Photo editing programs are hugely popular on Mac. There are lots of opinions on which are the best. With the Photos app on Mac, some of the best editing programs have extensions so you can quickly jump in to edit your photos without having to first load them into their full-service apps. If you want to quickly touch something up or add some filters, highlights, and corrections, these great apps are perfect for your in-Photos for Mac experience.
Pixelmator
Chances are you've probably heard of Pixelmator. Often lauded as the ultimate Adobe alternative for Mac users, this full-featured photo editor (and its even more impressive Pro version was built specifically for macOS, allowing you to really harness the power of your Mac's unique capabilities.
With Pixelmator, you can make adjustments, add effects, and do pretty much anything else you'd expect to be able to do with an image editing program. However, you don't even have to open Pixelmator to reap its benefits — once downloaded, the app also offers an extension called Pixelmator Retouch that allows you to retouch your favorite shots without ever needing to leave the native Photos app. This includes blemish repair, complex object removal, cloning, light adjustments, color adjustments, and the ability to blur or sharpen your images.
Affinity Photo
There are many free Windows image viewers and Android photo viewers, but few for Mac. Some best commercial photo viewers are also included in the article.
Like Pixelmator, Affinity Photo is a pro-level photo editor often praised for its sophistication and versatility. In fact, its iPad version actually won App of the Year back in 2017. Affinity is engineered to enhance the workflow of professional photographers, designers, and digital artists, but don't let that scare you away if you're interested — its interface and tools are intuitive enough for a beginner to use, making it super easy to amp up your images no matter your skill level.
Within the app, you can do everything from editing RAW images to creating multi-layer compositions (and much, much more). The fun doesn't stop there, though. Affinity Photo also boasts six extensions that can be used within the Photos app: Affinity Develop, Retouch, Liquify, Miniature, Monochrome, and Haze Removal. Each pretty much does as its moniker describes. For instance, Monochrome allows you to create artistic black and white images, while Retouch lets you correct images by removing red-eye, healing blemishes, and getting rid of pesky extra objects. The only one that doesn't have a function easily discernible from its name is Miniature, which allows you to give your photos a cool depth-of-field blur.
Polarr Photo Editor
Polarr is a good option for those who want something like Lightroom, but would prefer to be able to try it before committing. Polarr has a free version that you can grab and use, and if you like it, you can opt for the Polarr Pro subscription, which is $2.49/mo or $24 a year. There's also a one-time purchase option for $70 if you'd rather not subscribe.
With Polarr, you'll get many of the same functions as Lightroom, and it also works with both RAW and JPEG images, so there's no issue with compatibility. However, Polarr has a much cleaner and simpler interface that is lightning fast, while still providing you with all of the tools you need for a perfect photo. You have custom filters, batch exporting, dual lens effects and adjustments, layers and blending modes, and more. Polarr is highly customizable, so you can make it entirely yours.
The Photos extension for Polarr brings many of the editing tools in Polarr right into Photos itself, so you don't even need to have Polarr open to edit with it. Edits you make get rendered instantaneously with no lag, so you don't need to wait. The only drawback is that this is destructive editing, so your original won't be available once you save any changes.
Photoscape X
For those who want a fun and free photo editor, Photoscape X is a great option to consider.
Photoscape X combines a photo editor, batch editor, photo viewer, cut-outs, collage combiner, animated GIFs creator, and more, all into one single package. It also works with RAW images too, so no worries there. The photo editor part of Photoscape X has all of the standard tools that you need, and the cut outs make it super simple to remove the background from images. And with things like batch edit, collages, and animated GIFs, it's easy to deal with multiple photos at once.
The extension allows you to harness the editing power of Photoscape X directly in the Photos app, without having to have Photoscape X open. Of course, you won't be able to do things like creating animated GIFs or collages this way, but for basic photo editing, it's great.
Luminar 3
Luminar is the next generation photo editor that's powered by artificial intelligence.
With Luminar, users get a beautiful and fairly intuitive user interface that is designed to help you get great images faster than other software. With the help of artificial intelligence, Luminar can do things like detect the sky, accentuate single colors in an image, add realistic sun rays, and enhance foliage. There's also a ton of filters and other photo adjustment tools that you can use to perfect your photos, and everything is done in a simple slide-and-click.
If you purchase Luminar from the website, then that version also works as a plug-in for Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. The Mac App Store version does not have this functionality due to Apple's sandboxing.
With Luminar's Photos extension, you can make any adjustments to your images in Photos with Luminar's set of powerful tools and then save it in Photos. All of this without having to launch Luminar itself.
What are your favorites?
These are some of our favorite photo editors on the Mac that utilize the Photos extension. Do you have a favorite? Let us know what you're using in the comments!
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Images are the best part of any event. Capturing moments with friends and family is utterly adorable. Pictures help you recollect your memories and live your moments again with your loved ones. They are witnesses of few moments as well as powerful mood boosters. Let it be any event, smaller or a bigger one; photo shoots have become mandatory. Thus, you need to know about the best free Image Viewer software out there.
Most of us prefer to store these images in PCs or Laptops to ensure safe storage. But, while viewing, how many of us are truly satisfied with the default windows image viewer? Not many of us. But you can update your software list with any of these image viewing softwares to have the best experience in viewing your images.
Contents
- 1 Top 10 Image Viewer Software
Top 10 Image Viewer Software
XNView
XNView is the best image viewer which provides three different view modes: Thumbnail View, FullScreen View and Film Strip View. Other, then just viewing, the software enables you to edit your photos by cropping, resizing, lossless rotating, adjusting brightness, sharpening, apply filters and many more exciting edits. You can export your images into more than 70 formats and read about 500 formats. You can play a slideshow of your pictures with transitions driving you crazy with your photographs. The software is available for free for home purpose.
See Also: Top 5 Best DVD Creator Tools to Download Right Now – TechWhoop
Irfan View
Irfan View is a trusted image viewer which is running successfully since few decades. It supports multi-formats and multi-language to reach out to the users across various regions. It has a thumbnail preview option that gives you a comfortable viewing experience.
You are free to edit your image using the editing tools that the software supports. You can apply the adobe photoshop filters right from this software. Its variable features keep you occupied with your images loving them more and creating more. There are various plugins available in the website that lets you do additional edits like lossless rotations.
FastStone
FastStone is both an image viewer as well as an editor. Its wide variety of features helps you modify your image as you desire giving it a creative look. You can compare your pictures and decide which one to put in your inventory.
It enables you to remove red-eye, resize, crop, email, print, and adjust colours. It supports multiple formats to make your image compatible with your device. The musical slideshow with 150+ transition styles will drop your jaw while watching your images play. Give your image a new look by adding filters and effects.
See Also: 10 Best Image Watermark Software for Windows – TechWhoop
WildBit
The WildBit viewer enables you to view your image in both thumbnail view and full-screen view. Image rotate, wallpaper set capability, zoom, expanded the view and many more variable features made this software occupy its place as one of the best image viewers.
The slideshow with 176 transitions and custom show list editor gives you a professional way of viewing your images extraordinarily. The editing tools make you a pro in image editing when you master in using this software.
Picasa
Picasa is the most popular image viewing software loved by millions of photography fans. You need not import photos every time you open the program. Just select a drive, and your Picasa does the rest. Add tags to your images by locations or name and your software sorts them accordingly.
You can perform all the basic edits including cropping, rotating, straightening, etc. You can use the software to create posters, montages, screensavers and even movies.
FreeVImager
FreeVImager is an image viewer as well as image and video editor. Most viewers are dedicated only as image viewers and image editors. But FreeVImager stands unique for its dual editing feature. It helps you do multitasking like running various projects at the same time. It supports 15 formats including JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG, PCX, AVI, ZIP, AIF, WAV, MP3, WMA, AU, MID, and CDA.
See Also: Top 6 Best Video Capture Software (Best of 2018) – TechWhoop
VallenJPegger
Vallen JPegger is the most popular image viewer in the cities of US, Poland and Sweden. It supports 40 different image file formats. VallenJPegger has extended features like lossless rotation and includes MP3 organizer. It supports multiple international languages which helped the software reach every individual in numerous countries.
Image Glass
Image Glass comes with a simple user interface wrapped with various features. It supports over 30 file formats. You can rapidly switch between images and choose your pictures directly from the clipboard. It supports multiple zooming and image navigation features.
The necessary edits are available in the software by default. You can convert your image format into 10 other formats. It has different theme packs to make your software look as you desire.
InViewer
InViewer is a multimedia viewer which supports images, videos and audio. GIF, TIF, PNG, BMP, JPG, JPEG and ICO are the supported formats for images. MP3, WMA, WAV, and M4A are the supported audio formats. MP4, WMA, AVI, MPG, MOV, M4V, WEBM are the supported video formats.
123 Photo Viewer
123 Photo Viewer is a replacement for the default photo viewer. It provides additional features like pausing in the middle of the GIF file and magnifying each frame, directly opening PSD files, open TGA and DDS texture files. You can directly delete a file without a prompt of confirmation window by using the ‘delete’ key. You can magnify an image instantly by clicking on it.
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