Can anyone recommend an inexpensive Image Editing program for Mac that has an easy learning curve for someone that is artistically challenged? I’d like to find something that costs no more than $50.00 USD that can at least allow you to design some basic images and also import images and then be able to crop them, resize them and perhaps add images to the existing image.
I’m a big fan of Pixelmator. The price is very reasonable, and the tool is powerful.
There is a bit of a learning curve, but one solid day of work will make you massively productive from that point on. I personally enjoyed Richard Harrington’s tutorials at Lynda.com.
4 Likes
Pixelmatr is good, but I like Affinity Photo too. Very good program (just got a weird Tron vibe by saying program).
3 Likes
+! for Pixelmator - I’d not be without it.
Autodesk’s Graphic is the one to get and for $50 you can also get the iPad version too. I did a couple of videos using Graphic and this one at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96vzkx6Zs9s gives a good flavour of why it is so good.
1 Like
Pixelmator and Affinity Photo
I got both Pixelmator and Affinity Photo (both nice) but use them rarely because I got Photoshop in my toolbox – due to my work in the traditional graphic line of business.
Autodesk Graphic
Didn’t know Autodesk Graphic, will have to take get a closer look at that… I’m kind of a photo app junkie even though I use Photoshop most of the time.
Photoshop Elemetns
Theres Photoshop littlebrother: Photoshop Elements but it’s pricec around 100$ I think.
Fotor
There’s also Fotor from the Mac Store. It has a lot of image filters: classic, vintage, retro, lomo, light leaks, b/w and more. It has an option to add borders and text to the image. And it has tilt shift, both vertical and round (nice feature).
Of course it has all the simple adjustments too like tone, exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, white balance, curve. There’s also a nice collage feature… but it doen’t have layers or a selection tool.
I really enjoy using the Fotor when I don’t need to pull out my Photoshop Gun.
Polar Photo Editor
Very nice and intuitative photo app to adjust and boost the colors of an image. Just bought it a little month ago. Has some of the easiest and fastest tools to adjust image colors. But… doesn’t have layers.
Both Pixelmator and Affinity Photo has Layers, which also makes the learning curve a little more… curved. Affinity Photo has very Photoshop like in the interface.
Fotos
And theres of course Apples own Fotos, that does a quite nice job when it comes to simple corrections like cropping, filtering (same filters as the camera app in iOS), straightering, simple retouch, red eye… but again – doesn’t have layers.
Thats my tool of choice these days. Depending on the tools you need photo with the preview app are good at some very basics
Thanks for the suggestions. I will do some research on each.
hi,
if you are mac user you can try PicFocus app.
i tried it. it is working perfect. very straight forward. and its free.
i am giving to link below
This looks interesting!!
Acorn by Flying Meat is currently 50% off, making it $14.99
Hope this helps.
1 Like