VSCO Launches AI Lab: Professional-Grade AI Editing Tools for Photographers

VSCO gets AI editing chops, support for RAW files | TechCrunch

Video editing app VSCO is adding a set of new AI image editing tools, support for high-resolution RAW files, non-destructive edits, and content-aware region detection. The AI tools will be housed in a new tab called "AI Labs," which also brings AI-powered object removal chops, similar to Google and Apple's homegrown offerings. You can highlight or draw a circle around an object in a picture, and VSCO will replace it with what it thinks matches the background. The company said it uses "intelligent area detection" to blend the background in after an object is removed without affecting the resolution or color. Unlike most AI-powered removal tools that leave artifacts at times, VSCO claims its tool is more precise and preserves details, and is therefore better suited for professional photographers. The company said that it will soon launch another AI-powered feature called Upscale, which claims to increase the resolution of images and sharpen details without compromising on details or composition. VSCO is using Black Forest Labs' FLUX.1 Kontext model to power these features. The AI Labs features are available on VSCO's Pro tier, which costs $12.99 a month, or $60 a year, on the VSCO Studio app on iOS. The company is not setting a limit on the number of times users can use AI Labs features. "Since our inception, VSCO has supported authentic creative expression and has provided photographers with many ways to achieve their desired success . We see how much AI is impacting photography, and are focused on bringing AI tools to our community that are designed specifically to support photographers in achieving creative excellence while respecting the art of their photography," Eric Wittman, VSCO's CEO, said in a statement. The company has been bolstering its toolset to better compete with editing tools. In May, it launched an AI-powered whiteboard to let photographers and their potential clients collaborate on projects, and last year, launched a marketplace to match photographers with clients. Earlier this year, it launched Workspace to help them manage bookings and schedules.

VSCO adds its first AI-powered photo editing tool

The VSCO photo editing and sharing app has been around for nearly as long as Instagram, positioning itself as the serious photographer's choice for mobile editing. The original focus was on tasteful filters and editing tools, all of which got significantly more powerful and flexible over time; VSCO has long been doing the same sort of film emulations that have made Fujifilm's cameras so desirable in recent years. The company also built up a loyal community of photographers who share their edits far and wide, both in the VSCO app as well as on more mainstream platforms like Instagram itself. Now, the company is making an unsurprising but potentially controversial move: it is releasing its first AI-powered image editing tool. "Remove," as the name suggests, lets you erase "unwanted elements" from your photos without compromising the image's full resolution. At first glance, it feels quite similar to tools like Google's own Magic Eraser. You just pop open an image in the editor and highlight the portion you want to remove, and VSCO will do its best to obliterate the offending bits and fill in whatever is in the background that it deems appropriate. I haven't had a chance to test how effective this tool is yet, but VSCO is using Black Forest Lab's FLUX.1 Kontext model to do its magic, combined with its own proprietary technology specifically focused on making results that the company says look authentic. A quick look at Black Forest Lab and the FLUX.1 model show a tool that does appear to be well-suited to removing unwanted parts of an image and properly filling in the space that remains -- but we'll have to see it in action to judge whether it does the job well. This new Remove tool isn't the only AI-powered editor VSCO is working on. There's also an Upscale tool in the works that the company says will "enhance image resolution" while keeping color and composition unchanged. These sorts of tools will live under a new umbrella the company is calling AI Lab, making it clear this will be an ongoing initiative and not just a one-off release. On one hand, I'm not at all surprised to see VSCO jumping into AI-powered editing; it has to keep up with the rest of the industry. But on the other hand, the company has made its mark by building a community of photographers who value authenticity in their work, something that cannot help but be in conflict with AI tools, at least on the surface. VSCO's CEO Eric Wittman acknowledged that tension in a conversation with Engadget. "We have a very photographer-centric, creator-first point of view," Wittman said. "But where we see AI fitting in is in support of those folks, and that work, and that vision. The intention isn't to replace [that work], though -- AI has a place, but it's not to replace what creators, and photographers in particular, are doing." That mindset makes sense with something like Remove, which duplicates something people have done with Photoshop for years. Rather than generating new images or radically changing the truth of a photo like you can do with some of Google's tools on the Pixel phones, Remove is a bit more subtle. "You would use masks, you would manually painstakingly edit things at a pixel by pixel level," Wittman said. "What a lot of Remove tools would do is basically like automate that." Wittman also cited preserving image quality as a key part of the work behind its own Remove tool. "We know that many people who were attempting to use AI in the early days, especially photographers, a lot of their disappointment was just in the preservation of the integrity and the quality of the work," he said. "So what we've really tried to do is continue to help automate where we can and make things easier, but also preserve the quality." To that end, VSCO is stressing that all these edits are non-destructive and the output will be in full, original resolution. As VSCO starts dabbling in more AI editing tools, Wittman emphasized that the company wants to stay on the side of helping photographers realize a creative vision rather than helping them make entirely unreal images, while also avoiding the mess of copyright issues and inauthentic content that is flooding the internet thanks to AI. "When you think about things like copyright, and the incredible importance of copyright, integrity, and authenticity -- we're big believers as a company in both the laws and the norms that have been around for many many years. But obviously on some platforms there are people who are maliciously manipulating things, and we don't want to be participants in that."

VSCO now offers AI-powered features for pro photographers - 9to5Mac

Following the launch of VSCO Canvas, an AI-assisted mood board tool for visual creators, VSCO announced today AI Lab, "the first photo platform to deliver professional-grade AI tools for photographers." Here's what that means. If you follow the generative AI space for imaging, you have probably heard of Black Forest Labs. They are a German-American startup founded by researchers who previously worked on Nvidia, and Stable Diffusion. Their generative image models and tools, which are widely regarded as some of the best ones out there, include FLUX.1 Kontext, "a suite of generative flow matching models that allow you to generate and edit images." Today, VSCO announced that it will combine Black Forest Lab's FLUX.1 Kontext model, and its own "proprietary, purpose-built technology," to offer professional-grade AI tools for photographers, starting with one available today and another coming soon: VSCO says that AI Lab was developed for "photographers who demand high-quality edits that look authentic, not artificial," and its key features include: AI Lab is available to VSCO Pro members on VSCO Studio for iOS 15 and later, and it requires an internet connection.

VSCO Launches AI Lab to Help Photographers Save Time

VSCO, the Visual Supply Company, has announced AI Lab. It is a suite of new AI-powered editing tools to help photographers achieve professional-level results inside VSCO. AI Lab is launching with one tool, Remove, which, as its name suggests, enables photographers to erase unwanted elements from their images without sacrificing resolution or realism. VSCO users can utilize Remove to erase distracting elements from their images, including unwanted passersby and distracting background elements. "Since our inception, VSCO has supported authentic creative expression and has provided photographers with many ways to achieve their desired success," says Eric Wittman, CEO of VSCO. Wittman continues, "We see how much AI is impacting photography, and are focused on bringing AI tools to our community that are designed specifically to support photographers in achieving creative excellence while respecting the art of their photography." AI Lab joins VSCO's prior AI-based offering, VSCO Canvas, which is an AI-powered mood boarding platform designed for creatives and photographers. VSCO's new AI Lab relies upon Black Forest Lab's FLUX.1 Context model combined with proprietary, purpose-built tech made for photographers "who demand high-quality edits that look authentic, not artificial," per VSCO. Although Remove is the first tool available in AI Lab, the company is also developing Upscale, which will launch soon. This will enhance image resolution and sharpen details while maintaining color accuracy. VSCO's next-generation AI-powered imaging tools aim to help photographers save time and perform less manual editing. "AI is undeniably shaping the future of modern photography, and Iʼm very pleased with VSCOʼs strategy to add important AI-based instruments that uphold the craftsmanship photographers care about," says wildlife photographer Philipp Gerasimov. "The VSCO Remove tool delivers edits with required visual fidelity that enhance my photos without compromising creative intent." AI Lab supports editing high-resolution RAW photos, creates non-destructive copies to preserve original images, and, in the case of Remove, features Brush, Tap, and Lasso tools to select and remove objects. AI Lab is available now within VSCO Studio on iOS to VSCO Pro members. Pro membership includes unlimited AI editing, other advanced tools, and access to VSCO's entire library of 200+ presets and film effects.

VSCO will let AI handle photo edits, but the way photographers want it

VSCO, a popular social platform for photographers and the maker of a namesake editing tool, is embracing AI. Now, AI editing is almost a taboo in the creative circles, even though the tools such as Google's Gemini Nano Banana and OpenAI's Sora have gone viral among the masses. VSCO wants to offer AI-powered editing controls that retain the pristine image while using techniques that have been "built for photographers by photographers." What's new? The latest from the company is VSCO AI Lab, which is now available within the VSCO Studio app for iPhones. The dedicated AI-powered hub will get a series of editing features in the near future, starting with a "remove" tool that is now rolling out. Users can either go with the lasso or brush to remove unwanted elements from their pictures, somewhat like the Magic Eraser feature available in the Google Photos app. Here's the big difference though. When a picture is retouched using AI, the original color chemistry and resolution remain untouched. "Remove keeps the creative intent and quality of the original photo intact, offering photographers a more simplified workflow to produce higher quality work," the company promises. VSCO recently launched a camera app called Capture and I've extensively used it on my phone. Recommended Videos On the technical side, VSCO AI Lab relies on the Black Forest Lab's FLUX.1 Kontext model working in tandem with an in-house pipeline. The overarching idea is to ensure that edited pictures still retain their natural profile, and don't look artificial or visibly synthetic with aggressive smoothing or unwanted color adjustments. How does it work? VSCO's AI-powered Remove can detect the highlighted areas in the same fashion that the lasso tool in Photoshop or mobile editing apps works. However, when the AI jumps into action, it makes sure that the tweaks are resolution-safe and don't disturb the overall composition of the image. Users can either go with the lasso tool, or pick between the tap-to-click and brush tools for erasing undesired elements from their photos. The standout element is that VSCO AI Lab will let users edit RAW photos. Additionally, when a picture is fed to the editing pipeline, a non-destructive copy of the original image is retained. In the coming months, VSCO AI Lab will add an upscaling feature that will enhance the image resolution and sharpen it, without changing the color accuracy. In general, the AI upscalers available in tools such as Canva often struggle with sharpening, producing pictures that are higher in resolution, but add a lot of fuzzy elements, especially with text. " AI Lab will serve as a space to experiment with next-generation AI tools built by and for photographers," VSCO said in a statement. As far as access goes, VSCO Pro subscribers will get access to unlimited AI edits, alongside access to an expansive set of professional-grade touch-up tools.

VSCO Launches AI Lab for Photographers Who Want Control, Not Magic Tricks - Phandroid

VSCO unveiled AI Lab, a new editing suite for iOS photographers who want AI assistance without losing creative control. The first tool available, Remove, lets users erase unwanted objects while preserving image quality, texture, and color accuracy. Unlike automated solutions that make decisions for you, VSCO's AI Lab uses content-aware detection with manual brush and lasso tools. Users can tap, draw, or brush areas for cleanup while keeping edits non-destructive, meaning it does not alter the original file. The tool supports RAW files, making it viable for professional workflows where maintaining full image fidelity matters. The lab runs on Black Forest Labs' FLUX.1 Kontext combined with VSCO's proprietary AI engine. This setup aims for realistic photography refinement instead of generative recreation. VSCO frames this as "amplify, not replace" creativity, positioning the tools as extensions of artistic intent rather than shortcuts. An Upscale tool is coming next, designed for image enlargement without the distortion common in simpler upscaling methods from competitors. AI Lab is exclusive to VSCO Pro subscribers on iOS 15 and up. Pro membership costs $12.99 monthly or $59.99 yearly, including unlimited AI edits, 200+ presets, desktop tools, and Lightroom integration. A free trial is available for new users. For photographers who've relied on VSCO Cam's preset filters since the app's Android debut, AI Lab represents a shift toward precision tools rather than one-tap effects. The focus on manual control and RAW support suggests VSCO is targeting serious mobile photographers, not casual editors looking for quick fixes.