When looking at the landscape of photo editing apps there seems to be a separation. You have easy to use programs like Polarr, with their on-off filters and simple adjustments on one hand, and you have professional apps like Photoshop and Capture One with their more intimidating interfaces and in-depth controls, in the other. Some applications toe the line between ease of use for beginners and comprehensive controls for advanced users; Picktorial is one of those apps.  On offer there is the aforementioned ease of use mixed with pro-grade features that seasoned photographers have come to expect.

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This Mac-only, non-destructive, raw photo processor has a clean, uncluttered interface with catalog free photo management. We have mentioned Picktorial not too long ago in our list of 148 Photo Editing Apps & Tools, and now they have released their third version with some welcome features like – advanced local adjustments including Curves, HSL, and split-toning, luminosity and color masks, and full support for the latest Fujifilm X-Trans raw files (including compressed/uncompressed RAF).

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Picktorial’s feature set also includes a single space workflow, color and tone adjustments, edge-aware brush, custom presets, a rating system, smart extensions for MacOS Photos, 16-bit real-time processing, and more. Lightroom users know that even with the most advanced feature-set, if the program isn’t optimized for the system it can crawl like some Macbook Pro users experience on a daily bias. Picktorial promises excellent performance, and in some cases, is 30 times faster with certain tools.

KEY FEATURES

  • Versatile and responsive patch tool, up to 30x faster than Lightroom’s equivalent Spot-Removal tool (tested on a modern 15” MacBook Pro).
    Unique color and luminosity masks making fine-art results easier
  • Adaptable single-space workflow, from camera-to-edit within a single window without slow switching between library and develop modules.
  • Advanced selective tonal adjustments including HSL, Curves, Split Toning, and more, operating on specific parts of the image defined with advanced masking tools.
  • Skin smoothing brush utilizing Frequency Separation in a single brush with the ability to control the separation radius.
    Edge-aware brush to enable more precise selections.
  • Smart extension for macOS Photos, the first of its kind to offer non-destructive pro-level editing while recalling positions of sliders and masks, even after closing Photos.
  • Catalog-free Image handling that automatically monitors the content of referenced folders, enabling instant editing with no slow import process needed.
  • Native browsing of Aperture libraries with no conversion needed.
  • Assistant viewer similar to Lightroom’s new “reference view,” but fully functional with edits and tabs.

While I wouldn’t say that Picktorial is at the level of replacing your current RAW converter the way Affinity Photo is for Photoshop, it is something to keep an eye out for.  For more information on the software or to download the free 14-day trial version, head over to Picktorial’s website here. The app is normally available for $69.99, but currently $39.99 to celebrate the new 3.0 release.