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1. Best Free Raw Photo Editing Software For Mac

Best paint tool for mac. Advertisement Mac OS X is frequently seen as the creative platform of choice, and that means there’s a lot of software available for artsy media types who work in design, video and photography fields. In addition to The best video editors for macOS cost a lot of money, but what if your budget is $0?, Adobe Illustrator might be the gold standard when it comes to vector software for the Mac, but you don't always have to spend a fortune on design software. And Photoshop is expensive, and while many are happy to fork out a monthly fee for Adobe's revised Creative Cloud system, others will always turn to free software first. One thing is for sure: if you're. We thought it was about time we compiled a list of our favourite raster image editors too.

So here the most capable freebies we could find, as well as a few premium options for those of you willing to open your wallets in the name of good software. Free There aren’t a huge number of free editors available for OS X, such is the nature of a platform that doesn’t struggle to sell software. These free options may help tide you over, but you’ll get much more flexibility from the paid products in the next section. Photos for OS X Best for: Quick non-destructive photo edits when you’re in a rush, especially if you use iCloud Photo Library.

Apple’s new native one-stop photo editor is surprisingly versatile, and for simple edits, crops and preset filters, it shouldn’t be written off. Photos is never going to compete with the likes of Photoshop, but it does support RAW images and the editing tools therein are a step above some of the options below. A proper histogram, some sharpening masks, vignetting, layer adjustment, white balance correction, and support for a pile of ready-made filters ( Get your Photos images into Photoshop, Pixelmator and other applications despite the new restrictions put in place by Apple. Here's how.) are all present.

A core element of Apple’s photo editing tools (both on OS X and iOS) is the ability to make non-destructive edits. That means that none of your edits are ever permanent, and you can get back to your vanilla shot by hitting Reset Adjustments at any time. Sure, it’s mostly for editing your photos and doesn’t make an exceptional alternative to Photoshop (with a distinct lack of layers, selection marquees and in-depth RAW editing), but for quick edits and touch-ups on your Mac you don’t necessarily need to download any additional software. Microsoft for mac student.

See also: iPhoto. Probably just as well-known as Photoshop at this stage, GIMP has built a name for itself (and a loyal following) for being the web’s favorite open source fully-featured image editor. While it can take some getting used to, particularly if you’re used to the way Adobe does things, professionals and enthusiasts alike swear by its ability to get the job done. GIMP also now runs natively on OS X, without requiring any additional dependencies like it used to. Just like Photoshop, GIMP has full support for layers, a customizable interface that you can mold to suit your current task, and a rich set of photo editing tools. You can use these to make subtle adjustments and colorize, remove barrel distortion, create impressive monochrome conversions, touch-up blemishes, and with enough practice pull-off the sort of edits you’d expect from Adobe software.

That said, there’s a definite learning curve involved in using GIMP, and it’s not for everyone. While GIMP supports RAW files, you can’t work directly with RAW images in GIMP (some on the list of Mac RAW editors we linked to earlier have GIMP plugins) so that may deter enthusiast photographers. The project is actively maintained, with a userbase spread across all major platforms, and regular free updates. Check out,, and to get up to speed with the software. See also: The GIMPshop project unfortunately hasn’t seen an update since 2013, but it might be worth a look if you’re struggling with the vanilla package. The aim of the project is to make GIMP more closely resemble Photoshop, making it a more appealing image editor for Adobe refugees.

Best Free Raw Photo Editing Software For Mac

Best for: Those looking for an MS Paint (or MacPaint) equivalent for simple painting or annotating tasks. Every Mac sold used to come with a simple painting app, reminiscent of Microsoft Paint, alongside a simple word processor called MacWrite. Thirty-plus years later and MacWrite has been replaced with TextEdit, but no MacPaint equivalent exists. Paintbrush aims to correct this, providing simple painting functionality that allows users to create images quickly and perform rudimentary edits. The project is still maintained, which means full support for El Capitan and a streamlined interface that looks at home on modern Macs just like MacPaint did in 1984.