Best photo editing software for MAC?

[NCAFLeo88]

Hey guys, I recently got a MacBook Pro and was wondering what would be the best photo editing software I could get?

 

[Forkie]

"Best" is rather subjective, but I like Phtotoshop CS5. Don't really have that much experience with anything else.

 

[SlickSalmon]

It depends on how deeply you want to dive into photo editing and photo illustration. Photoshop Elements is a sophisticated editor and provides most of the photo editing features of CS5, at about a tenth of the price, although you give up a lot of 16-bit features. I've been happy with it on a MacBook Pro.

 

[Village Idiot]

Hey guys, I recently got a MacBook Pro and was wondering what would be the best photo editing software I could get?

Holy **** dude, do you know machine code? You want editing software for your Media Access Controller?

Now that that's out of the way.

What's your budget? Best editing software and the standard is Photoshop. Light Room and Aperture can do lower level editing and can sort and help with workflow. Pixelmator is offered through the app store and is a cheaper alternative to Photoshop. Gimp is a free version.

Take your pick for whatever fits your budget.

 

[KmH]

Laptops are notoriously poor devices to use for image editing, because of the limited accurate viewing angles the displays have. Good luck.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac) only has about 40% of the editing features that Photoshop CS5 has and you can pretty much forget about doing 16-bit depth edits.

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 is an inexpensive alternative.

Many choose the free, open source application www.GIMP.org

 

[SlickSalmon]

Laptops are notoriously poor devices to use for image editing, because of the limited accurate viewing angles the displays have. Good luck.

Photoshop Elements 9 only has about 40% of the editing features that Photoshop CS5 has and you can pretty much forget about doing 16-bit depth edits.

Just to clarify, Elements has about 40% of the full feature set of CS5, but it has most of the tools you need for routine photo editing. It's like the shop in my house -- it has about 40% of all the tools a guy can own, but 100% of the tools I need to repair my house.

If there were one thing that would drive me to CS5, it would be 16-bit editing. There are some 16-bit features in Elements, but all the Layers functions are 8-bit, as well as a bunch of others.

The MacBook Pro doesn't have the viewing angle problem that characterizes so many Windows machines. In fact, I find myself using the laptop screen more and more and my accessory monitor less and less.

 

[inaka]

Download the 30-day trial of Aperture, to see if you like it.
It offers Adobe Lightroom-like editing and cataloging.

Obviously Photoshop CS5 is the gold standard, but it comes at a hefty price if you don't need all of that power.

I personally use a combination of Aperture and Photoshop CS5, so in some cases, it's not even either/or.

 

[jay125]

using DPP (digital photo professional, came with 60D), Photoshop elements 9 and Lightroom 3. All work great. I also use iPhoto and Preview for quick things.

 

[photocist]

The best is photoshop, hands down. while it may have some features that will never be used, it is called PHOTOshop for a reason.

actually, I would not call it the "best." I would say it has the most features and can achieve effects that just about no other program can. I find that it allows me to do anything I need to my photo, which I would bet that any other editing program isnt able to say.

 

[CNCO]

basic - iphoto/gimp
imtermediate - aperture
advanced - CS5

 

[Village Idiot]

basic - iphoto/gimp
imtermediate - aperture
advanced - CS5

Well, your classifications are all wrong. Those programs aren't even for the same purpose, so classifying one as an intermediate version of another program that has a completely different function is very misleading. And what about Light Room? It's like aperture, even though it's an organizational/workflow program and not a major editing program.

iPhoto couldn't even hold a candle to Gimp in terms of features.

Are you trying to classify based on price or some other obscure criteria?

 

[CNCO]

know what you are talking about before you comment on my post. i would not take computer help from someone in west virginia.

 

[Village Idiot]

know what you are talking about before you comment on my post. i would not take computer help from someone in west virginia.

Your post obviously shows you don't know what you're talking about. Would you take computer help from some one in NC? Russia? China? India? Kentucky? You're just ignorant. I work in an IT department for a major branch of the government. I've done everything from program development and coding to network administration.

I would not take help from someone that thinks that iPhoto and Gimp should even be considered in the same category of photo editing software..

Edit: But then again, your Photoshop gallery shows you really know a ton about editing photos. :roll:

 

[CNCO]

different strokes for different folks, agree to disagree.

 

[Village Idiot]

different strokes for different folks, agree to disagree.

Thanks for bringing your tone down there bud.

OP - If you feel limited by Aperture, then Gimp, Pixelmator, and Photoshop are going to be your best bets. Either way, you can pick up books, youtube tutorials, and websites that can teach you how to do pretty much anything. The easiest way to learn is to push yourself and try new things out of your comfort zone.