Whether you’re a professional photographer or a beginner, taking photos with a DSLR camera or a smartphone, they all need the best PC photo editing apps.
Although now editing photos on a cellphone is easier, but for really good results, editing on a laptop/computer is the best choice.
For those of you who are just starting to learn to edit photos on a PC, you may still be confused about which photo editing software to choose. In this article, you can find recommendations for the best PC photo editing applications.
In this list, there are apps suitable for beginners as well as professionals.
1. Adobe Photoshop
I’m sure you already know this one application. Photoshop is the most famous photo editing application in Indonesia and maybe in the world.
From beginners to professional designers many use this application. Over the years Photoshop has proven itself to be the best application when it comes to photo editing.
However, it must be admitted that Photoshop is not an easy application to learn. If you are a beginner, it may take you some time to really understand and master this application.
With so many tutorials available on the internet, on Youtube, it seems like now mastering Photoshop is a lot easier.
Photoshop is suitable for various purposes. From simple photo editing, to complex ones for commercial purposes.
View Photoshop’s full features
2. Corel PaintShop Pro
Corel PaintShop Pro is the best alternative to Photoshop. With features that are almost close and the price is cheaper than Photoshop.
Corel continues to develop PaintShop Pro every year. No wonder, now this application is getting more and more attention by designers and professional photo editors.
This application is also more friendly for beginners, because the interface is easier to understand.
View full features of PaintShop Pro
3. Adobe Lightroom
Another photo editing application made by Adobe is Lightroom. While Photoshop is designed for complex professional editing, Lightroom is more for simple photo editing.
This application is perfect for simple editing such as deleting objects, adding text, adding layers, and others.
Lightroom is also suitable for those of you who often edit photos in large quantities. Examples such as product catalogs.
Another advantage of Lightroom is that it integrates automatically with the Cloud, so your editing results will be automatically saved.
Adobe Lightroom can be used on various devices, computers/laptops, tablets, and cellphones.
View Adobe Lightroom’s full features
4. DxO Photolab
One of the best apps for professionals. Why did I say that? Because indeed the use of DxO Photolab is a bit complicated and may be confusing for beginners.
DxO Photolab is great for converting raw images (RAW images). Many say, this application is the best RAW Converter today.
Another reason why this application is suitable for professionals is because of the Custom Workspace feature.
So, you are free to set your own Workspace, what tools you want to show or hide.
View full features of DxO Photolab
5. Skylum Luminar
In recent years, Luminar has succeeded in becoming an increasingly popular PC photo editing application.
Not surprisingly, because Luminar offers simple photo editing with the best results. This is because luminar applies AI technology in various editing processes.
This AI technology will make the editing process easier, faster, and the results are good.
Some of the existing AI features include:
- AI Accent
- AI Skin Enhancer
- AI Sky Replacement
- AI Augmented Sky
- AI Structure
- and others.
Luminar can also be combined with product plugins from Adobe such as Photoshop, Lightroom, and Photoshop Elements.
So, if you need certain features of Photoshop, you can directly install the plugin.
View full features of Skylum Luminar
6. Affinity Photo
This app is another alternative to the expensive Photoshop. Especially if you don’t like subscription models like Photoshop, because Affinity Photo doesn’t apply a subscription system, but a one-time payment model.
The results of editing using this application are very good, even the results are almost equivalent to Photoshop.
Its layering, masking, and retouching features are just as powerful as Photoshop. The HDR tone mapping and workspace are sure to impress you too.
With a price that is much cheaper than Photoshop, this application is really worth it to try.
View full features of Affinity Photo
7. Capture One Pro
This app is expensive, but well worth buying.
Capture One Pro has almost the same features as Adobe Lightroom. You can edit raw (RAW) photos more freely because the features provided are very complete.
Its RAW file converter is also sharper and less noisy than Adobe Lightroom. Unfortunately, Capture One Pro has not been able to read all RAW files from various types of cameras.
So, before buying, first read what types of RAW files support this application.
If you are a photographer, who needs an app to enhance your RAW images, this app is worth choosing over Adobe Lightroom.
View the full features of Capture One Pro
8. Exposure
Some users call Exposure a combination of Photoshop and Lightroom. Because indeed, Exposure includes Photoshop and Lightroom plugins in this application.
Actually, even without a plugin Exposure already has adequate editing features.
The appearance is also very simple and clean. Even for beginners.
As of this writing, Exposure has arrived at the Exposure X6 version.
However, this application requires a fairly high PC specification. So, for laptops, RAM under 8 GB is not suitable.
View full features of Exposure
9. ON1 Photo RAW
If you need an application for simple and fast photo editing, ON1 Photo RAW is worth considering.
This application is designed to make it easier for photographers to edit photos without spending too much time.
ON1 Photo RAW comes with Photoshop and Lightroom plugins. So, you can add features from both applications to ON1 Photo RAW.
As the name implies, this application is made for editing RAW photos. In terms of editing features, I’m sure this application will satisfy you.
However, for its RAW converter, the quality is still inferior when compared to Capture One Pro and DxO Photolab.
View full features of ON1 Photo RAW
10. GIMP
I want to close this list with the best free PC photo editing application, GIMP.
GIMP is a free and open source application. So that anyone can use it and also change the source code.
Even though it’s free, GIMP has features that are called the Photoshop equivalent. You can find various editing features that are usually found in paid applications here.
Beginners as well as professionals can use this application. If you are still in the stage of learning editing, using GIMP is a good choice, before deciding to use paid software.
GIMP is also actively updated by the community. So, there are continuous adjustments and additions of new features that further improve the quality of this application.
View full features of GIMP
Conclusion
I have no doubts that Adobe Photoshop is still at the forefront and number one in the industry. The best alternative is Corel PaintShop Pro.
If you’re bored with Photoshop, or bumped into a hefty price tag, DxO Photolab is the app I recommend. However, I only recommend this application for those of you who are used to editing photos.
Above, I mentioned GIMP is almost equivalent to Photoshop, is that right? That’s what some people say. Of course, GIMP isn’t as powerful as Photoshop, but it’s the best alternative to the free version of Photoshop.
There are many best PC photo editing apps, but why are there only 10 on this list? Because I only choose applications that deserve to be called the best.
What is your favorite software?
