Photo editors can come in numerous shapes and sizes. Some are free, others costs a couple of hundred dollars, some are web-based, and others may be specialized to only edit photos in a certain way.
Confronted by so many different options it can be difficult to figure out which one is best – which is why you should weigh several factors before deciding:
Features and functionality
The features in photo editors can vary tremendously, but initially you should decide whether you’re just looking for basic features or you want to make more advanced adjustments. If you’re just getting started then initially all you’ll probably need are basic features to crop, adjust colors, touch up photos, apply simple effects, and so on.
However if you want to be able to make more extensive changes, you may need much more than that. Odds are if you need more advanced features you should know what you’re looking for – and plugin support as well as RAW conversion will probably feature prominently on that list.
User experience
Try to balance the features and functionality that you need against the type of user experience that you’re looking for. More advanced editors generally have a more complicated user experience that makes them difficult for beginners.
It may help to experiment with free trials of the editors that you’re interested in – or watch tutorial videos to see them in action. Pay close attention to how usable the editor is, and whether or not you feel you’ll be able to figure it out without much difficulty.
Cataloguing and organization tools
Some photo editors have built-in tools to help you catalogue and keep track of your photos so that they are organized and easy to find. That can be a big help if you don’t already have a system in place that allows you to do that.
However increasingly people are turning to other options to organize photos, such as Google Photos. If you are already using some other software or tool – you may not need a photo editor that incorporates them.
Budget
Naturally all of the factors above need to be weighed against your budget. If you’re on a tight budget you may want to look for a free or cheap photo editor that has the functionality that you need – or as close to it as possible. For example you may want to look at Movavi Photo Editor Free (https://www.movavi.com/photosuite-download/) to see if it will fit the bill.
However if your budget isn’t that restrictive, you will have more options to choose from. Don’t make the mistake of simply choosing the most expensive editor that you can afford, but instead try to evaluate each of the factors described above and find the best value.
By this point you should have a better idea of what you need to look for to choose the best photo editor based on your needs. If nothing else you should be able to easily narrow down your options to a more manageable number – and can decide between them at your leisure.