PHAiTO

Why are photo editing tools so important for photographers? Technology advances quickly in the photography industry, and if you don’t stay apprised of the editing tools that can help you, or your photography business, you may find yourself working with greater difficulty than you need to. You don’t want that—and we don’t want that for you!

Staying up-to-date with the best photo editing tools is crucial for photographers who want to work with maximum productivity and ease.

If you’ve ever wondered…

What do professional photographers use for editing?
What photo editing software is most popular?
What tools do professional photographers use?

We’re going to answer those questions in this post for you. Let’s get started.

Why You Need To Know The Best Photography Editing Tools

If there were photo editing tools that could help your editing workflow become easier and more efficient, wouldn’t you want to know about them? Of course—because making your editing process more enjoyable and efficient is crucial in helping you avoid burnout. Plus, it means you can spend your time where it matters most. Here are the top photo editing tools you need to know about as a professional photographer.

Adobe Lightroom

While there are many image organizing and editing platforms available for photographers, Adobe Lightroom reigns supreme (and has for some time) for many reasons. First, this long-standing favourite boasts a clean interface. But that doesn’t mean it can’t handle highly involved changes—Lightroom uses something called progressive disclosure to guide you through its tools and capabilities from the most simple to the most complex, making it easy to learn to use and navigate.

Some of the key tools and features include…

White balance correction
Lens-based corrections
Brush and gradient adjustments
Sharpening and blurring tools
Auto-transform
Tone curve
Tint
Clarity
Customizable sliders (such as HSL)

Lightroom is a user-friendly program that also makes it easy to organize, manage, and find images by acting as a photo library. Plus, it provides a centralized panel for all the aforementioned editing tools, and allows for multiple device support and syncing.

If you’re a professional photographer who values intuitive design, editing in Lightroom is the way to go if you aren’t using it already.

young black couple sits together on the edge of a rock during their couple's photoshoot — Photo by Collins Oluka Photography

Keyboard Maestro

Is photo editing starting to feel a little monotonous? It can be tiring to repeat the same workflow steps over and over again, but that’s where Keyboard Maestro comes in. Keyboard Maestro is a feature-rich application for Macs that can be used to create shortcuts for repetitive tasks by allowing you to automate any and all routine functions. Essentially, it allows you to create easy one-key shortcuts for your most repetitive actions!

So how can professional photographers benefit from an application like this? Well, you can automate a large part of your workflow down to simply pressing a key. For example, creating a keyboard shortcut for the small but repetitive task of opening Lightroom. No matter what you do on your Mac, Keyboard Maestro can help you do it faster, easier, and with greater accuracy.

Loupedeck

Have you been introduced to Loupedeck yet? Loupedeck is an innovative custom console that merges analog control with digital precision to empower creative professionals and photographers. It helps you move through your editing process with greater speed with the use of fine-tuning adjustments using a button and a dial. This system helps you make precise adjustments without having to look at the sliders with your mouse, and it also allows you to narrow down your adjustment to the perfect number.

Bonus: It’s also easy to use and easy to set up, so you won’t be confronted with a steep learning curve either. Once you add Loupedeck to your editing flow, you’ll never look back.

Aftershoot

If you haven’t tried culling your photos using Ai technology, now is the time. Aftershoot automatically selects your greatest images by detecting photos with blinks, camera shakes, burst shots/duplicates, and more, leaving you with only the best of the bunch.

Aftershoot selects the best shot among similar images too, meaning you have less to compare and work through. We love Aftershoot’s mission to save you time so you can spend it on what matters most (it sounds like someone else we know). A culling software like this one is a must-have editing software for professional photographers.

stunning photo of a black bride in her wedding dress perfected using photo editing tools in post-production — Photo by Collins Oluka Photography

This list wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t share why PHAiTO is a must-have photo editing tool. PHAiTO is an Ai software that works within Lightroom to achieve one of eight stunning styles, while keeping the white balance and exposure neutral for each photo.

PHAiTO has been trained by experts—photographers!—using 120,000 images with one goal: To help you achieve an accurate automated edit at lightning speed. With PHAiTO, you can cut down your editing time without sacrificing the quality of the image at an affordable price—only 0.15 cents per image!

With PHAiTO, you can reclaim time previously spent on your post-production workflow and use it where it’s most meaningful to you. Sign up for a free trial so you can see how PHAiTO’s photo enhancement superpowers can take your workflow up a notch.

The Perfect Presets

Presets help you achieve the look you want with your photos faster and easier, helping you expedite your editing process. Lightroom presets come in various moods and designs, so the perfect preset is simply the one that aligns with your desired look.

When you use PHAiTO, your photos are edited with one of eight distinct looks—chosen by you—which helps you achieve the aesthetic you want with your photos effortlessly. The end result is a photo that looks amazing as is, but our Classic look makes the perfect base if you’re looking to add your own unique style.

Canva

While not technically something you may use in the initial editing process, we have to shout out Canva for making graphic design uncomplicated for people everywhere, including photographers. It’s seriously easy to use. This image editing program is the perfect platform for transforming your stunning captures into social posts, Reels, TikToks, Pins, and more with ease. Then you can use these assets to show off your best work and draw a wider audience to it.

Man holds his significant other close as they stand outside in front of a dark sky smiling — Photo by Collins Oluka Photography

Raise Your Editing Workflow to the Next Level

As a professional photographer you need photo editing tools that will help you elevate your editing workflow and make your life easier so you can increase efficiency and avoid burnout. With image editing programs like Adobe Lightroom, Keyboard Maestro, Loupedeck, Aftershoot, Canva, and PHAiTO, you have the well-rounded support you need to work (way) more efficiently.

Ready to introduce artificial intelligence technology into your editing workflow? Start your commitment-free trial of 500 images now.

7 Photo Editing Tools Photographers Need to Have