Do you know that 71% of people globally edit their photos before using them? In a world that prioritizes glamor and perfection, photo editing has become a necessary skill.
Photo editing allows people to modify their images however they want. They can fix the shape, size, color, and contrast of the photograph. Plus, they can add filters, frames, and emojis to give their images a fun vibe.
In this article, we will learn what photo editing is. We will also talk about some of the best photo editing apps and software available in 2024. So, let’s get started!
A photo is something you capture with your camera to preserve a precious moment. But, according to professionals, a picture is the result of using light to generate a two-dimensional image through a chemical or digital process.
Photo editing is a skill that allows you to adjust, alter, repair, or enhance the quality of a photograph with the help of software. Photographers cannot always capture the best pictures. Sometimes the angle, lighting, or timing works against them.
In such situations, photo editing is helpful. By using features like cropping, sharpening, straightening, and brightening tools, you can edit your photo and fix imperfections in it.
A professional photo editor is software that can understand your instructions and convert any imperfect image into a perfectly well-cropped image. It can adjust the temperature, style, and color of the image and make the main theme or model of the image stand out.
For instance, Adobe Photoshop is a very advanced and highly professional photo editor. You can use this software to remove the background and unnecessary elements from your photo. Plus, you can apply different filters to change the outlook of your photo.
In the digital era, there are several important reasons for editing a photo. Below, we have listed some of these reasons.
Below, we have listed the various types of photo editing that you can do with photo editing software.
Parametric image editing is all about creating an edited image from the original image by following a specific set of instructions.
However, the original picture will not be edited and will remain intact. This way, you can understand the difference between the original image and the edited image.
Moreover, you can further adjust the image as per your needs without losing the features of the actual image. You can do parametric image editing using the following software:
Read on to learn about some of the most popular and versatile photo editing software that exist in 2024.
This software is very popular among professionals because it has many advanced features, such as:
If you don’t know how to use a certain tool in this software, just click on that tool and a video tutorial on how to use it will appear on your screen. You can use this software on Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Additionally, there is a premium version of this software available in the market known as Photoscape X Pro. You can buy it if you want after paying a subscription fee of $40.
This is free software that has all the necessary tools that a photo editor needs to edit a picture. Plus, it includes tools for digital painting and animation. If you want to add advanced visual effects to your photos, you can use the brushes, vector templates, and filters available in Krita.
You can convert any badly clicked photo into a professional art piece by using the advanced tools available in GIMP.
It lets you adjust the color of your picture, resize your image, and eliminate unnecessary objects from it. However, if you use Adobe Photoshop regularly, you might find the layout of this software a bit old-fashioned.
This software is mostly famous for its effective sharpening and noise-reduction tools. You can edit your images like a professional editor by using the software’s correction and raw conversion tools.
Moreover, this software is easily accessible to Windows and Mac users. You do not have to go through a hard time figuring out how it works. It has a fairly easy interface.
This software is the advanced version of Microsoft Paint. There are many features available in this software, such as:
Now, let’s talk about the top 10 photo editing apps that are available online.
Google developed this editing app in 2011. You can use it on your phone to edit your photos and make them look professional. It offers a variety of preset filters that you can edit according to your preference.
You can also crop, add text, brighten, straighten, and sharpen your images with this app. Plus, Snapseed allows you to save your edit history.
This photo editing app uses artificial neural networks to turn your photos into artistic drawings and paintings. You can choose from 500 creative filters to edit your photos. Prisma also has an online community where you can connect with other skilled photo editors and get inspiration from their work.
If you want to make an organized collage of your pictures, you should use LiveCollage. It features thousands of layouts so you can edit photos as you need. You can also add interesting backgrounds, texts, emojis, and colors to your photos.
VSCO has realistic filters that make your photos look like they were taken with an analog film camera. These high-quality filters are often compared to the classic filters on Instagram. You can also adjust the intensity of the filters, blur the background, add borders, and crop your images with VSCO.
Initially, you could only use Adobe Photoshop Express on your laptop or computer. But, now it is available as an app for Android users.
This app has a very easy-to-understand interface. You can crop, straighten, rotate, and flip your pictures. It also has an image rendering engine. So, you can edit large files like panoramic photos with this app.
AirBrush was developed with a wide variety of beautifying tools such as:
You can make your photos blemish-free with the beautifying tools of this app. Moreover, AirBrush has over three hundred filters that you can use for free. It has a rating of 4.3 and more than 1,000 positive reviews in the Google Play Store.
If you want to quickly make some adjustments to your photos before posting them on social media, you should use Pixlr. You can add stickers to your photos, turn them into black and white, and add frames using this app.
You can also create photo collages using the various templates available. This way, you can change the position and size of your images according to your preference.
If you are not a pro photo editor and want to try out basic photo editing features as a beginner, you should try Picsart. It offers the following features:
You can use this app on your Android or iPhone. Additionally, you can purchase their premium subscription for $11 to access more advanced features.
This app is quite helpful if you want to edit your selfies and make them look perfect. You can smooth your skin, whiten your teeth, remove acne marks, and even change your hair color with its special features.
Plus, you can replace the background behind your selfie and add new backgrounds with this app. You can also use the blue button at the bottom of the image to switch between your original image and the edited photo. This way, you can compare the changes between the two photos.
If you want to turn your selfies into cartoons, you can use this photo editing app. This 30MB app has many special cartoon filters that will give your photos a fun and unique look. There are also Vector Art effects, oil painting effects, and sketch effects in this app.
Check out the table we have provided here. In this table, we have listed the key differences between a photo editing software and an app.
| Photo Editing Software | Photo Editing App |
|---|---|
| Photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, has many advanced tools that help professional editors convert regular photos into high-quality ones. | Photo editing apps like Snapseed often have basic filters and cropping features so that anyone can use them to make their pictures look good. |
| They are more complex and difficult to use than any photo editing app you can use on your phone. | Photo editing apps often have a minimalistic interface so that people can use them without any difficulties. |
| Most advanced photo editing software does not come for free. You need to pay a specific subscription fee to access them. | To do regular photo editing, you can download free apps like Picsart on your mobile phone. This way, you can edit your photos without paying any money. |
| You can use photo editing software like Canva to edit videos and other files. | Most photo editing apps that you will find in the App Store can only edit your photos. Thus, you cannot use them to edit different types of files. |
If you want to gain more information about photo editing, you can read the FAQs we have provided here.
Many people can do photo editing, even you. Business owners, freelancers, influencers, marketers, and teens use various photo editing apps to edit their personal or work-related images. By editing photos, you can adjust the angle, brightness, and depth, and fix any other issues in your picture to make it flawless.
Various organizations and individuals might need professional photo editing services. For instance, a start-up or e-commerce business might need to edit photos of its products to reach more customers. Social media influencers and celebrities might also need photo editing services to make their images visually appealing to their followers.
The cost of photo editing services tends to vary a lot. If you are using a subscription-based software like Canva, you might need to pay $10-$15 to access its advanced photo editing features. If you want to get your photo edited by a professional, you might have to pay $0.5-$5 per picture.
Overall, photo editing is a versatile skill that has been made easier by the innovation of various software and mobile apps. Now, anyone can edit their photos in a matter of seconds and make them look aesthetic.
Moreover, the use of filters, stickers, customized texts, and motion effects has taken photo editing to the next level. If you are not confident about your editing skills, you can hire professional photo editors to edit and beautify your pictures.
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