture One and before that I used Lightroom and Aperture.
For the very rare times I need to process the image further by removing something like a bird I can't just crop out or spot heal then there is Photoshop and Affinity Photo with equal success.

Capture One has a free express edition for Nikon, and some of the smaller brands like Sony and Fujifilm. Lightroom Classic, CC, and Photoshop are a good cheep alternative at under $10 a month on the photography plan.
 
Spindel said:
I went with Affinity photo.

I haven't really had time to play around with it that much but it seems to give me what I want (once I've familiarized myself with the UI a bit more).
Click to expand...
You might consider the workbook for it, and there are many video tutorials for it.

It is extremely capable, as are the companion applications, Designer and Publisher.
 
romanof said:
Gimp is definitely broken in Big Sur. It works, but horrendously slow, giving the impression that it has locked up, but is just redrawing the layer (and maybe for a quarter minute or more). It will work if you absolutely need to get something finished and moved, but I would start looking for something else if you only have a Mac. If you absolutely have to have Gimp (like me) then crank up a cheap Linux machine. Gimp works to perfection on 'nix, of course.

However, you can back down to Mojave and it works fine. I am not upgrading a Mini just for that app.
Click to expand...
Curious, will a VM of Linux running GIMP work reasonably well? (Mint or similar?)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back