6 Best Business Photo Editing Tools

Whether you’re a small business owner, a marketeer looking to upskill or just an employee occasionally working with images and photos, the ability to manipulate and edit images is useful in most roles. These images make up the basis for posts, flyers, invitations as well as improving your website content and social media feeds – generally all marketing material is improved with images. Industry leading software may be out of your budget, as the most used tools can cost a small fortune, not the time it can take to get used to complex interfaces.

Luckily in today’s modern age there’s always alternatives. We’ve put together a list of cost effective photo-editing software that will still let you play with images until you can compete with the pros. Whether entirely online or a cheaper (sometimes even free) software package you’ll find the right option for you.

What should you consider before purchasing?

Before purchasing any image editing software there are a few key points you should consider. With any business purchase your first consideration should be the cost. Balance the cost of a pro package or even a professional editor with what you’re paying for your package and make sure you’re getting a competitive deal. Next you should consider your time, which is just as important as cost – there’s no point saving a lot of money of software if you then have to spend hours each day using it, as you’re then wasting time you could spend on other things. To this end, make sure the software you choose is easy to use and right for you. Finally look at the features available on your chosen package. If you only need basic edits a simpler option might be for you, but if you’re looking for the full suite of photo editing tools (which are integral if you intend to create your own marketing material) then consider a more fleshed out offering.

The Best PC based photo editors

1. Wondershare Fotophire - Price: 39.99 (limited time offer)

fotophire by Wondershare is a powerful, easy to use photo editing tool that will allow you to complete a variety of complex tasks with ease. Based on the price, the time you’ll save as well as the ease of use and the vast range of features, it’s hands down one of the best picks for smaller businesses. Unlike Photoshop or other much pricier competitors it doesn’t require hours of training to use; instead you can teach yourself task by task in a matter of minutes. The interface is simple and quick to navigate while the software is deceptively powerful, making it easy to alter and perfect photos with a few simple clicks. The low price of $49.99 makes it ideal for both home and business use.

Pros:

• Powerful automatic background detection, meaning it only takes a few clicks to remove the background of any image.
• Thanks to the background detection technology you can also easily erase unwanted objects, such as watermarks or objects without impacting the background. This it a timely process in many photo editors, but can swiftly be achieve with fotophire
• The built-in tutorial allows you to master the whole suite in a single use
• Over 200 photo filters, overlays & frames templates. Combined with colour tuning this will allow you to perfect your photos no matter how you want them to look
• Batch processing is a huge time saver, an integral feature for busy users
• Creative blur & vignette let you make stylish edits to your pictures
• Boasts a Clone Stamp tool on par with pro offerings and much easier to use
• Also includes basic photo-editing features like crop, rotate & flip

Cons:

• The software consists of 3 modules that need to be opened separately
• While not a huge con this programme does takes a little while to install

2.Teorex – $99.94 for tools bundle, or from $19.99 for each tool

Teorex actually offer a range of products that combine to function as a full photo editing suite. Buying each tool separately is both a positive and a negative – it means that if you only need a single editing function you’re not paying for a whole suite of tools you don’t need and also makes each tool incredibly quick and simple as that’s its only function. On the downside buying the full suite of tools is more complex than purchasing a single package and buying one at a time naturally gives you limited functionality.

Pros:

• As each tool is built for a specific purpose, they’re quick and simple to use, even for more complex tasks. For instance, InPaint allows you to remove unwanted elements from your photo very quickly, a task that can be difficult with other software.

Cons:

• Having to purchase multiple tools is needlessly complex and makes it a slightly more pricey offering
• Larger, more awkward objects aren’t removed so easily

3. GIMP - Free

Gimp is a free, open source image editor that anyone can download. Having a full suite of tools downloadable for free may seem like a dream come true, but the program is a little clunky and the lack of support for the product means answers can be hard to find – there’s very little in the way of tutorials. Despite this Gimp is often an ideal starting point of businesses and employees that have no budget, but the result is that you’ll spend longer editing each image, while more complex alterations will also be out of your reach. This can be a great starter package before moving on to a program like fotophire.

Pros:

• Free! It’s hard to look past this, especially for a full suite of tools
• Good for beginners and basic edits

Cons:

• No tutorials
• Can’t compete with paid products – removing objects in the foreground or background is a much more time consuming, if not impossible process on medium-to-high resolution images

Online photo editors

Maybe you have limited space on your hard drive, maybe you don’t often need to edit photos or maybe you just prefer working online – no matter the reason there are a range of tools online that can help you with quick edits. The downside is that you’ll need a stable internet connection – no editing on the go! And they lack the power of paid editing suites.

1. Pixlr - Free

The Pixlr Editor is most like Photoshop, cut down into three different packages. It’s a straightforward, easy to use collection of tools that will allow you to make all the basic edits you need. You can also add creative overlays and add filters. This package is best described as “playful” – it’s ideal for quick social media edits, but not really suitable for marketing material or business images.

Pros:

• Free and easy to use

Cons:

• Lacks the complexity of other tools

2. Polarr - Free

The Polarr chrome app just edges out Pixlr. They’re both free but Polarr is the more powerful, responsive program. When you boot it up a live tutorial will take you through its features, quickly showing you the power of its functionality. It’s got a range of filters that you can combine until you get your perfect image as well as a the basic tools like crop, rotate, and straighten.

Pros:

• Simple to use and a very helpful tutorial
• More powerful than Pixlr

Cons:

• The same problem as all free offerings – struggles to compete with paid software

3. Sumopaint - Free

Our final suggestion is Sumo Paint, an online editing tool backed by a thriving online art community. It’s quick to load and has a range of "one-click" solutions: creating zoom blur effects, a unique symmetrical kaleidoscopic brush tool that can have a gravity effect applied, many easy to find colour editing tools and many more that allow you to add artistic touches to your photos. Unfortunately it does tend to lag, freeze and crash, making it completely unsuitable for business projects.

Pros:

• Loads quickly
• A range of artistic features and filters
• Backed by a large community

Cons:

• Prone to crashing
• Not suitable for businesses

Tips for more professional looking photos in business

That’s all our software recommendations. Between these six programs you’re sure to find something that suits your needs, so we’ll leave you with these tips for professional photos:

• Make sure you’ve got a clear or white background, otherwise objects in the foreground won’t stick out
• Make sure you have good lighting. If the lighting is poor you can always use an editing solution with colour correct and tuning like fotophire
• Less is more – remove all distractions! Watermarks, unwanted objects and anything not necessary should all be removed
• Consider the tone and emotion your brand conveys and make sure the picture matches. Add & filter objects as needed until it complies