Photo Editing: Buying Advice, Tips, and News
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The Best Photo Editing SoftwareCasual shutterbugs and hardened professional photographers alike need to organize, correct, adjust, and enhance their pictures. We help you choose the right photo editing software for the job, based on our extensive testing of industry heavyweights.
By Michael Muchmore
Our Current Top Tested Picks
Adobe Lightroom Classic
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Adobe Lightroom Classic remains the gold standard among pro photo workflow software, with top-notch organization capabilities, state-of-the-art adjustments, and all the output and printing options you could want.
Full Adobe Lightroom Classic ReviewPros
- Excellent non-destructive photo editing features
- Deep facial recognition, keyword, and metadata tools
- Works with files from the vast majority of digital cameras
- Local storage approach is beneficial for large photo archives
- Supports diverse plug-ins and custom presets
- Capable mobile apps
Cons
- AI editing features are taxing on slower systems
- Subscription fees add up over time
Pros
- Excellent non-destructive photo editing features
- Deep facial recognition, keyword, and metadata tools
- Works with files from the vast majority of digital cameras
- Local storage approach is beneficial for large photo archives
- Supports diverse plug-ins and custom presets
- Capable mobile apps
Cons
- AI editing features are taxing on slower systems
- Subscription fees add up over time
Adobe Photoshop
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Adobe Photoshop is the world's most capable image editing software, with mind-blowing AI effects, strong collaboration features, and unmatched auto-selection tools, all in a helpful and polished interface.
Full Adobe Photoshop ReviewPros
- Vast set of photo correction and manipulation tools
- Cutting-edge generative AI features
- Slick user interface with a lot of guidance
- Mobile and web design capabilities
- Rich drawing and typography options
- Excellent raw camera file support
- Cloud Documents, collaboration features, and Synced Libraries
Cons
- No perpetual license option
- Runs many processes in the background