We all know that Instagram images don’t look the way they do without some behind-the-scenes work. I mean come on, when was the last time you took a photo and at least didn’t use some kind of editing? However, there are two types of people who make mistakes: those who over-edit and those who don’t do enough. I’m not the greatest or best photo editor who can turn an average image into a work of art, but I like to think that I have discovered a happy middle ground. The key to making a photo look good, whether it’s a landscape or a group of people (or really anything in between), is the photo editing apps you use. There are thousands of them and I have tried many, but not all have worked the way I wanted. So instead of making you search for the right app to make the Malibu sunset image appear, I’m going to save you time and effort and tell you the best apps to download.

Camera +

This app allows you to upload multiple photos at once, so you don’t have to deal with editing an image and then saving it, adding another image, etc. The filters (or what the app calls “Scenes”) it comes with are amazing, except for the clarity one, which is insane and shows every possible imperfection. You can also do everything from brightening your photos to adding various filters to an image. The application gives you the option to reduce the filter of your choice, so that it is not so intense and makes your image look like exaggerated garbage.

Facetune

This app takes some practice to use, and if done wrong, you can end up looking like an alien. Basically, this photo editor is used to smooth out skin blemishes, make you look slimmer, and you can even completely remove unwanted elements from the image. I love this app simply because when you’re in the mood to post a bikini pic but you’re not feeling right, you can fool your followers and edit to look like Bella Hadid.

VSCO

This app is great. VSCO has killer filters and, similar to Camera +, you can reduce the effects so your edits don’t look over the top. VSCO is different from other photo apps because you can basically include it in your portfolio in the sense that you can create a profile. You can then share the link to your profile so that people can see the images that you liked but didn’t like enough for the gram.