For an explanation of how we rank reviews, see our ratings criteria page.
by Editors of PC Magazine
This portal page includes a short list of top-rated photo-editing software, plus a chart listing software titles along with editors' and readers' ratings on a five-point scale, with links to full reviews.… You can also sort this chart to show the Editors' Choice winners. In addition, Gary Berline's September 2008 article, "The Best Photo Apps and Sites," pulls together the reviews of nine programs, including five free services. Oddly enough, this article doesn't include the Editors' Choice winners; there's a lot of detailed information on this site, but you have to search for it. Lightroom 2 gets only a preview. A separate article, "Digital Art for Beginners," by Errol A. Pierre-Louis, has links to some of the photo-editing software reviews.
by Dave Girard
We rank the reviews at this site higher than most because they keep up with the latest releases so well. Aimed at advanced photographers, this detailed review of Lightroom 2 compares it with Apple Aperture… 2.1.1, its closest competitor, and with two lesser-known photo-editing programs, Bibble Pro 4.10 and Phase One Capture One 4.1.1. This site also reviews other photo-editing software, including a detailed first look at iPhoto '09 and a review of both the Mac and Windows versions of Google Picasa 3. Reviews in 2008 also cover Adobe Photoshop Express and the Mac version of Adobe Elements 6.
by Editors of Which?
Which? is a U.K.-based magazine that rivals Consumer Reports in thoroughness. In this article, editors test and rate 18 popular photo-editing software programs, including more than one version in many… cases. It's interesting to see, for example, that editors rate Corel Paint Shop Pro XI slightly higher than the newer version, X2. In addition to an overall score, each title earns ratings for automatic and manual corrections, ease of use, versatility and overall performance. Five are judged best buys. The main weakness in this review is that only one of the many free programs is reviewed.
by Uwe Steinmueller
by Editors of American Photo
by Lisa Cekan
At the time of our report, this one-page review of Serif Digital Photo Suite is the most recent review of photo-editing software at this site. The review includes a link both to an article covering six free… online photo editors plus a free desktop program. The author suggests looking at the site's Downloads section for reviews of other photo-editing software, but the list can't be sorted by rating, and the site makes it awkward to find other reviews. Adobe Elements 7 doesn't have a rating yet because it was in beta at the time of its review, but is deemed "a worthy upgrade."
by Debbie Grossman
by Ken Rockwell
by Diane Berkenfeld
This one-page review of Adobe Lightroom 2 covers its main features, concluding that it's just as worthwhile for people who edit JPEG images as for those who shoot in RAW format -- and can stand alone as an… image editor, without Photoshop. If you like to see lots of options, a July 2008 article is also worth reading on this site: "It's All in the Software," by Jennifer Gidman, briefly reviews 29 programs for editing and managing photos.
by Editors of Steve's Digicams
Steve's Digicams is known mostly for its detailed reviews of digital cameras, but this section of the site has links to photo software, with one-paragraph reviews of each. This site is worth a look if you… like to check out the full range of options that experts find worth your consideration. Links are nicely organized into 15 categories, including graphic editors, which is where you'll find most photo software.
by Leesa Snider King
by Editors of TopTenReviews.com
This detailed report rates not 10 but 13 photo-editing software programs for beginner to semi-professional use, with separate reviews plus a comparison chart. Each is given an overall rating based on scores… in seven categories including ease of use, importing, editing, organizing and sharing of photos. A chart that compares more than 50 features for the top ten programs is especially useful, since it also explains exactly what each feature does. However, it's not entirely accurate; for example, the latest version of Adobe Elements does include layer masks, making us question how recent some of the reviews really are.
by Sue Chastain
Sue Chastain, the guide to graphics software at About.com, offers an informative article on what to look for in advanced, beginner, budget and free image-editing software. She then offers her… recommendations in each of these categories for both PCs and Macs. The reviews cover some but not all of the latest versions. Ranking is implied by the way the software is listed, but the ratings for the top picks are all the same. Not all the recommended software has been reviewed. In addition to this article, Lightroom 2 gets a rave review. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)
by Editors of and contributors to Amazon.com
Photo-editing software is one of the few products for which Amazon.com editors write reviews and make recommendations, and of course users also rate and review each software title based on their own… experiences. Users don't always agree with editors -- preferring, for example, Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 to Adobe Photoshop Elements. Lightroom 2, the latest version at the time of our report, gets high marks here from both editors and users.
by "Ctein"
This weblog review of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 is especially useful if you're trying to decide whether to settle for that or spring for Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4. The review illustrates some of Elements'… highlights -- a useful photo-merge feature, for example -- but also identifies some of its shortcomings compared with Photoshop. Comments from readers add useful details. Note that while 6 is the current version for the Mac, a version 7 is now available for PC users.
by Editors of DigitalPhotos101.com
by Editors of CNet.com
CNet.com lags behind in reviewing photo-editing software, so its ratings chart isn't very useful. For example, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 is the most recent version reviewed here; version 7 is now… available. Adobe Lightroom 1 earns an Editors' Choice award here, but Lightroom 2 hasn't yet been reviewed. Nor do editors review Corel Paint Shop Pro, the closest competitor to Photoshop Elements. We did find a full review of Picasa 3 at Download.com, as well as a good report on Adobe Photoshop CS4.
by Editors of Consumer Reports
by Editor of Basic-Digital-Photography.com
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