The GIMP Is the image-editing standard for the Unix world, and because Mac OS X is Unix-based, you can run it on a Mac as well, but there is a major caveat, namely that the GIMP does not run in OS X’s Quartz/Aqua user interface layer, but rather in X Windows under X11, a program that enables X Windows applications to run under OS X. Like Photoshop, the GIMP can be used to correct and retouch photographs, compose multiple images, and create artwork from scratch. Then there’s Pixelmator, an aspirant Photoshop (at least Photoshop Elements) challenger that has a ton of power, a super attractive interface, and sells for an even more friendly $59.95.Īnd if you’re on a tight budget and really need advanced, full-featured image-editing capability, there is a robust and powerful freeware image editor alternative to Photoshop with the cumbersome moniker of GNU Image Manipulation Program (the GIMP, for short), an advanced open source bitmap imaging program available free for the downloading. However, Photoshop CS is astronomically expensive at its list price of $649 (Elements 6.0 for Mac is more than a bit of a bargain at just $89.95). For one thing, anyone who really needs an industrial strength image editing application for professional purposes can probably afford and will more often than not have the undisputed king-of-the-hill in bitmap graphics software, Adobe’s Photoshop CS, and most users – professional or amateur – will for that matter never test the limits of even Adobe’s much more affordable Photoshop Elements. Open source high-end image-editing software is an unlikely concept when you think about it.

Mac image editing software