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Asking which is the best pixel-based photo editor for Mac OS X may sound like a simple and straightforward question, however, it is a more complex question than it may at first seem. There are lots of factors to consider when deciding which is the best photo editor and the importance of the various. At the core of the experience is an app that’s built from the ground up for Mac OS X, which makes Pixelmator a very fast image editor, even on older hardware. Features you’d expect to find in much pricier packages are present, like a healing brush, curve adjustment, level tweaking, and a ton of filters. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux and BSD under the GNU GPL license and supports a variety of video, image and audio formats, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4, MOV, ASF, JPG, AAC, AC3, etc. High compatibility with many video formats is the highlight of this free video editing software for Mac. Install Movavi Photo Editor on any Apple personal computer compatible with Mac OS versions 10.7–10.13, for example, OS X Lion, OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra. The app is so easy to learn that you don’t even have to know the basics about how to edit photos on Mac. PhotoPad Free Photo Editing Software for Mac OS X. Retouch photos quickly and easily and edit and apply effects to photos and other images. Crop, rotate, resize and add effects like sepia tones.
May 19,2019• Proven solutions
You may want to create and edit your images on Mac but don't want to pay for any money. Actually, there are many free Mac photo editors provided but find some really good ones can be hard. Here we list the top 5 free photo editing software for Mac for your reference and hope you can enjoy Mac photo editing with them. Make a comparison and choose the one you like according to your photo editing needs.
Mac Photo Editor: Best Free Photo Editing Software for Mac in 2019
You may have known how to use the intuitive photo editing tool Photos built in on MacOS to edit photos on Mac like a pro. Use Photos app, you can adjust the light, color, sharpness, add filters or crop and remove unwanted part. Besides, you can also use the Auto button to adjust in details. But with the third-party software, you can enhance your photos on Mac further. Thus, we recommend you to try the following free photo editors on Mac.
#1 Best Free photo editing software for Mac: The GIMP for Mac OS X
GIMP is a popular open-source image editor for Mac OS X and is often considered as the 'free Photoshop' because of its similar interface and features with Photoshop. It is a beta software developed by volunteers, so software updates and stability may be a problem. But many users reflect that the software comes with no big problems and they enjoy using it. Please note that GIMP is compatible with Mac OS X or later.
#2 Free Mac photo editor: Seashore
Seashore is an open source photo editor for Cocoa and is based around GIMP's technology. It uses the same file format as GIMP, but was developed as a Mac OS X application. The developer said it features gradients, textures and anti-aliase text and brush strokes. Besides, it supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing.
#3 Free photo editing software for Mac : Chocoflop
Chocoflop is another great free photo editor for Mac. It is free but is still under development. The great features of this free Mac photo editor is that it can non-destructive, rich text, core image filters, raw support, etc. while edit photos. For people who seldom do photo editing, it may be hard to use. And it's a pity that it now doesn't support Snow Leopard.
#4 Free photo editing software for Mac: Pixen
Pixen is a free graphics editor for Mac OS X and is very good for animation and pixel based editing. Its features include layers capability, title view, animation features, etc.
#5 Free photo editing software for Mac: Picasa
Picasa serves as a perfect photo editor, photo viewer, photo manager and photo sharing tool on Mac. It enables you to eliminate scratches & blemishes, fix red-eye, crop and more, turn photos into movies, collages, slideshows and more. After that, you can upload your retouched photos to Picasa Web Albums to share them with family and friends.
By the way, if you have so many photos, you can make photo slideshow with the photo slideshow software and burn the slideshow to DVD for long-term preservation. Use the movie styles to turn your photos to Hollywood like movies instantly! Or you can make a digital scrapbook with the scrapbook software to make a memory book.
Bonus: making stunning videos with photos and music with fun
It is said that by 2020 80% of Internet traffic will be generated by video content, so it is time to start learning how to turn your memorable photos into video with some cool effects. Here, we recommend you to try Wondershare Filmora9 which is easy-to-use yet powerful enough to make stunning even Hollywood style video with fun. You will enjoy making videos with Filmora9, just download the free trial version below and give it a shot.
Easy-to-use and powerful video editor for all creators.
Bring up your video to a professional level with straightforward tools.
- Choosing Video Editing Software
- Video Editing Tips
Even if you can't afford to purchase photo editing software, you can still find free software to create and edit images. Some are developed by individuals, and some are feature limited or an earlier version of a more advanced program. In some rare instances, there are no strings attached, but most often you will need to provide information to the company by registering, or endure ads or nag screens.
Though these are all stand-alone applications you also might want to take a look at the free mobile apps from Adobe. They include:
Also don't forget there are also mobile apps from SketchGuru, Skitch, and a number of other Android and iOS imaging apps such as Instagram which gives you the ability to play with images by applying a variety of preset effects and filters to your images.
Finding the Best Photo Editing App for You
The key decision behind using any imaging application lies with what the requirements are for the task at hand. You need to closely research the product and get really clear on both the product's strengths and its weaknesses. Also, take the time to look at the work others have created with the product. For example, if you are looking to create simple graphics or to touch up family photos, then an application without a serious number of filters and effects may just fit the bill. On the other hand, if you want to do compositing and add effects then a limited feature set may not be ideal for your needs.
Also, it is important that you check out whether the application has been updated recently. A lack of updates is the first clue that this software may just be on its last legs. Also just doing a simple Google or Bing search around the application will tell you volumes. For example, Picassa, one of the apps mentioned in this piece has been withdrawn. That's the bad news. The good news is its feature set has been folded into Google Photos which is free.
GIMP for Mac OS X
What We Like
- Interface familiar for Photoshop users.
- Fully featured, despite being free.
What We Don't Like
- Might not be updated frequently.
- Lacks adjustment layers.
GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the 'free Photoshop,' it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop.
Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for OS X without significant problems. GIMP is not compatible with Mac OS 9 and earlier.
Pinta
Pinta is a free pixel-based image editor for Mac OS X. One of the most interesting aspects of Pinta is that it is based on the Windows image editor Paint.NET.
Pinta offers the basic drawing tools that you'd expect from an image editor, as well as some more advanced features, such as layers and a range of image adjustment tools. These features mean that Pinta is also a viable tool for users looking for an application to allow them to edit and improve their digital photos.
Image Tricks
Image Tricks is a fun and easy to use free image editor for Mac OS X. It is an application that encourages experimentation and offers the ability for a wide range of effects to be combined and applied to pictures.
Image Tricks is an ideal application for less experienced users to achieve creative results, thanks to the range of filters and masks that are available. There is also a paid Pro version that offers more filters, though you can see the effects that they produce in the free version, without saving them.
Mac Os Image Editor
GraphicConverter X
What We Like
Mac Os X 10.10 Download Free
- Works with a huge variety of formats.
- Cocooner function allows non-destructive editing, preserving original image.
What We Don't Like
- Can be difficult at first.
- Cluttered interface.
GraphicConverter is a multi-purpose graphics tool for converting, viewing, browsing, and editing hundreds of image types on the Macintosh platform. If there is a file format or image processing task that your existing software can't handle, chances are that GraphicConverter can do it if you're willing to tackle the learning curve.
GraphicConverter is a worthwhile tool to have on hand but needs some serious work in the usability department. The application is not free, but you can use the shareware without time limitation if you don't need batch processing features.