• Best Photo And Video Editing Software For Beginners
• Best Photo Video Editor Software
• Best Photo Video Editing Software Free For Mac

These free video editing software programs are great alternatives to those expensive tools. Here are the best free video editors as of 2019. The Best Photo Editing Software for 2019 Adobe Photoshop CC. Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. Adobe Photoshop Elements. DxO PhotoLab. Corel PaintShop Pro. CyberLink PhotoDirector. Phase One Capture One Pro. ACDSee Photo Studio Professional. Alien Skin Exposure. Skylum Luminar. But it’s a difficult program to master without formal training, and it’s not the cheapest option out there. That’s why we’re taking a look at the best free photo-editing software on the.

The Best Photo Editing Software. Adobe has been refining its signature Photoshop software for nearly thirty years, and this dedication comes through in both its depth of resources and its extensive tool offerings. Whether you simply want to adjust exposure and color tones to minutely adjust the look of your photo.

Best Photo Editing Software of 2019 - Programs for Less Than $100

We thoroughly tested each program by manipulating the same set of photos to see how each program handled the edits. The programs all scored differently based on how intuitive the software's interface is. We also evaluated the photo organizing system to see how well the system helped us find and arrange our photos. Our testing helped us identify Corel PaintShop Pro 2019 as the best photo editing software in our review. Its user-friendly interface and advanced editing tools are good for both beginners and seasoned graphic designers alike. The photo organizing system helps you arrange your photos in a variety of ways so you will be able to find the images you need quickly.

PaintShop Pro 2019

This software's basic and advanced tools can help you make professional-level photo edits to your images. The variety of photo organizing options allows you to create a system that makes the most sense to you.

Affinity Photo

It doesn’t include a photo organizing system, but this program has some of the most powerful editing tools you’ll find in software you can buy without paying a subscription. It has a steeper learning curve for beginners, but it can help you become a pro.

CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10

The editing and photo organizing interfaces are clean and easy to maneuver. It is a good program for beginners to learn on, but it also has the advanced editing tools that will satisfy a more experienced editor.

Best Overall

PaintShop Pro 2019

This software offers some automatic editing tools, which is helpful for beginners, but it also provides hands-on editing tools that allow you to tweak your images exactly the way you want.

The Smart Photo Fix tool allows you to compare the original image alongside an edited preview as you make alterations, which can help you make the changes you want.
The interface is clean and organized so you can easily find the tools and menus you need. You can organize your photos by rating, keywords, people and places to help you find your photos faster. It also keeps track of your images' EXIF data so you can look up the exact settings your camera used to capture your photos. It also works with a wide variety of file types, including RAW, PSD and PDF files so you can edit just about any project using this software. One thing that helps this program stand out from the others is its extensive help features and resources. The learning center tool allows you to get information quickly about any of the tools in the program. PaintShop Pro also has hundreds of tutorial videos on its YouTube page so you'll be able to find help on any subject.

Best Value

Affinity Photo

This software offers all of the advanced photo editing tools that an experienced photographer or graphic designer might want, including content aware tools, EXIF data, HDR tools and more.

While each of the programs on this review can make edits, this software creates the most professional-grade edits. Surprisingly, this program is relatively cheap and only requires a one-time payment instead of a subscription like many of the top programs on the market.
As a more advanced feature, this program's Assistant Manager allows you to make presets to each of the editing tools so that when you select a specific tool it automatically adjusts brush settings, adjustment tools, masks and layers to match your predesignated specifications. This program lacks a built-in photo organizing system. While it isn't necessary to have one, it can make the editing process easier when you can quickly locate your photos.
There are dozens of tutorials on the Affinity Revolution YouTube channel and even more throughout the web so you can learn various effects from experienced users. It is compatible with all the basic files along with PSD, RAW and PDF files. This program is available on both Windows and Mac so it is more likely to suit your needs. A full version of the software recently became available for the iPad.

Best for Beginners

CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10

This software is split into six different sections to help you find the tools you need without overwhelming you with too many options at once, which is especially helpful when you're a beginner.

A user guide is available within the application to help explain the various tools, and there are dozens of video tutorials online to help you learn and achieve more effects. You can add text and a number of text effects to your photos using this program. This software's watermark feature allows you to easily create and place an identifying mark on your photos so you can feel better about sharing them online. In addition to editing your photos, this software also allows you to create slideshows complete with music, transitions and accompanying text.
The Library section helps you to find and arrange your photos by rating, tags and name. To save you time, this program allows you to use batch editing to complete the same edits to a group of photos. It also features a content-aware removal tool which allows you to seamlessly remove items from your images and fills the empty space in a way that matches the rest of the photo.

Best For Learning Adobe

Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements is the gateway software for Adobe CC. The program's interface is divided into Quick, Guided and Expert mode, designed to help beginning users grow and come to an intermediate editing level.

You can toggle between the modes to learn how to use the software until you are comfortable enough to stay in the Expert mode. Adobe offers the best editing tools on the market and this is made evident by its impressive content-aware fill tool, which allows you to remove unwanted objects, like trash or electrical poles, from your images and fill in the space believably with just a couple button clicks.
This is one of the only Adobe programs that doesn't require a subscription. You'll just need to make a one-time payment, albeit it a pricey one, of roughly $100. This will give you access to 90 creative filters, plenty of tutorials, HDR tools, blemish removing tools and many more useful features. Like many of Adobe's programs, this one expects you to work with other Adobe software to fulfill your editing goals. The photo organizer is a separate program that opens in a different window. While this is nice in getting you ready for how other Adobe software works, it can also be a little annoying popping between the two programs.

Best Built-In Photo Organizer

ACDSee Photo Studio

ACDSee Photo Studio offers over 60 filters so you can quickly add stylization to your photos. It also features plenty of drawing and painting tools as well as background removal tools.

However, the reason it didn't score as highly as other programs is because this software doesn’t work in layers, which is standard for most photo editing software. This means you cannot view and select your separate elements as easily as you can with other programs. This software also requires that you take a few extra and somewhat unnecessary steps before you can finalize your editing changes to your file, which is why it didn't score as highly in the ease of use category.
If you don't mind the lack of layers and the extra steps it takes to edit your photos, this program is a great choice. It has a phenomenal photo organizer that allows you to separate, rate and organize your images in a variety of ways so you can find them in the way that makes the most sense to you. You'll find plenty of online support including an active user forum, tutorials and live chat so you can find answers to questions quickly.

Why Trust Us

For the past nine years, we have reviewed photo editing software to find the best programs available. We spent over 85 hours in the last 12 months using these editing programs to manipulate photos. Our testers are skilled editors with backgrounds in photography and graphic design. We used the same set of photos so we could compare each program's editing capabilities against each other.

We contacted John Yoo, Head of Sales at CyberLink, to see what he finds most important for any photo editing software. He told us, 'The basic functions – crop, adjust exposure, contrast, white balance, noise reduction – all of these features are not only important but the software needs to be able to adjust these accurately and easily.' We completely agree.

Programs that completed edits in a quick, intuitive fashion while truly enhancing the photos received higher scores in our review. Programs lacking main features or offering them in a clunky fashion scored lower. Since tutorials and forums are such an important part of learning the photo editing process, programs with better instructive and help features scored higher.

We also evaluated each programs' help features and organizing abilities to determine which offered the best options overall. We paid attention to each program's ease of use to see which were best for beginners to learn on. Since file compatibility is such an important part of the editing process, we scored programs higher if they accommodated the main photo file types: JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD, PDF and RAW.

How We Tested

We used the same 12 photos in each of the programs we tested to see how well each one performed basic and advanced edits. We began by using the most basic editing tools like cropping, red eye removal and filters before moving on to more advanced editing tools like using mask layers to adjust hue, tone and brightness, or creating HDR images. We compared the final images from each program to see which software performed editing tasks the best.

Some programs provided the same level of editing finesse but forced you to go through several unnecessary steps before completing a task. For this reason, we scored clean, simple and well-organized interfaces higher. This year's best photo editing software, PaintShop Pro 2018, beautifully creates basic and advanced image enhancements through an easy-to-use interface.

If the program you want requires a subscription, make sure you understand the payment schedule. For instance, find out if the $20 payment is due quarterly or monthly.

Best Photo And Video Editing Software For Beginners

If you are a beginner wanting to become a more advanced editor, make sure you purchase a program that allows you to work in layers.

How Much Does Photo Editing Software Cost?

Beginner to Intermediate-level photo editing software costs between $40 and $100, though some programs are subscription based and require a monthly or annual payment that typically totals to about $50 per year. More professional-level photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop CC will cost you roughly $21 a month or more. Before deciding on a program, make sure it has the features and editing tools that you will likely use the most.

Things to Consider With Photo Editing Software

File Types
Most professional photographers prefer to work with RAW images since it gives them more control over brightness, color and overall image quality. PSD is another popular file type since it saves the individual layers of your photos so you can edit them at any time. If you plan on becoming a serious photo editor, it is best to learn to work with these files.

If you take a lot of photos and plan on editing them on a regular basis, it can really help you save time if you get a program that offers batch processing. For example, if you wanted all of your photos to be a little brighter, you can use batch processing to quickly brighten all of the photos you select instead of taking the time to do it individually. This feature is commonly found in the photo organizing section of photo editing software.

Simple Tips for Good Photography & Editing

• One of the most crucial parts of editing is taking a good picture to begin with. You’ll save hours of work if you learn to set up your camera and lighting correctly from the start.
• To capture better details, get as close as you can to your subject while still keeping it in focus.
• Try not to work in direct sunlight, as the harsh cast shadows can be very distracting. This is why many photographers prefer to shoot on cloudy days or during the golden hours – just after sunrise and just before sunset when the light isn’t as harsh.
• If you must work in direct sunlight, try to counterbalance the sun's harshness with diffuser or reflector panels, the camera flash, light boxes, and shade.

• Learn how to use shutter speeds. To capture crisp details in fast-moving subjects, such as wildlife, you need a shutter speed of over 1/500th of a second.
• Engaging landscape photography often has a foreground, middle ground and background. Try to incorporate all three when taking a shot.
• When taking portraits, try to help your subjects loosen up. You’re more likely to capture genuine expressions and body language this way.
• Practice, practice, practice. If you want to get better, get out there and learn. Experiment with aperture sizes and learn which lenses and settings you like best.
• If you make too many edits, your image may look less organic, amateurish or downright bad. Be conservative with your edits – as the saying goes, “less is more.”
• Keep a copy of the original image in case you don’t like your edits. Before finalizing a photo, focus on something else for 10 minutes and then come back to it. Your fresh eyes will be able to tell if the image looks good or if it needs tweaking.
• Learn from the pros. Many photographers offer tips on YouTube or their websites. Ask questions and learn as much as you can.
• Pace yourself. Photography equipment and editing software are expensive, so you’ll likely have to acquire everything bit by bit.

More Photo Editing Guides:

The pack of latest improvements includes enhancement of existing tools like path, brush, pen, and others. There is also a built-in exclusive pack of over 1,000 brushes created by a renowned illustrator Kyle T. Webster.

Interface language can only be selected during installation.

Adobe's Photoshop is the most popular photo editing software today, used by professional photographers and designers worldwide. As s part of the Creative Cloud program, it offers the all-encompassing functionality for your creativity.

Desktop editor

Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS 10.12 (Sierra), Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)

No

Access to Lightroom photos, Brush stroke smoothing, Curvature Pen, Quick Share, Exclusive brushes from Kyle T. Webster, Custom path color and width, Group layer arranging, Tooltips, 360 panorama workflow, Support for Microsoft Dial, HEIF support, Masking, etc.

7 days

CyberLink's professional photo editing software works perfectly not only with images but with video as well. It is the easiest thing now to make GIFs, photos with motion, and to catch all the excellent moments and make flawless photos from screenshots.

Only Ultra works with Mac computers.

One of the fullest desktop photo editing software options, PhotoDirector will enable you to make the most beautiful images for social networks, blogs, or simply to print out and hang on your wall.

Desktop editor

Windows 7 and later
Mac OS X 10.8 and later (Ultra only)

No

AI Style Effects, Blending modes, Content-aware removal, Beautification tools, Video editing tools, RAW decoding, 1-click presets, Over 100 lens profiles, CyberLink Cloud, 40+ overlay templates, Tethered Shooting, Import GIF as Multi-image Sequence, Face Tag UI, HEIF support, etc.

30 days

As of September 19, 2017, PicMonkey cut down all restrictions on the use of their premium features, so basically, it is now really a free online photo editing software, anyone can use it full-scale.

You have to go Premium to download or share edited photos.

If you're looking for a good web-based option, PicMonkey is one of the best photo editing software, it offers a huge selection of features, templates, effects, and fonts to help you create totally cool pics from your photos.

Online editor

Any

Android, iOS

Retouching, Design tools, Collage templates, PrintDirect, Effects, Frames, Hub storage

Freemium, 7 days trial for Premium

The Ultimate package includes additional apps dedicated to performing specific tasks but if you don't need them you can purchase the core app only and save some money.

Some tools need to be bought additionally.

PaintShop Pro 2018 is a good option for beginners as it has a simplified interface as well as a complete one so after growing your skills you won't need new photo editing software, you'll just switch to another workspace with more features.

Desktop editor

Windows 10

No

Over 100 royalty-free backgrounds, Photo-to-drawing/painting feature, Simple RAW editing, Several crop composition guides, Text tools, Scripting engine, Face recognition, Batch processing, Social media features

30 days

One of the biggest benefits of the Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is its online content catalog of stock photos, illustrations, and graphics to which you will have a full free access for a whole year.

Learning its ways might be a bit of a challenge for a complete novice.

Xara editor is a top-of-the-shelf vector graphics software, though it works with photos as well. It is one of the best options for advanced web designers. It also offers one of the largest lists of possible formats.

Desktop editor + Online designer

Windows Vista | 7 | 8 | 10

No

~75 creative filters, Highlights & shadow adjustment, Panoramas, Vector tools, Social media templates, Direct sharing to social media, RAW support, Stock photos and illustrations, Wide selection of symbol shapes, etc.

6 days unregistered,
30 days upon registration

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It's Adobe

The number of users who have never heard of Adobe's Photoshop software is probably close to zero. The Adobe company has been ruling the photo editing software market for quite some time already and it seems they are in no hurry whatsoever to surrender the crown. Creative Cloud has been the main and the most advertised of their products in the latest years, having replaced the Creative Suite after its final 6 edition release in 2012. The Creative Cloud is a subscription-based product instead of perpetual licenses and, granted, the transfer was not the smoothest process at the time, many customers were reluctant and the mistakes were made but right now, Adobe Photoshop is still one of the most used software in both amateurish and professional branches of graphic design.

The latest release of the Photoshop, the Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 (out on October 18, 2017), offers the users a major update of the existing wide range of features as well as several new ones. In this edition, you will find, among others, several upgrades for the brush tool, like a new algorithm for the brush stroke smoothing, the option to reorganize your brushes, and the fixing of the lagging issue that might have slowed down your work before. There is the added functionality to work with 360° panorama images, an easy access to the Lightroom photos (if you include it in your package), and many many more. If you are completely new to Photoshop, you might actually feel a bit frustrated with how much there is to learn. But it does not take all that much time, actually, thanks to the better tips for mastering tools.

New Curvature Pen

The Pen tool is one of the most used tools in the Photoshop. Once mastered (a task somewhat bewildering at first without any guidance), it will become your favorite option for creating irregular shapes for further coloring and stroking, performing careful pinpoint cutting, and more. It is highly convenient thanks to the possibility to set points and draw lines exactly the way you need them. And now it has become even more user-friendly, making your job as an artist loads easier and faster. Before, in the drop-down Pen Tool menu, there were five options: Pen Tool, Freeform Pen Tool, Add Anchor Point Tool, Delete Anchor Point Tool, and Convert Point Tool. You used either Pen Tool or Freeform Pen Tool to outline the general shape of what you needed and then, with the help of anchor points and their conversion, you adjusted the shape till it was exactly what you wanted. That is, you had to switch between the tools. You can still do that now, of course, since these tools are still available, but the new Curvature Pen Tool allows you to do all that without switching! You add points by simply clicking the cursor on the line you've made, you convert them by double-clicking, and you drag the lines with ease. It saves a lot of time, it really does.

Over a Thousand Brushes, for Free

As of this latest upgrade to Creative Cloud, the Photoshop users can rejoice: the digital brushes by the designer for Time, New Yorker, and New York Time magazines and famous brush maker Kyle T. Webster have been added to the Creative Cloud collection. Without any extra cost aside from what you pay for your CC subscription. And since the creator himself has joined the designers' team, there are more brushes to come, exclusively for Creative Cloud. That's quite the news.

There is actually more, the extension of this newest update to the Adobe's main photo editing software is vast enough to write a large review on it alone. But when it comes to the software, it is much better to see for yourself, isn't it? You can even have a free trial period to get acquainted with the whole specter. And in our opinion, the subscription price is not that big for everything that is offered, especially seeing how often Adobe upgrades their products.

Best Photo Editing Software 2016

CyberLink's PhotoDirector might be not the most known photo editing software out there but we did find it really useful and, what's also important, entertaining. CyberLink puts great emphasis on it being created with everything to spur creativity in the users and we are inclined to agree. The best thing about PhotoDirector is that it works with video as well as with photos (well, to a certain extent, of course). What caught our attention first is the interesting video-to-photo face swap feature. What it means, in a nutshell, is the following. When you take a family video and want to make a photo from a shot but can't find the moment where everyone looks perfect, you can just take the PhotoDirector software for photo editing and combine faces from different shots into a single image. There, everybody is smiling, no one is blinking or making faces (or, alternatively, everyone does make the most hilarious face ever and you combine them into one shot). It can be handy and extremely fun to play with. And that just one feature. There are more.

Full-packed Easy-to-use Editor

PhotoDirector by CyberLink offers features for just about any kind of photos that professionals and amateurs alike will appreciate. When you work on pictures of people, there are so-called beautification functions that will enable you to correct skin tone, retouch wrinkles or little pimps, slightly correct face and body shape. Landscape photos will look immensely better after you apply Express Layer Templates to them—the feature that has all the necessary elements already set so you don't need to tweak it much. The number of blending modes is also being increased constantly, the way to make stunning mixes that will look good in your header on Facebook, YouTube channel, or work/travel blog. PhotoDirector offers easy-to-use GIF creation tool and over 40 overlays for you to make magic images to catch the eye of every single person seeing them. It also supports both widespread and quite a number of proprietary RAW formats and works with more than 100 lens profiles. There is not much that a photo editor needs that is not included here.

Best Photo Video Editor Software

The Dream of a Traveler Photographer

Three more features we'd like to point you towards. The first one is the magnificent and beautiful Little Planet. It's unbelievable what can be done with a panorama shot, really. With just a few clicks, long 360° scene transforms into a movie-like picture that looks like it was made to portrait a mysterious planet in a bewildering atmosphere. You can choose to center around the ground level or the sky, set the magnification and rotation of the image. It looks absolutely marvelous. The second feature is the Photo With Motion. A great option to liven up your blog posts, it offers you to make a so-called motion still, a photo-from-video where only some part of the image is moving—the water is flowing or cars are moving—whereas all around it everything stays still. Looks fascinating and hard to tear your eyes from. Finally, the CyberLink's professional photo editing software is equipped to work with time-lapse photography, another hip topic in the modern photography circles. What else you need? We didn't cover everything, chances are the feature you're looking for is right there too. If you're not sure, before buying the license, you can just use the 30-day trial. A whole month should be enough to explore.

Run Wild with Your Photos

PicMonkey is a browser-based photo editing software created by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. When it was all only starting in 2012, PicMonkey had a pretty basic set of options for photo editing; today, it is one of the most advanced online tools where you can use layers of effects, add stickers and text, change the image this way and that. It is actually kind of awesome.

PicMonkey offers just about everything, from retouching tools to edit people's photos (everything down to teeth whitening and blemish removal) to overlays and mood-altering effect to apply to your favorite landscape images and photos of nature or your pets' best shots. Altering or adding makeup? Here's your eyeliner, mascara, lip tint, shadows. Visual weight loss options (because we all know that photos add weight!), whisker grow, hair highlights—everything you can imagine is accounted for. Hell, you can even create a Haloween look with gore elements and scary 'makeup' then go add a 'ghostly' mood or a haunted house aura and scare your family and friends to the moon and back. Themed effects are a blessing here, they make it all so much more fun. And the best thing is? PicMonkey is a free online photo editing software.

All Included

The selection of templates offered by PicMonkey is a great choice when it comes to making designs for social media, beautifying your profile and posts. There are options for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. If you need a business card or an invitation to just about any event, PicMonkey can help with it, too. Announcement pictures, postcards, collages—it is simple and fast to get. You can even select a size to print it right away, then order it with PicMonkey Print Shop, and they will deliver the completed item to your mailbox.

Recent Changes

Up till September 2017, PicMonkey had a policy similar to the majority of Freemium services on the net. That is, you could use a limited number of features for free and obtain access to the whole list by buying one of two paid options: Premium or Supremium. Now, all the features for image beautification are available for free users as well, you can go wild as much as you want. However, to save the edited picture to your computer or post it via share option, you will need a paid account. This controversial change has brought up quite a commotion among the users, of course, but the PicMonkey team has issued their justification for such drastic move on their blog. Whether it will be for better or worse is yet to be seen but for now, you can just go check out the whole scale of offered options to see if you want them all at the tip of your fingers or you can try Premium for free for 7 days to assess the quality of saved pics (we think it's good) and make your decision.

In the meantime, the changes have not yet been applied for any of the two available mobile apps (Android and iPhone). There, you can still use the limited number of features but you can save those pictures freely.

Renowned Creator

Corel is another name well-known in the field of graphic design, alongside Adobe. Most people have heard of CorelDRAW at least once, it's a famous software for vector graphics. But this is a review on top photo editing software and we are here to tell you about another Corel product, the new PaintShop Pro 2018 Ultimate. Creators claim it to be an 'affordable alternative to Photoshop' and they are more or less truthful in it.

The new thing in PaintShop Pro 2018 is that it has two workspaces for users with different level of skills and experience. For those only beginning their journey into the world of photo editing, it might be more convenient to start with the Essentials workspace (you make the choice upon startup and can switch at any moment). In here, you will find the most basic functions like Crop, Eraser, Drop, Gradient and some more heavily used instruments. You can also add some features here if you need, using the Search button—this might be useful for editors who have some (or even a lot of) experience but need fast work with certain tools and uncluttered window. On the other hand, with Complete workspace, you get the whole range of tools and instruments, large enough to get lost in sometimes. Fortunately, Corel has answered the pleas of its users of previous versions and has made the user interface much simpler to navigate.

Do It Faster

What Corel PaintShop Pro 2018 offers its users is over 100 backgrounds, 75 new patterns/gradients/textures, 30 new brushes, color palettes, and, what we've found even more useful, a scripting engine. What does it mean, in this particular case? The scripting engine in a photo editing software is a feature where, when you need to edit several photos with the same effects (for example, a series of photos in the same color scheme and with similar contents but at different angles), you create a script with the necessary changes and apply it to all the photos. You can create a script for almost every task you do often, or not often but sometimes it's just the best. There is, by the way, a batch processing option as well. With these two possibilities, editing becomes much easier and faster, which can be extremely useful at times.

Buy a Batch

The Ultimate is in fact not a single app but a collection of professional photo editing software, it includes Painter Essentials 5, Perfectly Clear 3 SE, and Corel AfterShot 3, dedicated apps for certain tasks. With the Painter Essentials 5, you can take your photo and turn it into a drawing or a painting; it also offers tools to sketch from scratch and create stunning pictures. Perfectly Clear 3 SE is an intelligent app able to enhance images tremendously with a single click thanks to the collection of presets. Corel AfterShot 3 is an app designed for RAW editing, it makes photos from your camera look professional and it also supports batch processing, you can apply the changes to up to 1000 photos.

Vector Editor for Professional Designers

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is the best choice of image editing software for anyone working full-time in Web design. Although it does offer a wide variety of photo editing features like smart 'magic' erase (the feature that allows removing an object from the photo without leaving a blank space or a smudge) and healing (spots and wrinkles removal often used on portrait shots) its main focus is on vector graphics.

With this MAGIX's picture editor, you will be able to turn any photo into a painting: you can create photorealistic patterns from photos using a variety of brushes, for example. The possibility to use layers and blending options will enable you to create stunning posters, invitations, menus, headers for websites, and other printables. Additionally, Xara has long since been known as a software with fast rendering; even if you need your image to be printed in large scale, Xara can handle that flawlessly. And a very voluminous catalog of content will help you create logos and maps, add a touch of individuality to the image without it taking a lot of time. There are many editable shapes, ready website logos like Facebook, Twitter, and even Quora; simply speaking, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer offers everything to make web design faster and more creative at the same time.

Easy Switch

Here is another convenient feature of the Xara image editor. Within its huge collection of themes, templates, and shapes (you'll have a full year of free access to the biggest bundle) there is an easy-to-use search functionality where you can find whatever template you need at the time with no fuss and then edit it to your needs and liking. Furthermore, any freelance web designer will probably find the following option great: the switching between templates. It comes in handy when you are hired by a company to make the same design for several platforms.

Best Photo Video Editing Software Free For Mac

When a company plans to go for a full social media presence they would like all their pages to look vaguely the same—to be remembered and recognized. Platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, for example, all have customizable designs but the limits for headers and posts are all different there. With Xara professional photo editing software for Windows, you won't need to meticulously adjust the images from scratch for each platform since it offers the simplest auto-adjustment feature: upon finishing the initial design, you can right-click on the free space beside the image and select a format you want the picture to conform to. After that, it's just the tiny changes and your design for every platform is complete.

Collaboration Is a Thing Today

As a bonus feature, Xara also offers an online designer, a browser-based editor where you can work on occasion when you are away from your PC or laptop. It can also be useful for those designers who tend to work in groups, for companies that have whole designing departments working on the same project, etc. Online designer allows importing images from your computer or a Cloud service like GoogleDisk or Dropbox. If you work in groups, you'll see the changes your colleagues make in real time. It makes collaboration easier and work faster. And with additional help from the Xara tutorials and the community of professional and amateur designers from all over the world, you'll also improve your skills in a flash.

All in all, if subscription-based Adobe Photoshop is not your preferred option, try Xara! The company offers a 30-day trial upon registration of a free account so you will have plenty of time to decide if you want it.

What Is Photo Editing Software?

There was a time when photo editing was considered a highly superior skill that required some significant training and a drop of a talent. True, professional photographers are still valued as theirs are often works of art instead of just photos. But at the same time, the technology has made a huge leap in the direction of digital amateur photography, to the point where Snapchat and Instagram can somewhat help make photos more appealing. And, along with it, the wide variety of good photo editing software is being created every day.