With smartphone cameras now offering great optics to capture high-resolution images and sharp results, photographers are increasingly using them to click high-quality images. Whether you are a beginner or professional photographer, it is essential that you edit your photos before showcasing them. The best photo editing apps should also offer a comprehensive set of tools to make your photos really shine.
Have a look at the most used image editing applications in 2021.
1. Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express takes many of Photoshop’s best photo editing tools and squeezes them into a mobile app. Furthermore, despite providing plenty of advanced features, this free photo editing app is easy to use on a small touchscreen. Just upload a photo from your device, take a new one with the camera, or use an image from your Adobe Creative Cloud account, and then start editing. It has all the tools one would expect – cropping, red-eye correction, brightness, contrast, saturation, filters, borders, etc. However, the best part is its selection of smart filters. These filters automatically correct common issues, such as color temperature and exposure problems.
2. Snapseed
Snapseed is a photo-editing application for iOS and Android that enables users to enhance photos and apply digital filters. It was created by Nik Software, and is now owned by Google. Google’s Snapseed packs a punch, rivalling desktop photo editors with its huge range of features and an intuitive interface.
It also has all of the classic tools, such as cropping, straightening, frames, text, vignettes, etc. And the sharpening feature does the job without making the image look grainy. There’s also a “Selective Adjust” tool. This lets the users to select a specific area of their photo and adjust the saturation, contrast, and brightness of that single point. What’s more, the photo editor app saves your edit history, so you can amend your previous edits at any point.
3. Photofox by Enlight
Enlight Photofox is the ultimate, free artistic photo editing app – it even won an Apple Design Award in 2017. One of its most popular features is the ability to blend photos together to create dramatic effects. The users can also add graphic elements to your images.
While it has many of the same features as Photoshop, such as layers, the learning curve isn’t so steep. That said, to get the most out of Enlight Photofox, one will probably need to watch a bunch of its tutorial videos. Whether you’re an artist, or you just simply love to edit & create, you’ll be blown away by all the creative possibilities packed into this sophisticated photo editing app.
From layers and blending modes, to special effects, brushes, filters, fonts, tonal adjustments, film, black and white and duo presets, with Photoleap photo editor, you’ll turn the ideas in your head into brilliant art right on your phone. There’s no reason to struggle with complicated desktop software ever again.
4. Prisma
This free photo editing app uses artificial neural networks, which enable users to make photos appear like they were painted by Picasso, Munch, or even Salvador Dali.
Users can pay to access additional filters, but there’s a generous set provided free of charge. In total, there’s more than 500 creative filters one can choose from.
Prisma also has its own online community similar to Instagram’s. So, once you’re done editing, you can share your image to your Prisma feed, save it directly to your device, share it on any social media app, or send it via email or messaging.
5. VSCO
VSCO is a creative channel. They build creative tools, spaces, and connections driven by self-expression. The mission is to help everybody fall in love with their own creativity.
Driven by a creator-first philosophy, VSCO supports the creative journey from start to finish — not only providing photographers with tools, but also with the education, community, and connections required to unlock their potential.
This free photo app provides a set of stunning filters that make your photos look like they were taken on an analog film camera. The soft and subtle filters add a touch of class to your photos compared to many heavily filtered Instagram presets. Additionally, one can also adjust them via a simple slider.
6. Lightroom
Lightroom is a RAW converter. When the users add images, it manages the file type in the background. When one uses other software, he/ she might have to use another program to edit and convert. Lightroom supports images in all kinds of formats. Some of them include TIFF, DNG, and JPEG. But it’s also compatible with CR2 and NEF, which are RAW file types of Canon and Nikon.
Lightroom CC has a simple interface that allows you to organize and process your images. You can even use it to print and share files. In the latest version, it now also allows you to create books from your photographs.
