Polarr Photo Editor is a freemium multi-platform software for photo editing. Expert photographers often compare this app to popular image editors like Adobe Lightroom, Corel AfterShot, and Microsoft Photos.
Polarr Photo Editor has an intuitive and user-friendly interface unlike more complicated (and pricey) alternatives like Adobe Photoshop.
Most reviews from Polarr users say that this app is best used for deep color correction of images in JPEG format. However, there are other reasons why this program is worth your time. In this article, we will explore its features, advantages, and shortcomings.
Polarr Photo Editor: Features
User-Friendly Interface
Polarr Photo Editor works well with images in JPEG format. The user interface is intuitive and easily customizable, allowing users to perform tasks without problems. With filters on the left and color and tone adjustment on the right, Polarr’s tools are neatly arranged according to their function.
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Lots of Filters
Polarr provides over 100+ filters with a setting for adjusting the intensity of each filter. Users can also manually select filters from a broader list and create new filters. It also allows you to share custom filters with other Polarr users.
Text Tool
The text tool is there to allow users to superimpose or add texts to images. It allows you to add shapes, graphics, and presets. Polarr Photo Editor allows users to create and insert watermarks on their work by adjusting the transparency of the text or shapes. The text tool has a vast library of fonts for various styles of writing.
Retouch Tool
The retouch tool allows users to adjust skin tones in images. This process involves highlighting the area with a brush, manipulating the shadows, and lightening a specific part of the skin.
This tool also allows you to smoothen the skin automatically or adjust everything manually for flattering portraits.
Polarr Photo Editor reviews indicate that Polarr’s retouch tool is enough for photo retouching. In comparison with other photo editors, the colors after retouching with Polarr becomes more saturated and clearer.
Color and Tone Adjustment Tool
Polarr offers basic cropping, lighting, and color correction. Still, it goes well beyond these basic features with a stylish histogram, sharpening, clarity, and curve adjustment tools. The software provides Temp and Tint sliders for white balance, and a vibrancy slider for color balance.
The tool also provides highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks sliders, for achieving a full tonal range while watching the histogram. Whites and blacks sliders are used for adjusting large areas on either side of mid-tones. In contrast, highlights and shadows sliders adjust only the brightest or darkest parts of the image.
Other useful features include a crop tool, a spot-removal tool with heal and clone modes, and a lens correction tool for geometric and fringe distortion.
How to Use Polarr Photo Editor?
It is impossible to describe how to use the Polarr Photo Editor in one article as there are many changes made with every update. Polarr has a Polarr wiki website where they provide technical information on each feature in detail. There are also lots of tutorial videos for this app on YouTube.
Polarr Photo Editor: Pricing
Polarr Photo Editor has versions for the web browser, Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android.
The basic version is free. The Pro version with lifetime access costs USD 19.99.
Polarr “Pro” has both a free and a paid version. It offers extra features like masks, layers, text, and vector. These tools are part of the Pro plan, which costs USD 19.99. This in addition to other existing features like batch export, resize, and rename.
Polarr also offers a free 30-day trial with full functionality for both the regular and Pro version.
Polarr Photo Editor: Pros and cons
Here are a few advantages and shortcomings of this software:
Pros:
- Lots of lighting, color, and tone adjustments with an elegant histogram
- Intuitive with an aesthetically pleasing user-friendly interface
- Polarr is ideal for editing images on the web or online platforms
- Its small file size allows users to download and use Polarr on computers with low specs
- This program is supported by an extensive library of technical documentation and video tutorials
- Polarr Pro app, designed for more complex edits, is subscription-based and cheaper than other alternatives
Cons:
- Polarr has limited organization and export features
- The app does not provide a shared workspace for Polarr users
- This app does not have a Bokeh or tilt-shift feature
- Polarr does not support raw files
Summary
Polarr Photo Editor is a free or cheap alternative to Photoshop, Lightroom, and other expensive pixel editors. It features built-in special effects and retouching tools, so you do not have to learn sophisticated editing methods or pay for heavily-priced substitutes.
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