Everyone and everything today are going digital from digital marketing to digital photography. And so if you are into digital photography then you will need the right editing software. Most of us think that Adobe Photoshop is the ultimate tool for editing our pictures. However, it’s quite fair as Adobe has been in the market from so long fulfilling the needs of all. But it is 2019 and its time that you look into some of the best photo editing software for PC.
From simple to intuitive interface, you will find countless options. The latest image editors are loaded with features that can be used by both beginners and pro at image editing. The web-based applications get regular updates which makes it a preferred choice. So let’s get going and check out the top 10 photo editing tools for PC.
10 Best Photo Editing Software for PC
Adobe and Corel are standard tools when we talk about photo editing. However, today we have curated a list especially that will suit every photographer. So let’s take a tour of these fine tools.
Adobe Photoshop CC
Adobe Photoshop is the app that will come to your rescue when nothing else will work, no doubt it is the most powerful photo editing application. Designers, illustrators, and artists all prefer to use Photoshop to date, but as photographers have different needs they like enhancement and cataloging tools like Lightroom better.
Pros and Cons-
- Powerful, pro features
- Complex layers-based editing
- Subscription required
- No cataloging
Phase One Capture One Pro 12
Another beautiful but a little expensive photo editing tool for PC is Capture One. This one is the perfect pitch at professionals. Capture One offers similar cataloging tools like Adobe Lightroom classic, along with manual image enhancement, and seamless raw processing tools. With its non-destructive workflow and preset effects, you can review your adjustments any time.
When compared to Adobe you will find that the raw conversions of One Capture are less noisy and sharper, however, the latter doesn’t support a huge range of lens correction profiles and camera raw formats. Another drawback is that it lacks online synchronization options and mobile app option. But its tethering tools are the professional-grade that is helpful to the studio photographers using PC to capture images. Pros and Cons-
- Pro-grade tethering
- Seamless raw processing
- Expensive
- No mobile version
Skylum Luminar 3
Skylum Luminar brings an interesting and fast approach to image editing with its collection of preset effects that are organized into different categories. So if you want to give an Instant look to your photo, you know where to go. You can even customize preset by creating a combination of filters available. Its idea of Custom Workspaces is also an interesting concept which you can use for specific images like Portraits, or Black and White.
However, the quality of its raw conversion doesn’t match to Adobe, DxO and Capture One tool. And if you want to crate Photoshop-style images then you can create with Luminar as it supports image as well as adjustment layers. Also, a free update called Luminar 3 gives the users access to image cataloging tools as well as allow non-destructive editing. Pros and Cons-
- Quick instant ‘looks’
- Now with Libraries
- Custom workspaces
- Raw processing could be better
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019
While most of the photo editing tools for PC are pitched at professionals, this one is aimed straight at beginners. Just like the earlier annual releases Elements 2019 of Adobe Photoshop checks all the boxes. Elements comes with the powerful photo-editing features of Photoshop but in a user-friendly interface for the beginner, along with guided edits and quick fixes.
It also hosts an Expert mode for the pro users. It has its own Organizer application to store, organize and search photos. However, the Organizer feature will prove to be a dead end if you will upgrade Elements Editor to Photoshop. This is seen a lot of times as the beginners start exploring and try to equip something more challenging. Pros and Cons-
- Beginner-friendly interface
- Decent amount of tools
- The interface might start to frustrate
- Looking a bit dated
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC
The Lightroom CC by Adobe Photoshop is a minimalist tool based on cloud storage. Lightroom isn’t related to detailed manipulation, rather it concentrates more about the regular photo enhancements and image organization. You can find two versions, one is the old Lightroom Classic, a rebranded version and a new Lightroom CC that offers integrated cloud storage with a streamlined interface.
This image editing tool is super slick which offers its composite features and 1GB storage at a price same as the regular photography plan. However, Photoshop will be missing along with some tools from the Lightroom Classic version.Pros and Cons-
- Great image organization
- Streamlined interface
- Doesn’t support plug-ins
- Some tools are missing
Photolemur
The next photo editing tool for PC in our list is Photolemur. It is one tool that promises quickest photo editing. To get your results, just drag your picture and drop it and let Artificial Intelligence does it work. The Face Finish Technology of Photolemur makes it the perfect program for portrait photographers.
The tool helps remove imperfections, whitens teeth and enhances the eye. Also with its smart browsing option, you can take multiple photos of great quality at once. For beginners, Photolemur is the simplest program with an easy to use interface. If you want to enhance your picture without getting into tons of features then use Photolemur.Pros and Cons-
- Quick photo editing
- Face Finish technology
- Limited features
Alien Skin Exposure X4
Alien Skin Exposure X4 is a great combination of a strange name and a strong pack of tools. This software offers a rich library with presets and focuses mainly on analog effects. You can call it a mix of Lightroom and Photoshop. With this all-in-one program, you can crop pictures and adjust its colors, lighting, shadows, and sharpness. The program supports various layers and masks and also offers a lot of one-click presets. You can even create your own presets.
Virtual image copy is an important feature that Alien Skin offers which helps you create photo clone without using a lot of space on your hard drive. Another useful feature of X4 is that before applying you can preview a preset. However, one flaw is that Exposure X4 is a little bit slow when big catalogs are scanned.Pros and Cons-
- Good image adjustment controls
- Wide range of effects
- No thumbnail preview importing
- Can’t combine images
Serif Affinity Photo 1.6
Looking for Photoshop features without paying for the Adobe subscription, then this is the option. Starting with the Windows professional graphic tools version Serif had built its reputation, however, with its new Affinity line, its budget seems to be shaken. Serif Affinity Photo 1.6 is a full-powered, full-on rival of Photoshop, and an interesting fact about it is that it can even teach its professional rival a trick or two.
With as powerful layering, masking and retouching tools as Photoshop, it also boasts about its filter effects and its workspace tools and HDR tone mapping. It focusses solely on the in-depth and technical image manipulation details. However, the browsing and cataloging tools are missing and it you cannot even do the instant preset effects.Pros and Cons-
- Great HDR tone mapping
- Full-powered Photoshop rival
- No cataloging
- No instant preset effects
DxO PhotoLab 2
The DxO Optics Pro has evolved as an image editing software. It is famous for its awesome raw conversions and lab-derived lens correction profiles. DxO in the last year bought the Google Nik Collection and introduced PhotoLab by integrating the control point adjustment tools. With PhotoLab you can apply localized adjustments to the images which were not possible with Optics Pro.
PhotoLab doesn’t own cataloging tools, however, you can enjoy the full benefit of its raw tools, film ‘looks’ (DxO FilmPack) and perspective corrections (DxO ViewPoint) by paying some extra money. It doesn’t even support Fujifilm X-Trans files. But the lens corrections and raw conversions are quite sublime.Pros and Cons-
- Brilliant lens correction
- Powerful localized adjustments
- Some tools cost extra
- Doesn’t support Fujifilm X-Trans files
ON1 Photo RAW 2019
The ON1 Photo RAW began as ON1 Perfect Suite and quickly evolved into an integrated and modern program rather than just plug-ins collection. Though it still works like Photoshop and Lightroom plug-in, which allows you to browse the wide range of manual adjustment filters and preset effects in the library. ON1 Photo RAW hosts its own image cataloging/browsing tools.
The interface of the software is quite small and the raw conversions also don’t match up to the quality of its competitors, it is the only image editing tool that you will need. No doubt is a terrific photo editing tool for PC.Pros and Cons-
- Great value
- Integrated image layers
- Neat all-in-one solution
- Raw processing could be better
Wrapping up
Apart from the above-mentioned software, there are many more like Canva, GIMP, Corel, Pixlr Editor that work great for Windows PC. The features of most of them are pretty much the same. So it’s going to be a tough decision but we are sure that none of them will disappoint you. We hope that this post was helpful. And if we have missed out on your favorite software for photo editing then share it with us in the comment section.
