If your editing style is less intensive, however, it's hard to pass up Lightroom CC. The UI is similar to the Lightroom mobile app and, even better, any photos you import into the app on your phone sync with the Creative Cloud. Meaning, you can take a photo on your phone, start edits on your iPad Pro and then finish them on your home computer. One subscription grants access to both flavors of Lightroom.

For advanced users: Adobe Photoshop

While Lightroom is a great tool for making minor tweaks, sometimes you need to get your hands dirty with an edit. That's where Photoshop comes in. When you need to go beyond what's possible in Lightroom — like removing a tree from an otherwise flat horizon or moving two people closer together — or add some extra drama to studio portraiture, Adobe's other toolset is indispensable.

The biggest advantage Photoshop has over Lightroom is its roots as a graphics creation program, as opposed to just a digital darkroom. If you're willing to invest the time, you can use your photos as the base for truly mind-blowing digital images. Want to stack 50 photos from your night in the woods taking pictures of the Milky Way and merge the star trails together into one surreal photo? This is how you do it.