Best Photo Editing Software for 2024

Photo editing software comparison chart for 2024

Photo editing software explained

It’s hard to take perfect photos. Bad lighting, blurring and unwanted intrusions can all affect the pictures you snap. That’s why photo editing software is a great companion to your digital camera, enabling you to tweak your photos and fix many problems easily.

Although some advanced features may take time to master, most packages contain preset settings for common tasks. This makes improving your photos and performing simple edits quite straightforward.

Features are not everything

Most photo editing software packages are packed with features. But make sure you look beyond the length of the feature list. It’s more important to ensure that the particular features you need are included.

Additionally, if you have little experience with photo editing software, make sure your chosen package is easy to use. Look for tutorials and presets for tasks like removing red-eye from photos and reducing blur.

Saving and organizing photos

Digital photos can be saved as lots of different file types. The most common is JPEG (pronounced ‘jay-peg’). JPEGs are an efficient way to save photos because they dramatically cut the size of the file by slightly lowering the quality of the image.

This does mean there’s a trade-off between file size and image quality. Look for software that lets you preview the image at different file sizes, so you can check you’re happy before you save.

As well as JPEGs, your photo editing software should be able to handle BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF and RAW file formats. This will ensure you can open most images – no matter whether they’re from your own camera or elsewhere.

Finally, photo editing software can help you organize your photos, creating a logical filing system so you can easily locate particular pictures. It’s really useful if you have thousands of photos on your computer.

What to look for in photo editing software

The Basics

Look to see if the software can do the basics like crop, resize and rotate a photo. Photo editing software should provide tools that improve your images. Look to see whether they provide automatic correction tools such as red eye removal, teeth whitening and we more importantly we look to see whether they are actually any good.

File compatibility

Digital photos come in many different file formats. Quite often a photo cannot be viewed on a computer because of an incompatible format. Photo editing software allows you to open, import and export a wide range of file formats such as JPG, TIF, BMP and PDF. Image editing software should offer RAW file compatibility.

Photo sharing capabilities

There should be plenty of photo sharing options available for you to show off your photographs. Several companies allow you to upload your photos to an online gallery, where your friends and family can view your photographs. Some photo editors allow you to directly upload your photos to social networking websites (Facebook) or photo sharing websites (Flickr).

Help & support

It's unlikely that you will need telephone support, but you should really choose a package that provides a good solid user manual. Once you've mastered the basics of your photo editing software, you may want to progress to more advanced techniques and there should be plenty of help and advice to help you master these techniques.

Jargon explained

Batch processing

Batch processes can save you time and effort by allowing you to edit and save multiple files at once. This means you can quickly and easily make changes to a group of images without having to do it individually for each file.

Bokeh

The Bokeh effect is a photography technique where the background of an image is intentionally blurred to create a beautiful, dreamy effect. The term "bokeh" comes from the Japanese word "broke," which refers to a blurry or hazy effect. To achieve this effect, a shallow depth of field is used, which makes the subject in focus stand out while the background appears soft and blurry. Photographers use this technique to add a touch of artistry to their images.

Cropping

"Cropping" an image involves removing a portion of it. This tool is frequently used to eliminate unwanted edges of a photograph.

EXIF information

Taking a photo with your smartphone or digital camera automatically stores the specifics of the settings utilized to create your image. This information is saved in an EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) format. The information held includes details such as camera manufacturer, model, ISO speed, lens type, exposure mode, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, metering mode, ISO speed, GPS coordinates, white balance, focal length, subject distance, exposure time, and date/time of capture. Any adjustments to the image after the photo is taken will not be recorded or stored. Most camera manufacturers widely support the EXIF standard.

Noise reduction

When taking digital photos, unwanted noise distortion can occur due to various factors like low level lighting, extended exposure times, or high ISO settings. This may result in a grainy or pixelated look in the images, or even discoloration. To address this issue, photo editing software can smooth out the image by analyzing the variations in pixel values between adjacent areas.

RAW

RAW files act like traditional photo negatives because they cannot be opened directly, but they hold all the necessary information required to generate an image.