When it comes to photo editing, the first choice for professionals is Adobe products. It has set a standard in the market over time. However, several of the best professional photo editing software work as a perfect alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom.
Let’s find out.
Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are full of unique features, like the RAW image converter and presets and effects. It also offers image processing and management, which makes it very popular among professionals.
However, it is not for everyone. Pros don’t like some things, like the lack of layers and file management systems. It makes practitioners on the lookout for alternatives that may work well but more efficiently.
We’ve rounded up some of the best photo editing software that Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop will love.
LuminarAI
Luminar AI is an AI-powered photo editor that works for Windows and Mac. This photo editing software has the plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop that delivers fantastic results. It provides endless possibilities and exclusive tools with more than 20 unique photo effects.
The tool also touches up portraits, changes abilities, enhances landscapes, and removes unwanted detail with full scene lighting. Within 12-20 seconds, users can get a perfect photo by creating a style for the images and applying it to the series. Photo editing software creates natural haze or haze, keeps colors vibrant, transforms landscape gallery, and corrects camera exposure.
LuminarAI or Luminar Studio can edit an image in a few clicks with portrait, makeup and fashion photo sets with outstanding highlighting and natural texture. It also works on face features with FaceAI and SkinAI, iris, perfect portrait, and accent or crop for macOS and Windows.
It comes with more possibilities with innovative technologies to receive professional quality photos and express your ideas. Along with this, Luminar photo editing app deals with AI that can focus on creativity.
Affinity Photo
Affinity photo editing software offers delicate retouching, quick fixes, and immersive design on complex fine art. Add various layers to photos that can increase the quality of the photo. The software targets creative and photography professionals from around the world while maintaining precision, power and speed.
The fully loaded photo editor is ideal for iOS, Windows, and macOS, allowing users to explore digital painting, panorama stitching, HDR blending, raw editing, batch processing, focus stacking, smart object support, unlimited layer, 360 image editing and PSD editing.
Affinity Photo focuses on raw power that can also render in real time. It offers support for massive images (100+ megapixels), real-time editing, user interface design, complex vector documents, PSD smart object import, time-saving tools, and super-smooth 60fps pan and zoom.
The software offers flawless retouching by making quick fixes, detailed retouching, dedicated features, etc. remove unwanted objects with paint brush, liquify feature sculpting workspace, clone, patch, burn, dodge, blemish removal tool, skin retouch.
It has amazing live filter layers that target distortion, lighting, blurs, and perspective corrections. It also deletes layers, reorders necks, and adjusts parameters. The tool adds a live smoothie layer, applies a single layer or an entire stack, adds filter effects, mask areas, and a full-resolution live preview.
Full raw development for a super-smooth experience and end-to-end 16-bit capture to drive the finest corrections are more popular. Edit metadata, import XMP files, EXIF ​​information, adjust a black point, drop shadow, blown highlights, professional lens corrections, and drop shadows. Along with this, the impressive composition and beautiful brushwork bring out the details.
Pixelmator Pro
Pixelmator Pro is a professional image editing tool with extensive features like retouching photos, painting, creating graphic designs, drawing vector graphics, adding amazing effects, etc. The AI-powered auto tool offers automatic subject selection and background removal.
It also comes with a selection tool and masks with advanced selections and a selected subject, Magic Background Eraser, and smart sharpening. The powerful tools come to enable non-destructive color adjustments with the collection of amazing presets, support RAW photos and amazing retouching tools.
Pixelmator Pro 2.3 Abracadabra is a new version of this powerful tool that turns beautiful photos into spectacular ones. The tool offers auto-enhanced photos, color editing, exposure to advanced tools, color adjustments, RAW editing, and brush stroke retouching. It also uses a machine learning algorithm that makes adjustments easy.
Vector tools are easily customizable smart shapes, support SVG vectors, and come with a vast collection of pre-designed shapes. It offers resolution independence, making it look smooth with sharp edges. The software comes with pre-made smart actions like arrows, shapes, speech bubbles, etc.
PixStudio
PixStudio is a graphic design creator for logos, banners, YouTube thumbnails, etc. It works on creative layouts with drag-and-drop templates, accessible creative assets for invitations, social media posts, and event banners. The tool is downloaded in one click and is easy to share on different social media platforms.
The growing library comes with various templates that are easily accessible for free. One can customize the templates with colors, photos, text, and graphics with a distinctive branding kit. PixStudio is packed with thousands of vector graphics and background removers with outstanding options and flexibility.
Acorn 7
If you want to work on animated GIF exports and actionable features, then Acorn 7 is your step up. It is packed with various features such as cropping or repair tools to correct images that work on problematic distortions. Adjust colors in HSV and RGB without changing modes, increasing color accuracy and management.
The online tool is packed with non-destructive filters that can be easily customized, use controls on the canvas, Boolean operations, Bezier curves, arrows, stars, and vector text tools. Modify the stroke alignment, shape blending, and join style within the inspector palette.
For adjustments, Acorn 7 offers a range of photo effects like distortions, color corrections, sharpening, gradients, drop shadow, vignette, tilt shift, blur, etc. The circular text tools provide rotation, circular radius, inversions, kerning sliders, baseline, and text on a path entity. It also provides smart layer export, cloning between layers, images and more along with export goodness.
PaintShop Pro
PaintShop Pro is powered by AI that can easily edit photos and videos with unique results. Photo editing software offers the digital world to get brightness and color in the missing piece with one-click solutions.
The customizable toolset offers graphic design, photo editing, and smart solutions packed with various features. It comes with a highlight reel that showcases the latest adventures in creating videos and photos. Its goal is to work on smart movies to extract and analyze the best parts of the images.
PaintShop Pro 2022 Ultimate offers MultiCam Capture Lite which can increase audience, engage viewers and capture video. You can record product demos, create how-to videos, shoot videos, and develop gameplay videos.
It offers digital painting capabilities using realistic brushes and a unique blank canvas. Image-based AI and the art of cloning. The tool includes several features such as essential tools, adjustment tools, selection or correction tools, RAW, HDR, 360° camera support, and time-saving tools.
Capture One
Capture one Photo editing is a powerful tool that offers an efficient photo experience for editing, shooting and collaborating. The tool has redesigned the way professionals work around editing software with extensive features such as:
- fasting bond
- realistic color
- personalized experience
- advanced color editing
- Smarter Layers and Masks
- speed edit
Capture One helps increase creativity in images with precise and powerful tools and features. It is packed with features like haze, style brushes, styles or presets, before/after tool, curves, skin tone editing, levels, and black and white tool.
The tool can also combine up to 16 layers in the images for separate areas without affecting the other parts. Follow luminosity masking, linear gradient, heal or clone brushes, magic brush, grayscale mask, feature mask, radial masks, and refine mask.
Acdsee
ACDSee Photo editing software is more than adding layers and an advanced light equalizer. It offers RAW editing to give your memory a new look and polish finishing features. The software comes with fundamental elements that provide a flow to photography and rely on digital asset management.
RAW editing captures rough data using non-destructively adjustable camera sensors for total flexibility. The tool focuses on details rather than the whole picture. The tool focuses on Advanced Light EQ, which does not affect the image at all.
ACDSee Advanced Light EQ can focus on specific areas of the photo with its patented lighting technology. Layered editing works on various layer adjustments, masks, blank layers, effects, selections, etc. It allows users to isolate specific areas of the images in order to edit them and make the desired changes.
DxO PhotoLab
PhotoLab DxO Photo editing software has made it easy for professionals to give their images a new look. The tool is used for photo processing and management, providing outstanding results. With RAW processing, the tool is packed with denoising or denoising the images through its deep learning AI technology.
Lens corrections using cutting-edge measures come up with chromatic aberrations, distortions, sharpening, and vignetting. It comes with U Point technology that offers precision for image editing. Features include manual and automatic brushes, a wide range of local adjustments, and adjustable sensitivity levels.
DxO PhotoLab can also repair images using overlay and reposition functions to give image precision. ClearView Plus reveals the true character of an image, providing control over haze, haze, and haze while automatically optimizing vibrance and flair.
Intelligent DxO SmartLighting technology allows for a balance between deep shadows and bright highlights. It will allow users to make necessary adjustments when it comes to text or image based watermarks.
ON1 Photo RAW
ON1 RAW photo Ultimate Photo Editor is an all-in-one application for all photographer’s requirements. It is packed with different features like RAW editing, effects, scanning, resizing, HDR, portrait and whatnot. New technology and additions like Time-Lapse, NoNoise AI, Sky Swap AI, make the tool even more popular.
The advanced tool also comes with Photoshop Plugin Host, Liquify Tool, Export or backup/catalog and advanced search. Key features of the tool include organization, RAW processing, resizing, sharing, printing, powerful effects, AI-powered features and integrations, photo blending, and cloud syncing.
ON1 Photo RAW is an all-in-one application that allows professionals to easily catalog and browse images, putting them in control. State-of-the-art RAW processing packs it with compact features like textures, dynamic contrast, HDR look, brightness, split tone, and other creative effects.
It goes beyond users with AI-powered features, and non-destructive photos make complex tasks more manageable. Deep RAW technology maintains image quality while targeting large, high-bit, color space engines.
PortraitPro
PortraitPro is the tool that allows professionals to transform the features of portraits to deliver amazing results. The tool comes with neck and shoulder slimming technology, body highlighting tools to relight full body portraits, volumizing, recoloring, hair highlighting, hairline tools, chin shadow functions to enhance the facial structure.
The retouch tool uses artificial intelligence technology to enhance any aspect of the image. It detects the subject’s face, age, gender, locates the features (objects, hair, skin, backgrounds) and automatically retouches it. There are customizable and fully adjustable slider presets that make it easy for users to get remarkable results.
PortraitPro is packed with new tools that bring a whole new meaning to editing. The tools deliver beautiful, natural results while reproducing existing texture and removing shadows. Create subtle appearance changes while keeping the natural, realistic texture intact. Smart filters offer optimal customization of RAW processing and workflow.
Conclution
Not all the tools can meet all your requirements and therefore it is better to purchase the premium version based on what you need. There are free trials of the tools that can give you a look and help you understand what will work well. So, explore your options and invest in the best one.
