When it comes to editing digital photos on an Apple computer, there are plenty of options. These are the top performers in our testing.
Creative types tend to favor Apple’s Mac computers, and photographers are no exception. The top-notch screens on iMacs and MacBooks make for fine palettes when working with digital photos. Users of macOS also have plenty of excellent choices when it comes to photo editing software —so many that it can be hard to pick the right app for your particular needs. That’s where this guide comes in. Strangely, Apple no longer produces its own pro-level photo software, having perplexingly abandoned the outstanding Aperture program years ago, despite maintaining its pro video editing software, Final Cut Pro, in state-of-the-art condition. That said, the Apple Photos app that comes with Mac is both easy to use and powerful. You don’t have to stick with software exclusively from Apple, though. A plentiful crop of Mac photo software is available from imaging powerhouses like Adobe, Capture One, CyberLink, and more. A note for people who have or are considering buying an Apple Silicon-based Mac: Most of the software is not yet updated to run natively on this new hardware, but a few heavy hitters have, including Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom (though not the more pro-targeted Lightroom Classic), and, of course, Apple Photos. Software that hasn’t been rebuilt for the new platform can still run via Apple’s Rosetta 2 translation engine, sometimes with a moderate performance hit. What Types of Mac Photo Software Are There? Photo software can be categorized either by its target audience level—beginner, enthusiast, or advanced—or by function. As you might expect, Apple Photos is the prime example of beginner photo software, despite its impressive power. After all, it comes free with your computer and ties in snugly with photos shot on iPhones. The online-only Google Photos is another entry-level option. At the enthusiast level, we have ACDSee Ultimate, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Lightroom, CyberLink PhotoDirector, Corel PaintShop Pro, Serif Affinity Photo, and Skylum Luminar. If you’re looking for an open-source, free but powerful option, check out RawTherapee. What Do Mac Photo Apps Do? Now let’s take a look at some of the functionality Mac photo apps provide: For starters, you need software that can import and organize your digital photos. After that, you need tools to crop the pictures and adjust their lighting, color, and detail (adding sharpness or removing noise, for example). Then, comes the fancy stuff: bokeh, artistic effects, overlays, black-and-white, colorization, and pixel manipulation—things like removing unwanted objects or creating selection masks.
