Today, I’m taking a look at Nitro Photo for macOS, a powerful photo and editor manager that’s great for any photographer wanting a cheaper, faster alternative to Adobe Lightroom. Designed with Apple users in mind, Nitro Photo provides a RAW editing and management experience that’s easy for beginners to pick up, yet provides plenty of features and flexibility for a seasoned professional. Anyone frustrated by subscription fees, infrequent updates or other issues muddling your photography experience should explore what makes Nitro a cut above the rest.
Nitro Photo: Built for Apple Users
Nitro is made for photographers in the Apple ecosystem, including Macs, iPhones and iPads. Keeping complete integration in mind, this not only includes total control over Apple’s RAW decoder, but Nitro also utilizes your Photos app along with iCloud services rather than using proprietary tools. The result is a blazingly fast app offering powerful editing options alongside excellent camera support with no need to worry about storage. For photographers who prefer to manage images in the Finder, Nitro can work directly with Finder folders, writing its metadata and edits into XMP files.
It’s staggering the number of camera options Nitro Photo supports, including popular brands like Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, GoPro and more, including compressed Fujifilm and Nikon files. Getting started is as easy as choosing where you want the app to pull photos from: Finder or the Photos app.
Once you’re in, you can organize photos by animations, bursts, selfies, panoramas, rejected, flags and even your own Shared albums. Sorting and filtering options are also available, and once you choose a photo you can do a side-by-side comparison with another photo to see which one you like more. On macOS, you can show up to 16 images at the same time, with synchronized panning and zooming. Additionally, Nitro lets you rate and flag images in either the Photo library or the Finder. The filtering options are incredibly extensive and you can make smart albums in the Photo library as well.
It’s In the Details
Along with a highly organized photo selection system, Nitro also offers detailed metadata, which goes far beyond what you typically see when simply selecting “Get Info” within macOS. You can even get into the nitty-gritty details like focus distance and length, pixel depth and signal to noise ratio, among a wealth of other information. There is a new hierarchical keywording feature which comes with over 1000 keywords, as well as automatic keywording using a state-of-the-art AI model.
This is but a small sampling, of course, but the attention to detail Nitro provides ensures professionals get what they want, and the ease-of-use ensures that even novice photographers are on board. Wherever you are in your photography journey, Nitro for macOS gives you the tools you need to take things to the next level.
The Perfect Shot: Editing with Nitro Photo
Of course, Nitro Photo isn’t just about the organization and little details. Aiming to completely replace Adobe Lightroom, the app includes a good amount of the features you would expect from a similar product, while also including a few of its own extra punches.
After selecting a photo for editing, this is where the real fun begins. Bringing about the editing window is straightforward thanks to the easy-to-use UI. Nitro Photo provides quick controls in the right-hand column to give you easy access to everything you need. Offering sixteen professional adjustments including elements such as Lens Correction, Depth, Channel Mixer and more, you can apply most of these adjustments to masks, which also includes White Balance, Curves, Levels and Fringe control. Masks include brushes, linear and radial gradients, and AI-generated masks.
For quick editing jobs, Nitro Photo also provides Auto Enhance, presets, Copy/Paste options and Look-up Tables (LUTs). Some of the built-in LUTs include a variety of categories, including Film Simulation, Creative, Seasonal and Vintage. Presets include a Tone, Color, Curves and Black & White options, meaning you can quickly stylize any photo. For those who want total control, importing is super quick and saving your own presets is a breeze.
Even better, Nitro Photo for iPhone and iPad means you can take your editing on the go for those quick in-field assignments.
The Final Word: Should You Buy Nitro Photo?
If you’re looking to get Nitro Photo for your Mac, iPad or iPhone, know that the only thing stopping you is your willingness to check out a free 7-day trial. Simply download the app and get the trial license directly from the App Store; you don’t even need to provide Nitro with your information. It’s a truly free trial; you don’t have to sign up for a subscription or have anything to cancel.
Should you like the app, there’s a number of different ways to purchase it: either $3.99 per month, $29.99 per year, or purchase the product outright with a lifetime license for $99.99. Considering the popularity of apps solely providing a subscription service these days, offering a lifetime license is a definite plus.
With a risk-free trial and plans that meet any budget, there’s plenty of reasons to give Nitro a try. Download it today and see for yourself what makes this app so essential for any photographer’s arsenal. If you’re looking for an alternative to Adobe Lightroom, or simply looking for some incredibly powerful photography software, you should definitely consider Nitro Photo. From its flexibility to its organization and editing capabilities, Nitro Photo is easy to recommend for photographers of any experience level.