Photography isn't just about the camera; it is also about the editing process that takes place after the images are captured. This article discusses the benefits and the 8 best photo editing software for PC and Mac, like CapCut, Adobe Photoshop, Corel PaintShop Pro, and more. After reviewing eight of the best photo-editing applications available for PC and Mac, we will compare them based on several criteria. Additionally, we will explain the most frequent errors made by people when editing photos. The top-rated photo-editing solution is CapCut photo editor, thanks to its extensive feature set, including advanced AI tools.
Benefits of using professional software for editing photos
- Enhanced image quality: Professional editing software offers high-resolution adjustments, color correction, and precise tone control, bringing out every detail. It enables photographers to achieve cleaner, sharper, higher-quality visuals compared with basic editors.
- Advanced retouching tools: These tools enable creators to remove imperfections, correct lighting, smooth skin, and adjust textures with high accuracy. They are vital for portraits, product shots, and commercial works where perfection is the key.
- AI-powered editing capabilities: Modern editors utilize AI to improve colors, detect subjects, replace backgrounds, and apply smart color corrections automatically. This reduces manual effort while delivering high-quality results.
- Extensive filters and effects library: With professional-grade editing software, you get a wide selection of filters, cinematic looks, and artistic presets to enhance your photos instantly. This allows photographers to match a particular style or create unique visual moods effortlessly.
- Time-saving automation features: Automation tools, such as batch editing, AI design, and AI adjustments, improve the overall workflow. They allow photographers to quickly edit a large number of photos without compromising quality.
Thus, there are plenty of benefits of using photo editing software. But what are the best photo editing software available to enhance photos? Stick around as the following sections discuss this and much more.
8 best photo editing software for PC and Mac in 2025
CapCut
CapCut is an intuitive, robust desktop video editing software known for its advanced editing and AI-powered features. It is also an excellent tool for editing photos, with the AI design feature, which offers text-to-design, and the ability to upload multiple images for enhancement. You can further enhance the pictures with a range of editing and AI-powered features, including inpainting, expansion, removal, and upscaling. Get CapCut now and use its advanced editing features to create attractive photos with ease.
- Use CapCut's "AI design" feature to transform your text prompts into attractive photos. It is powered by AI models such as Nano Banana and Seedream 4.0.
- Enhance your photos with a range of editing tools, including filters, effects, stickers, shapes, frames, and designs, to make them visually appealing.
- Use CapCut's background remover to remove and replace backgrounds with attractive photos of your choice.
- Improve your photos with CapCut's AI-powered tools, such as inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale, to make them more attractive.
- Some advanced features require an active internet connection.
Steps to use CapCut for creating and editing photos
- STEP 1
- Access the AI design feature
To begin with, open CapCut and click on the "AI design" feature from the left-hand panel. Next, select "My projects" and click the "+" icon. Select a suitable photo size and click the "Create" button to open the editing interface.
To upload a photo, click the "Upload" icon from the left-hand panel and then choose the "Upload" option. After that, select the desired photo from your device.
- STEP 2
- Edit the photo
Once the photo has been imported, you can access the left-hand panel to edit it with stickers, filters, effects, frames, and designs. You can also click "AI tools" to enhance the photo with AI-powered features, including inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale.
- STEP 3
- Export the photo
Once satisfied with the photo, click the "Download" option at the top of the screen. Next, click the "Download" button to save the picture, or select "Copy as PNG" to copy it.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is the industry-standard photo-editing software, known for its professional-quality tools and versatile creative features. Beyond traditional editing, it also offers AI-powered features, such as text-to-design, which lets users generate or modify photos from text prompts, making it one of the best photo-editing software options. With advanced layers, retouching tools, and generative AI options such as generative fill, Photoshop gives photographers complete creative control over every project.
- Adobe Photoshop offers a text-to-design feature that lets users generate images from text prompts.
- It offers non-destructive editing with unlimited layers, masks, and adjustment layers for complete control.
- The tool provides AI-powered features, like neutral filters and object selection.
- Adobe Photoshop requires a monthly or annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is powerful video-editing software designed for photographers, designers, and creative enthusiasts seeking a cost-effective photo-editing solution. It is unique for its non-destructive editing workflow, high-performance raster and vector tools, and live filter layers, which enable precise edits. Affinity Photo also offers color grading, focus stacking, HDR merging, and extensive RAW processing, making it perfect for high-quality photo enhancements on PC.
- Affinity Photo offers a non-destructive editing workflow with live filter layers for flexible editing.
- It offers photo-retouching tools, including inpainting and healing brushes.
- The software provides high-quality stitching, HDR merging, and focus-stacking tools.
- Affinity Photo lacks advanced AI-powered editing features, such as text-to-design.
Corel PaintShop Pro
Corel PaintShop Pro is a fully featured photo-editing software, primarily designed for Windows users, offering a combination of powerful editing tools, RAW processing, and creative effects for designers and photographers. It supports RAW image development, provides HDR and focus-stacking features, and includes AI-powered tools such as upscaling, denoising, and artifact removal to enhance photo quality. Featuring a one-time purchase model, it is an excellent choice for users seeking a budget-friendly alternative to subscription-based tools.
- PaintShop Pro's Camera RAW Lab lets you process RAW files, recover highlights, and merge exposures to produce high-quality photos.
- Features such as upscaling, denoising, and artifact removal help reduce noise, improve clarity, and enlarge images.
- The software offers flexible editing tools, like masks, vector tools, text tools, and the frame tool.
- Corel PaintShop Pro isn't available on macOS.
Luminar Neo
Luminar Neo is a modern, AI-powered photo-editing software by Skylum, designed to deliver professional-level editing capabilities with a user-friendly interface. What sets it apart is its modular engine and a wide array of AI tools, including AI-driven sky replacement, automatic relighting, smart background detection, and one-click enhancement sliders that simplify complex edits. This makes Luminar Neo one of the best photo-editing software options for photographers seeking high-quality results without delving into manual adjustments.
- Features such as Sky AI, Relight AI, and automatic object removal let you easily enhance photos, correct lighting, and retouch portraits.
- Unlike simple editors, Luminar Neos supports layers, masks, and blend modes.
- The tool offers built-in templates that quickly give your photos a polished look.
- Advanced and generative AI features are locked behind a paywall.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is an excellent photo-editing software that streamlines photography workflows from import to export. It provides robust RAW processing, non-destructive editing, and intelligent organization of photo libraries, making it perfect for photographers handling frequent shoots or extensive collections. Additionally, Lightroom syncs your edits across devices, making it effortless to edit on the go.
- Adobe Lightroom offers non-destructive editing with RAW support.
- It offers batch editing and preset features, allowing you to apply presets to hundreds of photos at once.
- The tool offers precise color grading, allowing you to adjust hue, saturation, and luminance.
- Lightroom lacks advanced editing features, such as layer-based editing and complex compositing.
Capture One
Capture One is professional-grade photo-editing and RAW processing software designed for photographers working with high-resolution images and demanding editing workflows. It provides exceptional photo quality through fine-tuned RAW conversion, precise color control, and excellent detail rendering. Some other advanced features include customizable workspaces, mask editing, and tethered shooting, making it one of the best photo editing software programs for portrait or commercial photography.
- Capture One provides precise RAW editing and color grading.
- AI-powered masking enables accurate selection of subjects and backgrounds for detailed edits.
- The tool offers layer-based editing and local adjustments.
- Full access to features requires a paid subscription.
Photomator
Photomator is a modern editing app for Mac, iPad, and iPhone that combines simplicity with powerful editing tools. It supports over 750 RAW file formats, provides non-destructive editing, and offers a range of AI-powered features, including automatic subject/sky/background selection, upscaling, noise reduction, and smart color collections. As it is present on Mac, iPad, and iPhone, it is an excellent solution for photographers seeking high-quality edits across devices.
- Photomator supports 750+ RAW formats, delivering high-quality image data.
- AI-powered enhancements, such as automatic subject/sky/background selection, AI-based denoising, and super-resolution.
- The tool supports batch editing, allowing easy adjustment across photos.
- Photomator lacks advanced photo library management.
Best photo editing software - Which tool reigns supreme
How to choose the best photo editing software? Here is a comparison among these tools, check and find which is the best for your project:
Best free photo editing software - Addressing common mistakes
- Mistake 1: Overediting photos
How to avoid: Avoid applying too many filters, using excessive contrast, or applying unrealistic color correction, which can make photos look unnatural. Keeping the edits subtle is the key. CapCut's AI-powered photo-editing tools help you achieve a balanced look without overusing effects.
- Mistake 2: Ignoring resolution and export settings
How to avoid: Editing a high-quality photo and then exporting it at low resolution reduces sharpness and clarity. So, always check the export settings to maintain quality. CapCut offers multiple export formats, including JPG and PNG, and supports 8K export quality for high-resolution photos.
- Mistake 3: Overlooking text and graphic integration
How to avoid: Adding text or graphics without considering the size, placement, or font style can distract the viewers from the main photo. So, proper design is vital. CapCut offers a variety of text-editing tools to integrate pictures perfectly.
- Mistake 4: Neglecting proper cropping and composition
How to avoid: Ignoring the cropping rules or aspect ratios can make the photo appear awkward and unbalanced. Proper framing also enhances the visual appeal. CapCut offers smart cropping tools and a range of frames and designs to help create perfectly composed images.
- Mistake 5: Skipping AI-powered enhancements
How to avoid: Manual editing alone can be time-consuming and may miss subtle details, such as background removal, upscaling, or noise reduction. AI-powered features simplify the process and save plenty of time. CapCut's AI tools, like background remover, inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale, help you achieve excellent results with minimal effort.
Using the best photo editing software can significantly enhance the quality and appeal of your photos. This article discussed the benefits and the 8 best photo editing software for PC and Mac, including CapCut, Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, Corel PaintShop Pro, and so on, each offering unique perks and drawbacks. Among the 8 tools mentioned here, CapCut stands out as the best due to its extensive editing features, including AI design, background removal, and AI-powered tools. Download CapCut today and use its advanced editing features to transform your photos effortlessly.
FAQs
- 1
- How to improve image quality using photo editing software for MacBook Air?
CapCut is one of the best photo editing software, offering a variety of filters, effects, and AI tools, including upscale and 8K export resolution, making it easy to achieve high photo quality on MacBook Air. Improving photo quality starts with the basics: adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. You can use features such as noise reduction, color correction, and upscaling to enhance detail.
- 2
- How can I edit RAW images using the best photo editing software for free?
Editing RAW images involves adjusting the exposure, white balance, highlights, and shadows. Free software such as Darktable and GIMP supports RAW files and offers advanced features, including masking and batch editing. Some tools also provide AI-assisted features for advanced edits. CapCut's editing and AI-powered features, such as AI design, background remover, inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale, make RAW editing faster and more effortless.
- 3
- What is the best photo and video editing software for social media content creation?
CapCut is one of the best tools for creating social media content because it supports both photo and video editing on a single platform. For photo editing, it offers features such as AI design, background remover, filters, effects, stickers, frames, and AI-powered tools, including inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale to enhance your photos. For videos, you can access features such as text-to-speech, auto-captions, and noise reduction to create appealing videos.
Learn more about photo editing software from the following resources: