TL; DR: Israel-based Picktorial is on a mission to put intuitive, professional-grade photo editing into the hands of Mac users worldwide — for little to no cost. The non-destructive software, featuring advanced image processing and AI-powered features, allows users to change edits without undoing previous ones. With an ongoing focus on development based on customer feedback and a passionate, close-knit team, Picktorial will continue to provide an effective alternative to big-brand solutions for years to come.
If you’ve ever had to go back and undo a previous mistake while using a photo editor, you know that you have to perform a seemingly endless sequence of Command-Z shortcuts to wash away your sins.
To make matters worse, you lose all of the progress you’ve made since making that one original error.
This type of photo editing software is known as destructive, meaning that once you exceed the history panel’s limit on how far back you can go, your changes become irreversible.
Fortunately, Picktorial is delivering Mac users a different approach. The company’s easy-to-use, professional-grade photo management tools provide a plethora of powerful editing, workflow, and development features — one of which is non-destructive photo editing.
With this option, changes occur on a separate layer, allowing users to alter even their very first edits without undoing the latest ones.
“We built the entire engine that powers Picktorial from the ground up so we could provide the fastest non-destructive app out there,” said Yoav HaCohen, CEO and Co-Founder of Picktorial. “Photographers are often used to destructive photo editing software, and playing with Picktorial can be enlightening for them.”
In addition to the ability to transform images from ordinary to stunning with ease, the carefully-designed platform also empowers users to easily organize photos and take control of their workflows. Depending on which features you value, you can access the program for free or for a small charge.
Moving forward, Picktorial’s ongoing focus on customer-centric development — driven by the company’s passionate, close-knit team — will continue to produce new innovations, allowing the software company to successfully compete with high-priced solutions well into the future.
Feature-Rich Photo Editing Customized for Apple Devices
When Picktorial first journeyed into the world of photo editing, the landscape was quite barren. In fact, Yoav said the software made history as the first photo-editing tool exclusively for Mac that empowered users to edit entire photo collections, rather than individual snaps.
“As a hobbyist photographer myself, I didn’t enjoy whipping out the big guns, such as Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, for editing every single photo in my collection,” Yoav said. “I wanted a fast, robust app that would let me do most edits quickly and easily, and that would be custom-tailored for my Mac.”
That insight led to the development of Picktorial, which allows users to make stunning revisions to photos without a steep learning curve to slow them down. Since its inception, Yoav said the company added several new features leading up to the release of the current version, Picktorial 4.0.
“I feel like the most significant change in the photo editing space in recent years has been the advent of artificial intelligence (AI),” Yoav said. “AI lets us do some really cool things with photos.”
For example, in the past, users had to manually comb through their photo libraries to locate pictures of, say, their cats. With Picktorial 4.0, a new Digital Asset Management (DAM) feature empowers users to sort photos using advanced search capabilities using fields such as capture date, keywords, ratings, and metadata edits. In addition, the software allows users to save and rename any of their searches for use in smart albums that collect any image that matches the search’s set of specifications.
“The release of Picktorial 4.0 was an incredibly important milestone for us,” Yoav said. “We’ve managed to pack a dizzying array of features in this new version.”
The software also uses AI to analyze photo collections and select the very best options. “It’s a task that would’ve taken hours of work just a couple of years ago to do manually, and now — whoosh! — we can magically find the perfect shot from your 2017 trip to Greece, and it only takes a second,” Yoav said.
Advanced Image Processing: Simplicity, Power, and Speed
The folks at Picktorial turn to a simple philosophy to help them make everyday product decisions.
“We want to empower any photographer, even those without the most powerful computers or sophisticated technical skills, to create incredibly compelling photos using our software,” Yoav said.
With Picktorial, users can tackle nearly anything, from simple enhancements to complex retouching, using the software’s welcoming and intuitive user interface.
Many powerful features are available for free in Picktorial 4.0, including a redesigned browser, support for high-resolution images, dual-layer non-destructive JPG editing, native browsing for Aperture libraries, a Lightroom plugin, and an edge-aware brush, among other advanced tools.
Users also benefit from an assistant viewer split screen, an intuitive new thumbnails layout, and smart extensions for macOS Photos.
With this latest edition, the company has introduced Picktorial Premium via three plans: an annual subscription, a monthly subscription, and a perpetual license. Each premium plan includes a proprietary RAW engine, batch editing, quick albums, and unlimited adjustment layers.
The batch features can save users significant time compared with manual processes. Once they’ve made changes, users can apply the same edits to any other image in one click using the program’s batch editing features. Similar to batch editing, the batch export feature allows users to select export settings to be applied to groups of images.
“I think there’s no other photo editing software for Mac that combines simplicity, power, and speed quite like Picktorial,” Yoav said. “We have quite a few competitors we love that come close, but if you’re unwilling to compromise on any of the three, Picktorial is the right tool for you.”
Ongoing, Customer-Centric Development From a Close-Knit Team
When it comes to adding features and putting new ideas into production, Picktorial employs a customer-first approach backed by a strong understanding of market trends and emerging technologies.
“We’ve spent the last few years listening to Picktorial users, basically trying to implement as many features as we can while keeping the app accessible and lightweight,” Yoav said. “We’re also incredibly appreciative of the excellent feedback and suggestions we get from photographers who use Picktorial.”
Approximately 50% of Picktorial’s development efforts are initiated through chats and emails from customers specifying additional tools that would make them happy. The company’s long-term road map dictates the remaining development.
“We put our heads together and try to figure out where the photo editing industry’s going and plan ahead so we can come out with next-gen tools a little while before the rest of the pack,” Yoav said.
The Picktorial staff has evolved into an incredibly close-knit team over the years. To that end, Yoav told us that it’s critical to hire people who are genuinely passionate about their jobs. For Picktorial, that meant finding people who were both excellent developers and inspiring photographers.
“We often find ourselves talking about photography and drooling over the latest gear and award-winning photos,” Yoav said. “I hope our software reflects our love for photography.”
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