Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it has been discontinued. You can still read our original review below, but Top Ten Reviews is no longer updating this product’s information.
PhotoComplete from Funkypixels software is easy-to-use Mac photo editing software with plenty of manual controls to keep both casual and professional users happy. Though it has many impressive tools and features and an affordable price, it still lacks other ones, such as layers, but the app has enough features to make it a solid choice.
When last we reviewed PhotoComplete, the developers said they’re still selling and supporting it, but have ceased development. This Mac photo editing software app was last updated in 2006.
One of the easier apps to use, PhotoComplete Mac photo editing software doesn't throw a lot of windows at the user, causing potential confusion. But it isn't the absolute easiest app to use; to perform any edit, you must click the menu to add a tool to the tool bar, like "Brightness/Contrast." This gets exhaustive as you add more tools, since the tools aren’t all there by default, which is strange.
Once launched, this Mac photo editing software’s Open window pops up in your Pictures folder. It’s recommended to work on one photo at a time, as opening multiple PhotoComplete windows tends to crash the application. We suggest using iPhoto in conjunction with PhotoComplete to import and organize photos, then use the app as the default editor.
Once you have a photo open, the simple user interface spotlights the information about the photo (dimensions, date, focal length, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and flash) and also brings up a histogram to help with editing. These are two nice features, but they may be pointless to casual users.
To bring up the toolset, either use the menu bar or the “plus/arrow down” symbol next to Actions. These tools include the usual: brightness/contrast, crop, curves (two points of action to manipulate), color temperature and saturation, shadows and highlights, sharpening, borders, rotate, etc. It's a little annoying to have to add a tool every time you want to perform a specific edit, as opposed to opening a toolbar and making edits as needed.
There is no support for layers, no brush tools and it's missing other features that pros and advanced users may use. However, editing is quick, easy and intuitive for both casual users and professionals. It’s a bit slow to show results as tweaks are made, even with a fast Mac running Mac OS X Lion.
One nice feature is the ability to click between Final Image and Read Image modes to compare the edited and original images. This is a major plus, since you can get carried away adding tools to tweak the image
There is an option to share photos on Flickr directly from PhotoComplete. Flickr is among the top websites for sharing photos so we like this feature, but it would be nice to see options for Picasa and other sites. PhotoComplete Mac photo editing software can save photos as JPEG, PNG, TIFF (both 8-bit and 16-bit) and its own PhotoComplete format.
There isn’t a feature for organizing your photos and albums, so, as mentioned earlier, we recommend keeping your files in iPhoto and setting up PhotoComplete as your default photo editor.
PhotoComplete will run on Intel or PowerPC Macs, and though the FunkyPixels website doesn’t directly say OS X Lion is supported, it ran just fine on an Apple computer with the latest operating system.
There is support via email on Funkypixels' website. We contacted the company and they confirmed in 2010 they are still providing support, but aren’t developing a new version.
PhotoComplete is a remarkably strong Mac photo editing software app, easy enough for casual editors, but with enough manual controls for pros to feel happy. Aside from some missing features (layers, brushes, etc.), it’s a nice photo editing app.
