Every application has its unique adjustment sauce, so to speak, that is proprietary, but at least they share standard metadata.Īccording to Apple, Photos will write XMP sidecar files if you tell it to. Lr, Graphic Converter, Capture One, etc can all write the keywords, captions, dates, locations, etc right into the JPEGs, DNGs, raw sidecars, etc where they are supposed to be.Īs Photos becomes more unwieldy, that means migrating out of it becomes a LOT harder than with other applications as a consequence. But maybe that's not an issue for you, and only the system library syncs anyway.īut Photos, unlike Lr and most DAMs, doesn't write changes to image files or sidecars, so no other application can see the metadata you add without going through Photos itself, so to speak. Unfortunately, most of us can’t afford this luxury. If you’ve got a Mac and you’ve got the money, then indeed it is probably the best option that you can choose. Digital professionals swear by Photoshop and Adobe’s other software.

If you use referenced images then your images will no longer sync with iCloud Photos, which is one of the few reasons to use Photos. Next up is XnView MP, another great Adobe Bridge alternative that includes read support for more than 500 formats and export for around 70 formats. Microsoft ICE AutoStitch Hugin Best Free Image Editor Recommended: GIMP. Referenced mode sounds like a good option.

Best free photo management for mac