Diffraction | Image Editor 4+

I retired recently and no longer have access to most of the software I used at work. I’ve been looking for a good image editor and found Diffraction on the App Store and decided to give it a try. It has a different (ie. more logical) interface which was a plus for me because my use of Photoshop was fairly limited. I opened up a psd file with Diffraction and within a few minutes I was able to figure out most of the controls. Trying to “learn” Photoshop at work was an exercise in frustration since I didn’t use it enough to really understand it. For the price (free when I downloaded it) you get a solid image editor with no monthly fees and logical controls. If you can’t find your old way of doing something, take a deep breath and take advantage of the “hover hints” you get when you hover your cursor over a control. If the text tool is important to you, Diffraction does not have one. I emailed the developer to ask about it and they responded in 24 hours to let me know that they were working on it for a future update. Two thumbs way, way up for such a fast response!

I'm a professional photographer and art director, for over 35 years, and I mainly use a PC with most of the photo editing tools out there, such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Tiffen Filters, Topaz Labs, OneSoft Software and so forth. I have lots of tools. I don't use my MacBook for my professional work, it's for travel. So, I wanted a good and simple to use Mac tool that would give me the basic photo editing tools I might use on a jpg image while on the go. I was blown away that this software has just about anything I need to adjust a photo to a professional level, tools that I'm used to only seeing in the expensive high end software. Wow. If I wanted to, I could use this to do adjustments to a client's photograph without using my desktop PC workstation. I haven't checked if it will import RAW images, I assume not, but for jpg editing, it does everything I need. It's always so impressive to see individual developers who understand the tools and can develop them on their own, outside of a big company like Adobe. Great work!

Ever since upgrading to a newer mac with a newer OS, my stand alone photo editor became obsolete. I don't believe in the subscription model many sofware companies are using and wanted another stand alone program. I spent over a week searching for a replacement and just found it. Diffraction's toolset is well rounded and it took very little time to become acquainted with it. The half dozen editors I downloaded and tried just don't measure up to Diffraction! Well Done!