TOP photo editing software on MacBook "Good"

1. TOP Best Photo Editing Software on MacBook 

There are many photo editing software on MacBook. For the most general overview of photo editing software on MacBook, please refer to the following summary table.

Classify

Application

Characteristic

Photo editing apps available on MacBook

Preview

Used to view various file formats. You can also edit PDF files using this application.

Preview also helps you make simple edits to your images.

Photos

Image management and processing software.

It's completely free.

Intuitive interface, easy to use.

Professional photo editing software

Adobe Photoshop

Professional photo editing software with a long list of tools from basic to advanced.

Adobe Lightroom

Ideal for image management with photo editing tools. It features excellent RAW image editing capabilities.

Fast and convenient photo editing software

Mac Emulsion

Edit photos quickly and easily with tons of unique effects and filters. 

Pixelmator Pro

Enhance your photo editing with machine learning technology, intuitive interface, and many attractive features.

Photolemur

Easy to use, suitable for everyone, has the feature of automatically improving photo quality thanks to AI technology.

Fotor Photo Editor

Powerful and versatile, with full basic and advanced photo editing features.

Free photo editing software

GIMP

Has many photo editing features like the giant Photoshop but completely free.

Darktable

Is a free RAW photo editor and manager. It has strengths in color correction of raw photos.

Smart photo editing software

Polarr

It features dozens of advanced AI tools and millions of filters for stunning photo editing.

Skylum Luminar AI

The world's first fully AI-powered photo editing software. It has more than 20 unique photo effects and editing features.

Multi-function photo editing software

Photoscape X

In addition to regular still image editing, this software is also capable of creating and editing animated GIFs.

2. Details of photo editing software on MacBook

To have a clearer view of photo editing software on MacBook, you can learn more about each application in detail as follows:

2.1. Photo editing software built into MacOS

MacOS operating system has many built-in photo editing software that you do not need to download or pay to use.

2.1.1 Preview

Preview is a pre-installed application in MacOS on MackBook that helps you view and edit various image formats (TIFF, PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP) and PDF. You can copy, rename, move, share, print, and convert images with Preview. And you can also use Preview to rotate, flip, mark up images, and adjust the color and size of images.

You can find the Preview app in the Mac Finder by clicking Finder in the Dock and opening the Applications folder in the Finder sidebar. Then, look for Preview in the Applications folder. Alternatively, you can press Command + Space to open Mac Spotlight Search and type Preview to search.

2.1.2 Photos

Photos is the best place to keep all your precious digital photos and videos. Whether you take them on your iPhone, iPad, or import them from your camera, iPhoto, or Aperture, Photos keeps your images safe in your library. 

Photos automatically and intelligently groups photos by time and location using GPS, and features face detection so you can quickly find the shots you need. 

Basic photo editing features with cropping, adding filters, adjusting colors and effects. It's easy and non-destructive, you can go back and undo your changes. 

You can share your photos via email, text, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Or drag them to your desktop and edit them in Photoshop or Pixelmator – your originals are safe in your Photos library.

2.2. Professional photo editing software

if you are a photographer or professional designer using MacOS, you can refer to some of the following applications:

2.2.1 Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is often where Adobe updates its most advanced features, like the new Firefly AI image creation tools. It includes filters, gradients, layers, masks, text options, and output formats that professionals need.

Photoshop is for professionals and serious image editing enthusiasts. While it has a deep toolset, its interface has become more flexible and manageable in recent versions.

With Photoshop, you get 7 days of free use, then you have to pay about $20/month or a yearly plan.

2.2.2 Adobe Lightroom

As a comprehensive post-production solution, you can use Lightroom to manage your entire photography workflow, from archiving to finalizing your photos.

AI-powered photo editor to edit, organize, store, and share their photos and videos on desktop, mobile, and the web. Lightroom offers powerful photo and video editing features in an easy-to-use interface.

Lightroom comes in two forms: Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic. The version on the Mac App Store is the newer Lightroom CC, which is more suited to enthusiasts than professional photographers because it doesn't offer printing or file conversion features.

The software requires a $9.99 Creative Cloud Photography Plan subscription and syncs all your imported photos to the cloud for access from mobile devices or web browsers.

2.3. Fast and convenient photo editing software

For a quick and convenient photo editing process, you can refer to some of the following software:

2.3.1 Mac Emulsion

Emulsion is a new photo cataloging app for Mac.

Combined with a powerful search function, you'll never have to worry about losing your photos again. Details - Emulsion lets you edit the finest details in your EXIF ​​​​Metadata and can apply those changes to as many photos as you like.

The app is powerful, flexible, supports maps, and even the Aperture Plug-in. Emulsion supports all popular RAW formats including DNG.

2.3.2 Pixelmator Pro

Pixelmator Pro is an incredibly powerful, beautiful, and easy-to-use image editor designed specifically for Mac devices. With over 50 image editing tools, Pixelmator Pro has everything you need to create designs, edit photos, illustrate, digitally paint, and be creative in any way you can imagine.

Unlock a new editing workflow with the Pixelmator Pro extension in the Photos app. Use all your favorite tools in the Photos app and save your changes directly to your Photos library non-destructively.

2.3.3 Photolemur

Photolemur is a Mac application designed to automatically enhance a series of images at once with the simplicity of drag and drop. 

Unlike photo editing software that requires tinkering with multiple settings to get the best results, Photolemur uses artificial intelligence to determine which parts of the image will benefit from its automated editor. It then applies the necessary changes without any user interaction.

There are a number of automatic enhancements built into Photolemur, from color restoration and exposure compensation to smart dehaze, color correction, and noise reduction. Smart algorithms focus on specific areas like skin, foliage, and sky to bring out the best in every photo.

It's important to note that Photolemur isn't a photo editor in the traditional sense. Once the photo has been processed, the only manual controls are sliders used to balance between a more realistic or vibrant look, as well as a crop tool to remove unwanted parts of the photo.

2.3.4 Fotor Photo Editor

Fotor Photo Editor is the best Mac photo editor. This free Mac photo editing software allows you to adjust exposure and brightness, crop and straighten photos, smooth skin, collage photos, and create graphic designs extremely effectively and quickly. All of which makes your photos look unique. 

However, Fotor Photo Editor only lets you apply effects and edits to the entire image. There's not even a selection tool.

Some very useful features are only available in Fotor Pro. If you don't upgrade, you'll get a watermark. The upgrade costs about $19.99/year or $4.99 monthly. 

2.4. Free photo editing software

There are no fees for photo editors, you can refer to the following applications:

2.4.1 GIMP

GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a completely free image editor designed for purposes such as photo restoration, creating and manipulating array graphics, and supporting vector graphics.

If you are looking for a free copy of Photoshop for Mac, the best thing you can do is download GIMP.

Many of the features in Photoshop can be found in GIMP, although some may have slightly different names - for example, Image Size… in Photoshop is Scale Image… in GIMP,... 

Many basic filters (Gaussian Blur, Sharpen,....) are available, as well as some less familiar ones. The tool icons are well designed and intuitive - just try a few tools and you'll soon get used to them.

2.4.2 Darktable

Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and powerful RAW image developer. It allows professional photographers to get deeper into the editing process.

Darktable is one of the best open source photo editing apps you can find. The open source nature of Darktable means that not only is it free to use or install, but it also has a tight-knit community of like-minded photographer developers.

The benefit of open source software is that you can access the source code and improve your experience with Darktable. If you're not a developer, you can install Darktable in its latest stable form and enjoy the fruits of other people's labor.

Because of its open source nature, you can access Darktable from a variety of platforms. It runs on Linux, Mac OS X or macports, BSD, Windows, and Solaris 11 or GNOME.

You can easily open, edit, and process RAW format files, as well as other formats like JPEG, CR2 (RAW), NEF, HDR, PFM, RAF, and many more.

The flexibility of multiple format options allows you to edit any image you come across without any hassle. The quality that Darktable provides in its editing process is unmatched, regardless of the file format.

2.5. Smart photo editing software

Modernize your photo editing workflow with smart, AI-powered apps now.

2.5.1 Polarr

Polarr is a photo editing app for Mac, IOS and Android that offers advanced tools in an easy-to-use package.

The app includes filters, overlays, and AI enhancement tools, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced photographers looking to edit quickly and efficiently.

With many of the same features found in Adobe Systems' Lightroom, the application that sets the standard for photo editing, Polarr lets you fine-tune color balance, adjust specific colors, adjust contrast with graph curves, and more. 

Polarr has very easy to use customization features, not only that, the image quality can be customized to many different levels to bring the best image. 

2.5.2 Skylum Luminar AI

Skylum Luminar AI is a powerful photo editing tool developed by Skylum. It has similarities with Adobe's Lightroom. This editor provides comprehensive photo editing by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the photo editing workflow for both macOS and Windows users. 

The software is designed to cater to a wide range of photography genres including landscape, wildlife, portrait, family, wedding, newborn, real estate, e-commerce and food photography. The software can work as a standalone application and as a plugin, providing flexibility for photographers of all skill levels.

Using Luminar AI's 13 features, you can replace the sky in your photos and relight scenes, add effects like fog, and portrait editing tools like Body AI, Iris AI, Face AI, and Skin AI.

Another feature of Luminar AI is templates. These templates are created with Luminar's team of experts and photographers to enhance your images. Templates are automatically suggested for each photo.

2.6. Multi-purpose photo editing software Photoscape X

The last photo editing software on MacBook that we will mention today is Photoscape X. This is a versatile photo editing software that offers many photo related features such as photo viewer, editor, batch capture, collage, combine, GIF creation, color picker, screenshot, RAW image and many more.

The software supports various formats including RAW. 

Simple and intuitive interface for beginners to professional photo editors.

PhotoScape X caters to everyone by offering two distinct versions. The free version and the Pro version. The free version comes with a powerful set of tools that should meet the needs of the average user. Those looking for advanced capabilities like RAW processing or other sophisticated tools will find the Pro version well worth the investment.

While the feature set is very comprehensive, some neat features like facial recognition and direct camera connection are missing. These omissions, while notable, don't significantly detract from the overall utility.

Above is a summary of photo editing software on MacBook. Each type has its own strengths, choosing the right and suitable one will help you have the best editing effect.