Following Apple’s acquisition, more photography enthusiasts are discovering Pixelmator Pro, an intuitive and exceptionally fast editing app—and rightly so. Where Photoshop can sometimes feel like a cockpit, Pixelmator Pro feels more like a welcoming studio with soft lighting and a good cup of coffee.
Pixelmator Pro is a photo-editing app that does everything a photographer needs. It looks as though Apple designed it, runs exceptionally fast on a MacBook, and has no subscription fee. It is a powerful, user-friendly, and affordable photo editor made exclusively for macOS, with many features that are especially useful for photography.
Everything Photographers Will Find Useful in Pixelmator Pro
For many photographers, a smooth, reliable, and creative post-processing workflow is at least as important as the moment of capture. Pixelmator Pro offers advanced features for photographers at every level and provides everything you need to get the best from your images.
The best edit is the one that makes you stop thinking about editing and reconnect with the feeling of the moment.
Tools
When you move the pointer over a tool, a pop-up appears with a link to the support page, where you can find more information and a clear explanation of that tool’s capabilities. You can turn these pop-ups off once you are familiar with the program.
You can also select tools from the horizontal menu at the top of the program, as you would expect from a Mac app.
Nondestructive Editing as the Foundation
Pixelmator Pro uses a fully nondestructive workflow. Exposure, color, retouching, and filter adjustments are stored as separate layers to the left of the image, so the original image is always preserved.
You can easily disable edits or delete a selected layer with the Delete key. You can also step back with Edit > Undo. This provides creative freedom and lets you return to earlier edits without concern.
Powerful RAW Support
Working with RAW files? Pixelmator Pro gives you access to an extensive development environment. Exposure, white balance, shadows, highlights, contrast, black point, clarity, and texture are fully adjustable, as are lens corrections. Curves—an important tool for photographers—are adjustable as well.
The app supports more than 750 RAW formats, including Apple ProRAW, providing a solid foundation for photographers who want to work at maximum quality.
You can still make many effective adjustments to photos already saved as JPG files and significantly improve the image.
Smart Automation With Machine Learning
Pixelmator Pro uses integrated machine learning for several smart features, including:
• Automatic image enhancement (ML Enhance)
• Smart color matching (ML Match Colors)
• Image enlargement without loss of quality (ML Super Resolution)
• Advanced noise reduction (ML Denoise)
These features often produce impressive results, can be applied with one click, and provide a useful starting point for further refinement.
Selections and Masking: Precise and Flexible
Powerful tools such as the magnetic lasso, smart selections, and brush masks make it easy to adjust specific parts of an image. Whether you want to brighten a subject, replace a sky, or apply subtle color corrections to the background, the process is intuitive and highly precise.
For example, the Smart Erase tool lets you remove the sky from an image very quickly, although you can also do this with the Quick Selection tool.
Quick Selection is also a good way to select one or more parts of a photo and edit them directly with Color Adjustments—especially useful when you want to make part of your photo lighter or darker.
Advanced Color Correction and Grading
For anyone serious about color, Pixelmator Pro offers extensive options: Curves and Levels, color selection by hue, white-balance and saturation controls, split toning, and support for LUTs (Look-Up Tables). These tools let you make both technical corrections and give your images an artistic mood.
Efficient Retouching Tools
Pixelmator Pro includes several retouching tools, including:
• Repair brush for quickly removing blemishes or distracting elements
• Clone tool for precisely copying textures
• Sharpen, Soften, and Smudge for localized sharpness control
• Erase using content-aware technology
These are indispensable tools for portraits, product photos, and landscapes where details matter.
Working With Layers and Full Control
The app is entirely layer-based, including adjustment layers, text layers, shapes, and illustrations. You can easily reorder, mask, and combine layers for complex compositions or subtle adjustments. The interface is clear and visually organized, helping you maintain an overview even in larger projects.
Templates, Presets, and Batch Processing
Pixelmator Pro supports adjustment presets—for quickly applying a consistent style, standard templates for print or social media, and automation with Automator and Shortcuts, which is ideal for batch-processing photos or export tasks. This lets you streamline workflows and minimize repetitive actions.
Seamless Integration With macOS
Pixelmator Pro was designed with the Apple ecosystem in mind:
• Support for iCloud Drive
• Sidecar—functionality for editing with Apple Pencil on iPad
• Optimized for Apple silicon (M1, M2, etc.)
• Support for Retina displays and macOS gestures
Who Is Pixelmator Pro For?
Pixelmator Pro is ideal for photographers who want a powerful yet accessible photo editor, prefer to work without a subscription, feel at home in the Apple ecosystem, and want both technical and creative control over their images.
It combines professional features with an inviting interface and makes high-quality image editing more approachable.
Want to Try It?
It costs a one-time $49.99 through the Pixelmator Pro website or the App Store, with no monthly fee and free updates. It might become a permanent part of your creative toolkit.
Read this article in Dutch: Pixelmator Pro, handige fotobewerking op je Mac.
