8 Best Professional Photo Editing Software in 2023

Whether you’re a casual hobbyist or a seasoned professional, photo editing software can help you create stunning images and impress clients and followers. There are a variety of options available, so you’ll want to find one that works for your needs.

The best professional photo editing software can help you retouch photos, edit layers, add filters and more. Some even use machine learning to enhance photos with a single click.

1. Adobe Photoshop CC

Adobe Photoshop CC is a powerful and versatile photo editing software that offers an extensive feature set. It is used by professional photographers and graphic designers to create stunning images.

It has a very clean and effective user interface that is easy to use, even for beginners. It can take some time to get used to the program, but once you do, it will become your go-to tool for all of your image editing needs.

Photoshop saves and exports images in a variety of file formats. Some are designed for specific uses and others can be compressed to make them smaller.

A few of the most popular file types are TIF, JPEG, and GIF, which are typically used for web and print publishing. These are smaller than PSD files and have lost some of their editable features, but they can still be accessed and edited by other Adobe programs.

The latest version of Adobe Photoshop CC has a number of new features that are meant to make it easier for people to work with images. One of the most helpful is a new way to upsample an image without losing quality. Another is a tool for protecting specific areas on an image when making local adjustments.

2. Pixelmator Photo

Pixelmator Photo is an iPad and iPhone image editing app that offers a collection of nondestructive, desktop-class tools. It includes a set of stunning, machine learning-enhanced film emulation presets, a magical Repair tool to remove unwanted objects from photos, support for editing RAW images, and more.

The app also includes a collection of desktop-class color adjustments for adjusting colors and levels in photos, as well as a selection tool that lets users make precise edits to areas within a photo. This new feature is designed to make it easier for users to edit specific parts of their photos and add effects to them without having to use layers in other apps.

Another notable feature is Core ML-powered Remove Background, which uses machine learning to automatically select an object in a photo and refine its edges before removing any traces of the background from the edges. This is useful for removing unsightly backgrounds, which can make a photo look less appealing.

3. GIMP

GIMP is an open source image editing software program that was originally created at the University of California, Berkeley. It was started as a LISP compilers project, but it soon became more than that. The program has a wide range of features and is available on many different operating systems.

It has painting and retouching tools that allow you to modify the color and brightness of images. You can also add text, shapes and effects to your photos. It can also clone objects and blur and sharpen them.

There are also several tools for transforming images, including rotate, scale and flip. Additionally, it supports a wide variety of file formats including BMP, PNG, TIFF and HEIF.

GIMP is one of the most powerful photo editing programs out there, and it’s a great choice for anyone looking to replace Photoshop. It does have its limitations, however, and if you want more advanced features like non-destructive RAW photo editing, HDR tone mapping and more, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

4. Acorn

Acorn is a photo editing app that’s designed with simplicity in mind. It’s aimed at those who want the power of Photoshop but without the expense or hassle of a subscription.

It comes with incredible live filter layers that focus on distortion, lighting, blurs, and perspective corrections. It also erases layers, reorders mast, and adjusts parameters.

Another great feature is the clone tool that can be used across layers, images, and even clone group and shape layers. There’s a customizable inspector palette to modify the brush softness and flow, and you can hold down shift when using the clone tool for more control.

You can also lock the pixel dimensions when resizing your canvas to keep the proportions of your layers intact. You can also use a layer mask to clip layers underneath or to block out unwanted areas of your image.

Acorn offers a number of tools and features that make it easy to create stunning photos. Some of these include the ability to create and add text, crop and rotate photos, and edit HDR images. It also has a powerful effect library, templates, and collage layouts.

5. Pixlr X

Pixlr X is an online photo editor that offers a variety of editing tools. It can be used by professionals and amateurs alike to retouch their images, crop them, and add special effects and borders.

It also features a variety of filters and stickers. The best part is that it is free and has no hidden charges or ads.

You can also use it to remove backgrounds from your images quickly with the AI-powered tools available in the platform. This makes it a good option for removing background photos from eCommerce listings, product images, and other online content.

The tool also features automatic color grading, exposure adjustments, and other basic manipulations. Its simple interface allows you to work with images without getting overwhelmed.

Another reason why Pixlr is a great choice for beginners is the availability of tutorials on their Youtube channel. Unlike GIMP, which often focuses on dry technical documentation, Pixlr has dedicated a lot of resources to helping users learn the program as quickly and easily as possible.

6. Pixlr E

Pixlr is a web-based photo editing software that doesn’t require any downloads or installation, and works directly in your web browser. This makes it a great alternative to other professional photo editing software such as Photoshop.

This program has a lot of great features that allow you to edit your photos in a variety of ways. These include layers, color replacements, filters, and effects.

One of the most appealing features is the ability to remove backgrounds in a single click. This is a big time saver, especially for anyone who works with e-commerce or online content creation.

The other great feature is the fact that Pixlr does not store your images in their systems, which makes it safe for you to use. It also comes with no hidden charges or extra fees.

Pixlr is a great alternative to Photoshop for anyone who wants to save money while still being able to edit their photos. Its AI-powered tools make it easy to create stunning photos. Plus, its resizing tools are excellent and the app is fully mobile-optimized.

7. PaintShop Pro

PaintShop Pro 2023 is a powerful photo editor with a wide range of tools. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to create and edit your photos.

It has an extensive palette of brushes, gradients and picture tubes. It also offers unique effects and filters.

However, it can’t compare with Adobe Lightroom. It’s a bit outdated in terms of RAW processing options, and it doesn’t offer as many editing tools as Photoshop Elements or Adobe Camera Raw.

The software also doesn’t include an automatic removal of chromatic aberration in the Edit mode, which is a major omission.

It’s also a little slow to respond when using the brush tool and combining multiple layers in one step. Those features make the software less suitable for professional work, but it’s still an excellent choice for hobbyist and casual photographers looking for a reliable image editing app.

8. PhotoWorks

PhotoWorks is a powerful yet intuitive AI-driven automatic photo editor that simplifies complex manipulation within a few clicks. It combines a slider-based adjustment system with one-click options to remove backgrounds, edit portraits, and increase clarity and sharpness.

The Auto Correction module in the Enhancement tab can correct overexposed and underexposed photos, fix color imbalance, add vibrance and contrast, and boost dull colors. It also includes a histogram that helps you decide which adjustments to make and how much to fine tune them.

It also lets you remove barrel or pincushion distortion with a single drag of the slider. The program’s crop presets let you balance the composition of a picture using the Rule of Thirds or Golden Ratio grid, and apply perspective correction.

A host of effects – everything from film filters to 3D LUTs – allow you to drastically transform your photos without manually tweaking the actual settings. They come with hundreds of different styles, including retro, color splash, black and white, warm or cold tones, glow and movie effects, among others.

8 Best Professional Photo Editing Software in 2023

Whether you’re a casual hobbyist or a seasoned professional, photo editing software can help you create stunning images and impress clients and followers. There are a variety of options available, so you’ll want to find one that works for your needs.

The best professional photo editing software can help you retouch photos, edit layers, add filters and more. Some even use machine learning to enhance photos with a single click.

1. Adobe Photoshop CC

Adobe Photoshop CC is a powerful and versatile photo editing software that offers an extensive feature set. It is used by professional photographers and graphic designers to create stunning images.

It has a very clean and effective user interface that is easy to use, even for beginners. It can take some time to get used to the program, but once you do, it will become your go-to tool for all of your image editing needs.

Photoshop saves and exports images in a variety of file formats. Some are designed for specific uses and others can be compressed to make them smaller.

A few of the most popular file types are TIF, JPEG, and GIF, which are typically used for web and print publishing. These are smaller than PSD files and have lost some of their editable features, but they can still be accessed and edited by other Adobe programs.

The latest version of Adobe Photoshop CC has a number of new features that are meant to make it easier for people to work with images. One of the most helpful is a new way to upsample an image without losing quality. Another is a tool for protecting specific areas on an image when making local adjustments.

2. Pixelmator Photo

Pixelmator Photo is an iPad and iPhone image editing app that offers a collection of nondestructive, desktop-class tools. It includes a set of stunning, machine learning-enhanced film emulation presets, a magical Repair tool to remove unwanted objects from photos, support for editing RAW images, and more.

The app also includes a collection of desktop-class color adjustments for adjusting colors and levels in photos, as well as a selection tool that lets users make precise edits to areas within a photo. This new feature is designed to make it easier for users to edit specific parts of their photos and add effects to them without having to use layers in other apps.

Another notable feature is Core ML-powered Remove Background, which uses machine learning to automatically select an object in a photo and refine its edges before removing any traces of the background from the edges. This is useful for removing unsightly backgrounds, which can make a photo look less appealing.

3. GIMP

GIMP is an open source image editing software program that was originally created at the University of California, Berkeley. It was started as a LISP compilers project, but it soon became more than that. The program has a wide range of features and is available on many different operating systems.

It has painting and retouching tools that allow you to modify the color and brightness of images. You can also add text, shapes and effects to your photos. It can also clone objects and blur and sharpen them.

There are also several tools for transforming images, including rotate, scale and flip. Additionally, it supports a wide variety of file formats including BMP, PNG, TIFF and HEIF.

GIMP is one of the most powerful photo editing programs out there, and it’s a great choice for anyone looking to replace Photoshop. It does have its limitations, however, and if you want more advanced features like non-destructive RAW photo editing, HDR tone mapping and more, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

4. Acorn

Acorn is a photo editing app that’s designed with simplicity in mind. It’s aimed at those who want the power of Photoshop but without the expense or hassle of a subscription.

It comes with incredible live filter layers that focus on distortion, lighting, blurs, and perspective corrections. It also erases layers, reorders mast, and adjusts parameters.

Another great feature is the clone tool that can be used across layers, images, and even clone group and shape layers. There’s a customizable inspector palette to modify the brush softness and flow, and you can hold down shift when using the clone tool for more control.

You can also lock the pixel dimensions when resizing your canvas to keep the proportions of your layers intact. You can also use a layer mask to clip layers underneath or to block out unwanted areas of your image.

Acorn offers a number of tools and features that make it easy to create stunning photos. Some of these include the ability to create and add text, crop and rotate photos, and edit HDR images. It also has a powerful effect library, templates, and collage layouts.

5. Pixlr X

Pixlr X is an online photo editor that offers a variety of editing tools. It can be used by professionals and amateurs alike to retouch their images, crop them, and add special effects and borders.

It also features a variety of filters and stickers. The best part is that it is free and has no hidden charges or ads.

You can also use it to remove backgrounds from your images quickly with the AI-powered tools available in the platform. This makes it a good option for removing background photos from eCommerce listings, product images, and other online content.

The tool also features automatic color grading, exposure adjustments, and other basic manipulations. Its simple interface allows you to work with images without getting overwhelmed.

Another reason why Pixlr is a great choice for beginners is the availability of tutorials on their Youtube channel. Unlike GIMP, which often focuses on dry technical documentation, Pixlr has dedicated a lot of resources to helping users learn the program as quickly and easily as possible.

6. Pixlr E

Pixlr is a web-based photo editing software that doesn’t require any downloads or installation, and works directly in your web browser. This makes it a great alternative to other professional photo editing software such as Photoshop.

This program has a lot of great features that allow you to edit your photos in a variety of ways. These include layers, color replacements, filters, and effects.

One of the most appealing features is the ability to remove backgrounds in a single click. This is a big time saver, especially for anyone who works with e-commerce or online content creation.

The other great feature is the fact that Pixlr does not store your images in their systems, which makes it safe for you to use. It also comes with no hidden charges or extra fees.

Pixlr is a great alternative to Photoshop for anyone who wants to save money while still being able to edit their photos. Its AI-powered tools make it easy to create stunning photos. Plus, its resizing tools are excellent and the app is fully mobile-optimized.

7. PaintShop Pro

PaintShop Pro 2023 is a powerful photo editor with a wide range of tools. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to create and edit your photos.

It has an extensive palette of brushes, gradients and picture tubes. It also offers unique effects and filters.

However, it can’t compare with Adobe Lightroom. It’s a bit outdated in terms of RAW processing options, and it doesn’t offer as many editing tools as Photoshop Elements or Adobe Camera Raw.

The software also doesn’t include an automatic removal of chromatic aberration in the Edit mode, which is a major omission.

It’s also a little slow to respond when using the brush tool and combining multiple layers in one step. Those features make the software less suitable for professional work, but it’s still an excellent choice for hobbyist and casual photographers looking for a reliable image editing app.

8. PhotoWorks

PhotoWorks is a powerful yet intuitive AI-driven automatic photo editor that simplifies complex manipulation within a few clicks. It combines a slider-based adjustment system with one-click options to remove backgrounds, edit portraits, and increase clarity and sharpness.

The Auto Correction module in the Enhancement tab can correct overexposed and underexposed photos, fix color imbalance, add vibrance and contrast, and boost dull colors. It also includes a histogram that helps you decide which adjustments to make and how much to fine tune them.

It also lets you remove barrel or pincushion distortion with a single drag of the slider. The program’s crop presets let you balance the composition of a picture using the Rule of Thirds or Golden Ratio grid, and apply perspective correction.

A host of effects – everything from film filters to 3D LUTs – allow you to drastically transform your photos without manually tweaking the actual settings. They come with hundreds of different styles, including retro, color splash, black and white, warm or cold tones, glow and movie effects, among others.