During your last trip, you took a bunch of photos to remember the wonderful moments you spent. Unfortunately, though, some shots turned out poorly, and you would like to adjust brightness, blur, and other parameters to try to fix them.
However, you have no idea which are the best and fastest photo editing programs, right? If that’s the case, I’d say you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I will focus on solutions for both Windows/Mac PCs and options for smartphones/tablets. There will also be opportunities to discuss valid online services.
There are many opportunities for you to consider to achieve your goal, even completely free of charge. It all depends on what kind of editing you intend to perform, but by following the chapters below, you stand a good chance of finding what suits you. I wish you a happy reading and good fun!
Table of Contents
- Free Photo Editing Programs on PC
- Photo Editing Programs on Mac
- Online Photo Editing Services
- Photo Editing Apps on Android and iPhone/iPad
Free Photo Editing Programs on PC
Considering that you are looking for photo editing programs, I think it’s worth starting with free solutions that might work for you on a PC equipped with Windows 10 or Windows 11. Below, you can find both integrated and third-party applications that may suit your needs.
Photos
One of the simplest free photo editing programs is integrated directly into the most recent versions of the Windows operating system. This is the Photos application, which serves both as an image viewer and as a solution for modifying images with basic tools.
To use this program, open the photo you want to edit by right-clicking on it and selecting from the screen menu the option Open with > Photos. Now that you see the image and the program window, click the Edit button located at the top left. You will see various editing buttons appear.
Start making all the necessary changes to your photo, for instance, by clicking the crop icon at the top to crop the image using the resizable corners. Using the adjustment bar at the bottom, you can manage the rotation of the photo, and by clicking on the brightness icon at the top, you can adjust options like Brightness, Exposure, Contrast, and so on.
The other buttons at the top allow you to apply filters/activate auto enhancement, draw on the image, remove unwanted objects, and remove the background/apply a blur. In case you were wondering, yes, some of these functions utilize artificial intelligence. While the presence of certain features may depend on the version of Windows in use, it is undeniable that the Windows Photos app has evolved over the years.
When you finish editing, click the Save options button in the top right corner and select Save a copy to save the modified image as a copy, or select Save to overwrite the original image. There’s also the Copy to Clipboard option to have the photo in the clipboard.
Additionally, you might find it interesting to know that if you are looking for programs for editing both photos and videos, the Windows Photos app, contrary to what you might think from its name, can actually handle videos as well. Once you open a video in this context, you can click the Trim option at the top left to perform basic editing tasks. For something more advanced, however, you would need to use the Microsoft Clipchamp program.
GIMP
Have you ever heard of GIMP? No? Strange, it’s very famous. Anyway, no problem, let’s remedy that right away. It’s a completely free photo editing program, open-source, and has dozens of brushes and advanced filters to apply special effects to images. It features an interface divided into multiple parts that turns out to be quite user-friendly. Notably, it supports all major graphic file formats, both for reading and writing. The program is available not only for Windows but also for macOS and Linux.
To download it on your Windows computer, visit the official GIMP website, click the Download x.xx.x button located at the top right, and click the Download GIMP x.xx.x directly button. Once the download is complete, open the .exe file obtained and, in the window that appears, click the Yes button, then press the OK, Install, and Finish buttons to complete the setup. If you have doubts about the matter, you can refer to my specific guide on how to download GIMP.
Now that you see the main GIMP screen, open the photo you want to edit by clicking on the File menu located at the top left and selecting the Open option from there. Then start using the program’s editor to make all the desired changes.
Specifically, in the center of the GIMP window, you’ll find the photo you’ve imported; on the left, there is the toolbar with the various tools offered by the program, and on the right, there’s the panel that allows you to manage the image layers and so forth. For more information, I suggest you explore my specific tutorial on how to edit photos with GIMP.
In any case, when you finish editing your photo, remember to save the changes made by clicking on the File menu and selecting the Save option (to overwrite the changes) or the Save As option (to create a modified copy of the original image) from there.
Other Photo Editing Programs on PC
While the integrated Photos app and the third-party GIMP app can cover a wide range of needs, there are many other free photo editing programs that you might be interested in exploring. Below, you can find some solutions that may suit your needs.
- Paint: simply one of the most popular image editing programs of all time. It’s built into Windows, and in the latest versions, it has evolved to embrace the era of artificial intelligence.
- Krita: a solution appreciated by many for years, especially by those working in the field of digital drawing. However, the program can also be useful for general photo editing.
- Paint.NET: another popular program, not to be confused with classic Paint. It’s a separate solution that aims to offer more advanced and professional options.
If you’re interested in going beyond the solutions mentioned here, you can refer to my resources about photo editing programs on Windows and digital drawing programs on Windows.
Photo Editing Programs on Mac
Your trusted device is not a Windows computer, but a Mac? If this is your area of interest, this is the part of the tutorial that may suit you. The programs below, both integrated and third-party, can indeed allow you to edit photos quickly.
Photos
A simple option available for editing on macOS is to use the pre-installed Photos application.
So, click on the program’s icon located at the bottom of the Dock or in the Launchpad, then expand the More tab on the left. Click on the Imports option to take a look at the images added in this context. If you can’t find the one you’re interested in, just drag it into this folder.
In any case, once you double-click on the image you want to edit, you can click the square with the arrow icon (at the top right) to rotate it, or press the wand icon to let the system automatically improve the display.
If you want to act more “classically,” you might prefer to click the Edit option, also at the top right. This way, you will see all the tools at your disposal on the right. From the Light option to the Color option, through the management of Levels and Sharpness: there are certainly no lacks in your options.
You might also enjoy navigating through the sections at the top, namely Filters, Crop, and Clean Up, to better explore all the opportunities available in the macOS Photos app. In any case, once you have made all the modifications you’re interested in, you can save them simply by clicking on the Done option at the top right.
Adobe Photoshop
If the editing options of the integrated Photos app aren’t enough for you, you might want to resort to one of the most popular programs in the field of photo editing. I’m undoubtedly referring to Adobe Photoshop, which is one of the most advanced solutions for modifying photos (also in professional terms, across both Windows and macOS).
In this case, aside from the possibility of using a free trial phase, the cost of the program usually starts at €26.64 per month. This is excluding the existence of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, of course. Once you start the program, you can open the photo you want to modify by simply following the usual path File > Open.
At this point, you just need to use Photoshop’s menus to call up specific functions of the program. In this regard, you can find all the classic editing tools on the left, while for the image layers, you can use the related panel found on the right.
Once you finish making modifications, you simply need to follow the File > Save As path to get the final result, choosing the name, location, and format of the output file.
Other Photo Editing Programs on Mac
If you plan to explore beyond the already covered applications Photos and Adobe Photoshop, you might be interested in taking a look at other programs that are useful in this field. Below you can find a quick list of additional solutions that may suit your needs.
- Pixelmator Pro: a very well-known photo editing program on macOS. It integrates many professional tools, offering interesting opportunities regarding vector graphics.
- Luminar Neo: another advanced solution in the field of photo editing, particularly based on artificial intelligence. It allows for quick advanced editing tasks such as replacing the sky in an image, for example.
- Polarr: a well-known application for photo editing, available on both Windows and macOS. It integrates more than 100 free editing tools, as well as hundreds of filters.
If you want to know more generally about the options available to you, you can refer to my resources on apps for editing photos on Mac.
Online Photo Editing Services
Now that you know many of the opportunities available to you concerning photo editing programs for computers, I think it’s worth focusing on those online services that can allow you to achieve your goal without installing anything on your trusted device. To access the portals indicated below, you just need to use a web browser.
Photopea
The first online service you might be interested in using to achieve your goal is called Photopea. It’s a free solution, albeit with ads (which can be removed for a fee), that for years has been compared repeatedly to Photoshop. Sure, maybe the comparison doesn’t completely hold up, but this portal includes all the necessary tools for at least basic editing.
To use the service, go to the official Photopea site, dragging the photo you want to edit into the Drop any files here box. After this operation, all the classic editing tools (on the left side) will appear on the screen. On the right side, as is often the case, you will manage image layers.
When you finish all your desired changes, all you need to do to save the final result is click the Export as option, which you can find after pressing the File menu in the top left. You simply need to select the format you want and click the Save option to complete the operation.
Other Online Photo Editing Services
There isn’t just Photopea that can be interesting in terms of photo editing. In fact, there are also several other services that could allow you to achieve your goal in a few clicks. Below are a few I’ll list for you:
- SnapEdit: one of the web portals that stands out most in terms of artificial intelligence functions. It allows for the easy removal of unwanted elements and generally improves images automatically.
- iPiccy: another well-known photo editor accessible online for free. It allows you to quickly perform key photo editing operations, making it a tool that can be useful even for beginners.
- AI Services: in the era of artificial intelligence, there are many services that may suit your needs. For this reason, I recommend checking out my guides on how to modify photos with AI and the best AIs for images to learn more.
Would you like to obtain more information about this type of solution? If that’s the case, you might find it useful to take a look at my general tutorial on how to edit photos online.
Photo Editing Apps on Android and iPhone/iPad
In this guide, I mainly focused on computer solutions, but in the final phase, I think it can be useful to quickly look at the applications you can use on mobile devices, for smartphones and tablets.
In the case of Android devices with Google services, you might want to use the directly integrated Google Photos app. This allows you to select the image of interest, click the Edit button at the bottom to display various editing tools, including “automatic” functions. You can then tap on Save copy to get the final result.
If you have an iPhone/iPad, you can also use a pre-installed app here. I am referring to the Photos app, which allows you, after selecting the image, to tap the three lines icon at the bottom to start making all the necessary changes. More precisely, you will see tabs appear at the bottom like Adjust, Filters, and Crop, highlighting all available editing tools. Once you have completed your edits, you can save the changes simply by tapping the Done option at the top right.
Lastly, if for any reason you are interested in using a third-party application, you might want to check out my general resource regarding the best apps for editing photos for all the pertinent details.