Best Windows 11 Photo Editors in 2023
There’s a great variety of photo editing tools out there, especially for Windows 11. And although abundance is a good thing in general, it turns finding the right tool into a rather tedious task. If there’s little time that you can put into searching, then you have come to the right place – we’ve done some research, so you don’t have to!
In this short article, we will show you the top three Windows 11 photo editors that you can try right away. However, every situation is different. So, in case none of the apps below fit your needs, you can check out the full list of best photo editing software for Windows 11 with more different options. Let’s dive in!
Microsoft Photos
Microsoft Photos is included in the Windows 11 package and is completely free. It is a viewer and organizer first and foremost, but it includes basic editing tools and a set of filters. Microsoft Photos is a great option if you are looking for nothing more than a handful of the most basic fixes, such as color enhancements, spot fix, red eye removal, and so on. On top of that, it also features a simplistic video editing mode.
However, Microsoft Photos is not designed for advanced processing. If your photographs require more thorough editing, like erasing big objects or changing backgrounds, almost any other app will be a better match. But few can match Microsoft Photos in terms of accessibility and ease of use.
GIMP
Contrary to Microsoft Photos, GIMP is anything but user-friendly. But it offers a toolkit that can rival Photoshop for free! With GIMP, you can perform almost any editing trick in existence, as long as you are willing to learn. And although the learning curve is rather steep, there are plenty of tutorials and an active community ready to help you out. You may even customize and enhance the app with plugins to satisfy your individual needs.
Apart from complexity, GIMP also has a handful of drawbacks, but they mostly stem from the open-source nature of the program – clunky interface, occasional crashes, and overall lack of polish. But it is still among the best free photo editing software for Windows 11 since it offers so much more than you could ask for from a free all-in-one graphic design tool.
PhotoWorks
PhotoWorks occupies the sweet spot in the middle of the complexity spectrum and allows casual users to perform advanced editing with little effort. It features a wealth of one-click tools for fast and easy editing, from simple filters to 3D LUT profiles and AI-powered enhancements. Even such edits as swapping a background take only a few steps. Portrait photography enthusiasts may enjoy a dedicated tool set.
More experienced users can enjoy lots of tweakable settings, from exposure and saturation to RGB color curves and geometry correction. Pros can mark their works with watermarks and process over 400 RAW file formats, even for the newest cameras. PhotoWorks also features a batch processing mode, which can be a lifesaver if you have to deal with large photo sets. And low system requirements make PhotoWorks a viable photo editing app for laptops with Windows 11 or other OS.
The only major disadvantage of PhotoWorks is the fact it is not free. But it has enough value to make up for the money, and you have a free trial period to try things out.
Wrapping Up
So, there are the best photo editing software for Windows 11 for you to try. Together they can fit any bill and help you realize any idea while being quite lenient to your budget and hardware. If you need something basic – Microsoft Photos will do. If you’re looking for something sophisticated – go with GIMP. And if you are in need of something that balances ease of use and feature-richness – PhotoWorks is the way to go. And you can do them all out right away!
