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The best desktop photo-editing apps
Last month we covered the best mobile photo-editing apps, but if you're serious about photography you'll need more than the tools a phone or tablet can provide. Professionals rely on software from Adobe and others because of the power these programs afford them. Combined with shooting in the uncompressed RAW format, dedicated image editing suites allow you to adjust white balance, exposure, sharpness and color at a granular level. That might be a little intimidating for folks used to point-and-shoot cameras or a smartphone, but for professionals and hobbyists, this means they can reproduce the image they saw in their minds when they hit the shutters on their DSLR or mirrorless cameras. Beyond editing tools, some of these software suites also offer ways to organize and share your photos without leaving the app.
Adobe Lightroom uses AI to edit your photos like a pro
Many photo editing apps have an auto-adjust feature that can improve photos, but pros tend to steer clear of it for a reason -- it's more of a vague guess than an informed edit based on experience. Wouldn't it be nice if it learned from the pros? It does now. Adobe has released updates to Lightroom (both CC and Classic) and Camera Raw that use its Sensei AI to improve photos based on examples. The new Auto mode compares your image to "tens of thousands" of professionally edited shots and uses that wealth of info to make smarter decisions. This doesn't guarantee that you'll have Ansel Adams-grade photos with a couple of clicks, but it could limit your editing to minor tweaks. It's definitely a help for newcomers who want pro-quality shots but don't yet know how to achieve those effects themselves.
