Choosing the best image editing software can be complicated. It all depends on what you look for most in your photo editing software. Here are 12 programs with their own distinct strengths.
Life after Photoshop software reviews
Choosing the right software isn't easy and you often have to try quite a few different applications to find the ones that suit you. We're all looking for different things, and quite often a single piece of software won't do everything that we need.
So these reviews are designed not just to see whether the software out there is any good or not, but to explain exactly what it does and how it might fit into your workflow.
- Always download the trial version if there is one. My best guess at what photographers need is not necessarily right for you.
- This is an archive of all Life after Photoshop review content. There is also a curated guide to the best photo editing software.
DxO FilmPack 6 review
Verdict: 4 stars: DxO FilmPack 6 is a powerful film simulation tool, but its main strength – technical accuracy – is offset by its lack of local adjustment tools.
Exposure X7 review
Verdict: 4.5 stars Exposure X7 is a great all-in-one program for cataloguing your images, enhancing and retouching them and adding a huge range of evocative analog film effects
Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic: same name, very different workflow
The name is the same, but despite the apparent similarities, these are two very different programs. So what are the key differences between Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC, and how do you choose which one to use?
Viveza 3 review
Verdict: 3.8 stars Viveza is a great tool for making fast and effective adjustments to colour images, but even with the improvements in version 3 it still feels less useful than the other Nik plug-ins.
Skylum Luminar AI review
Verdict: 3.5 stars Luminar AI has some spectacular AI effects, but it also has performance issues and a disappointing template AI workflow that’s less than inspiring.
Lutify.me review
Verdict: 5 stars Lutify.me is a subscription-based LUTs package for both video and stills, which includes excellent downloadable LUTs and an online LUT previewer.
CameraBag Pro 2021 review
Verdict: 4.6 stars CameraBag Pro is an effects tool with a wide range of great-looking preset effects and useful manual adjustments too. Best of all, it works with video as well as stills.
Pixelmator Pro 2.1.2 Coral review
Verdict: 4 stars: Pixelmator Pro is Mac only and has fairly lightweight photo editing features, but it’s very fast, unexpectedly clever, and blends in text, vector and paint tools to turn your photos into posters, illustrations and more.
DxO PhotoLab vs Lightroom vs Capture One – which is best for RAW files?
Which is best for processing RAW files, DxO PhotoLab, Lightroom or Capture One? Here’s a set of eight image comparisons that aims to find out.