12 Best Photo Retouching Software for Photographers

Published by Color Experts International September 23, 2024

Top 12 Photo Retouching Software You Should Know

If you explore online, you will find legions of image retouching software. Some of them are online tools while others are offline tools. You have to deploy them downloading and then installing your device. But all these retouching tools don’t promise premium quality.

From this write-up, you will get to know which software exactly you should leverage to get desired output. Without further ado, let’s check some of the top software in this field that you should rely on-

1. Adobe Photoshop

Spotting Photoshop right at the top, you aren’t stunned surely as it deserves the no.1 position. This is because Photoshop enables you to perform an array of photo retouching tasks. If you are a photographer, you can’t but skip Photoshop.

Photoshop lets you execute tasks, right from simple to advanced levels. Whether it’s a selection, masking, or any other action, Photoshop is unmatched by its peers. Earlier, all the Photoshop editing tasks were manually performed but lately, Photoshop has integrated many AI-based features into its latest versions.

Some of these killer features deserve to be mentioned like sky replacement, neural filters, select and mask, version history, quick actions, live shapes, and pattern preview. Due to its wide range of features, Photoshop is still the no.1 choice for photo editors, designers, and artists.

Suggested Articles- Photoshop Latest Features (Updated)

Key Features:

The best in business for selection and masking
Able to perform non-destructive editing through its local adjustment layer
Supports all types of file formats like JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, and raw files
Enables quick editing even for larger images
Comes with advanced AI features and a retouching ability
Comes bundled with 100GB of creative cloud storage

Pricing: Free Trial available for 1^st 7 days. The yearly plan costs $20.99/month (For Yearly Plan)

2. Adobe Lightroom

In our ranking, the 2^nd spot is claimed by another Adobe product, Adobe Lightroom. Compared to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom is more beginner-friendly and recognized as one of the best photo retouching software for photographers. It has a super-simple interface with a clean and easy workspace, letting you focus on your image.

Lightroom comes with a whole lot of editing features that photographers can utilize to get optimum results. It boasts several filters and effects to get you started if you are unsure of what to do. With Lightroom, you can make localized adjustments to your images along with editing raw files.

Due to Lightroom’s tons of photo editing tools and wide range of image editing abilities, other image enhancement tools are failing to match its standard. If you are a pro photographer, you should hone your Lightroom photo editing skills.

Suggested Article- Adobe Photoshop Vs Lightroom: Compare & Contrast.

Key Features:

Face detection ability for photo organization
Able to sync with multiple devices
Advanced filters and countless presets
Camera and lens-based image correction
Cloud-based storage available with a capacity of 1TB

Pricing: Free Trial available for 1^st 7 days. Yearly plan costs $9.99/month (For Yearly Plan)

3. Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo is one of the coolest photo editing software that you can leverage for editing your images. Initially, it may appear overwhelming to some of you especially if you are a rookie professional. But once you start exploring the app, you will fathom that this is exactly what you have been ferreting.

The software comes with umpteen pro tools, filters, and effects letting you be creative with your images. Since Photoshop moved from a one-time license plan to a subscription plan, many professionals were hunting for alternatives and this app caught their attention.

Affinity Photo is massively fast and is capable of handling high-volume files (Over 100 MB). It will mesmerize you with its premium manipulation tools allowing you to tinker around your photos and give them optimum looks.

You can retouch HDR photos, apply artistic filters, play with layers and masks, and even create outstanding photo compositions merging multiple images. It may not be a budget-friendly app but it’s available to buy in a single payment instead of paying a regular subscription fee.

Key Features:

Flawless photo touch-up with the help of Dodge, Clone, Burn, Patch, and many more tools
Comes with a free pre-built-in brush collection
Compatible with 15 different types of file formats, including JPG, GIF, PSD, and PDF
End-to-end RAW photo development
Live real-time editing mode for the streamlined experience.

Pricing: One-off payment of $69.99 Also, you can get all apps with an Affinity V2 Universal License for $169.99.

4. Skylum Luminar AI

If you are more eager about the final result of your raw images than the process itself, Luminar AI is the go-to tool for you. Skylum’s Luminar AI is an AI-powered photo manipulation and editing tool that has everything that you would normally crave for editing your photography.

Luminar AI is a very simple and intuitive image retouching tool that you can leverage without any hassle. You don’t have to learn scores of things to work on it. All you have to do is import the image you want to edit and that’s it! AI-powered templates will suggest edits depending on the content of your image.

Additionally, you can do further AI-powered edits or take complete control with regular tools. You can also get a masking option to add or remove effects. This photo retouching will let you slim a subject’s torso, modify eye color, add fog to landscape, etc. with just a few clicks of a mouse.

Key Features:

Powered by artificial intelligence
Advanced color correction functionality
Contains advanced filters like Sunrays filter and Orton filter
Comes with presets for dedicated DJI drone photos
Enables non-destructive workflow
Provides customizable workspaces

Pricing: Free Trial available for 1^st 7 days. Regular price- $79 for a lifetime (For 1 Computer). Currently on offer costing $47 bundled with other tools.

You may also read: Luminar AI review (2023)

5. GIMP

GNU image manipulation program, yeah, that’s what it means when expanded. It’s a very well-known image editor that you can easily download and install on your PC, Mac and also on Linux. The great thing about this tool is it’s free of cost but offers pro features, handy for your photo editing projects.

Another great choice and one of the most popular image retouching software for photographers. With this amazing tool, you can execute photo retouching, photo composition, image enhancement, and whatnot. The key aspect of GIMP is it suits both newbies and pro photographers as they would fancy using its customizable interface to create an ideal editing environment.

GIMP lets you perform plenty of adjustments to your images. You can even use 3^rd party plugins with it to create an unparalleled editing platform. GIMP is a charming tool to create artistic images with perfect lighting, exposure, and contrast through a variety of unique graphic design elements and effects.

Key Features:

Comes with clone and touch-up tools
Boasts support for multiple plugins
Offers hardware support input devices including drawing tablet
Provides efficient image retouching and restoring option
Comes with file management and optimization modes

Pricing: Entirely free to use

You may also like: GIMP vs Photoshop: Key Differences

6. Apple Photos

Apple Photos was released as a bundled app on iOS in 2014 for the first time. Since then, it started getting traction among the Mac users and consolidated its position shortly.

It not only comes for free but also offers loads of editing tools for you to polish your images. No matter whether you wish to select color, adjust exposure, fine-tune curves, or apply quick filters, you can execute all of them with this built-in Mac app.

Additionally, it has intuitive tools, an easy navigation system, and a seamless integration system on iCloud Photo Library. To retouch an image on Apple Photos, just open it and click the Edit in the top menu.

You can view various editing options like Adjust, Filters, and Crop that you can choose based on your requirements.

Key Features:

A seamless editing experience (including Auto Enhance, Image Adjustments, etc.)
Easy to import and edit RAW images right from your standalone cameras.
Batch photo editing ability
AI based photo management feature from your media library tab
Easy to share your photos among various social media platforms.

Pricing: Free

7. Corel PaintShop Pro

Known as Photoshop’s alternative, Corel PaintShop Pro has everything to take your photography to the next level without breaking the bank. If you are looking for a straightforward photo retouching tool to upgrade your photos, PaintShop Pro is the answer for you.

Corel PaintShop Pro doesn’t feature a monthly subscription fee, but rather asks you to pay a one-time fee. It’s inexpensive and gives you access to dozens of textures, backgrounds, and brushes. The latest version of PaintShop pro contains a photography workspace, designed for photographers.

This simple workspace improves your edit workflow providing the best photo editing tools in a simple format. The tool is touch-ready, letting you edit your photography on a tablet. Overall, PaintShop Pro is a cracking option for basic but effective image editing.

Key Features:

Layers and Masks are available
Comes with SmartClone technology
Allows 360° photo editing
AI-powered presets available
Able to perform raw image processing

Pricing: Free trial available for 30 days. The full version costs $99.99 for a lifetime.

You may also read: Corel PaintShop Pro review.

8. Pixelmator Pro

Among the two versions of photo editing apps that Pixelmator offers, Pixelmator Pro is the most powerful one that you can leverage for image editing tasks. The software is powered by machine learning and you can execute a plethora of photo enhancement actions with its cracking and flawless tools.

It has an easy-to-navigate interface that can smoothen your workflow. Unlike the Standard version of Pixelmator, this version features extra brushes, tools, and effects allowing you to take your photo retouching knack to the next level.

You can deploy Pixelmator Pro for basic photo touch-up actions like cropping, resizing, color correction, adding filters, and so on. However due to the incorporation of machine learning or neural networks, you can even perform advanced tasks like eliminating objects.

The app is also reasonably priced to the tons of features it offers. So, if you are a Mac user, go for it hands down.

Key Features:

Selective clarity and texture adjustments that allow you to enhance image details
Advanced color correction feature along with multi-channel color balance
An artificial intelligence photo enhancement program trained with over 20 million photos
Supports a seamless RAW photo editing ability
Exclusively designed for Mac users

Pricing: $49.99

9. Fotor

An intuitive and super simple photo editor, Fotor is designed to aid you to carry out your image processing tasks in a hassle-free manner. With this photo editing app, you can fix color, contrast, and exposure issues of washed-out photos, add borders, tilt and modify your images, add different texts, apply filters, and so on.

You can even apply various presents and textures to add charm to your images. Most of these tasks you can execute with one-touch availing of the toolbox placed on the right side of the app.

What makes the software stand out from others is its ability to do batch-processing of photos. By that what we mean is, if you have a collection of photos requiring similar editing action, this can be your go-to app to perform that.

You may have a group of beach photos showing up overexposed and requires the same filter to be applied for perfect exposure or requires color-fixing at once. This is where this mind-blowing software will come into play. Thanks to the developer of the app for adding so many peachy features to it.

Key Features:

Photo retouching functions including (Blemish Removing, Skin Smoothing, Wrinkle Remover, and more beauty features)
Comes with 100+ photo collages.
Ability to edit multiple photos at once (Batch photo editor)
HDR photo effects
It provides customizable photo filters, cropping, resizing images, background removing, and so on.

Pricing: Fotor basic plan is free. However, it offers more plan which include Fotor Pro ($8.99/month) and Fotor Pro+($19.99/month). It is available for PC (Windows), Mac, mobile and online(Web App) as well.

Learn more: Fotor Vs. Photoshop: Which One To Choose?

10. ON1 Photo Raw

ON1 Photo Raw is offered both as a standalone photo editing tool and a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple photos. The latest version of this image editing tool incorporates various AI-powered features, making your edits easy and smooth.

Some of these AI-powered features include Sky Swap AI, Time-Lapse Creation, Integration of ON1 NoNoise AI, Photoshop Plugin Support, Line Mask Tool, Backup and Restore, Favorites in Browse, Customizable Thumbnails, etc.

Like Photoshop and Luminar, ON1 Photo Raw comes with layers, blending modes, and masking. Other features include full integration with Apple Photos, the ability to add text to an image, HDR, panorama photo merging, and so on.

Key Features:

Stackable filters available
Comes with live adjustments and previews
Can be downloaded on any device
Each and every editing step is viewable through in Edit History feature
Offers custom presets

Pricing: Costs $99.99 for lifetime (Full License + Bonuses). Currently, it’s on offer costing $79.99 for a lifetime (Full License + Bonuses).

11. DxO PhotoLab

DxO PhotoLab is best known for its raw image conversion to JPG image smoothly. But it can also carry out noise reduction and sharpening with full of perfection. The photo editor is compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems.

DxO PhotoLab comes with customizable interface options, presets, color protection, and multiple export formats to let you accomplish all your tasks in one place. Once you import your images into the software, you can take advantage of its advanced rating system, add keywords, and search for other files that you deem fit.

This image editor no doubt is a cracking one for photographers. With this tool, photographers can turn a nice landscape image into an extraordinary landscape image. The interface is like a lab as the name suggests and contains tons of real-time adjustments.

Key Features:

Advance photo editor with bottomless functionalities
Comes with manual and automatic modes
Available with multiple optical corrections
Offers excellent lens corrections
Boasts customizable workspace

Pricing: Costs $139 for the Essential package and $219 for the Elite package

12. PicMonkey

If you are hunting for a complete graphic design package, PicMonkey is the right choice for you. The tool will let you edit as well as retouch photos, make collages, batch-edit a massive collection of your photography, and many more.

PicMonkey will offer elements and tools to convert your photography into marvelous works! Even though you can carry out basic photo edits with this fascinating image editor but it stands out when deployed to add graphic elements like fonts, logos, presets, and brand colors. Crazy, right?

So, if you are just starting out, PicMonkey can be a perfect choice to brush up on your photo editing skills. The program’s user interface is simple and stunning, giving an alternative option to those overwhelmed by other heavyweight photo retouching tools.

Key Features:

Comes with a good selection of templates and collaboration features
Provides sophisticated graphic design tools to create images for online publishing
Simple and easy to use
Automatic sizing for social media
Offers addition of features and tools with constant updates

Pricing: Offers a 7-day free trial. The basic plan starts at $7.99/Month, the Pro plan starts at $12.99/Month, and the Team plan starts at $33.99/Month

Over to You

That’s all we had in this comprehensive write-up rounding up these best photo editing software for photographers. We have focused on multiple factors to rank these retouching tools- price, quality, features, and many other things.

Some of them will suit any type of photographer, no matter whether they are a beginner or a pro while some may suit only a beginner or a pro. Considering all the aspects, we would always recommend Adobe Photoshop for professional photography works.

However, you can also opt for others as well, depending on your budget, features, and requirements. With that, we hope that you will make the right choice for your next photography project after going through the write-up.