Photoshop joined the tech trend and added AI tools to its software starting in mid-2023. With AI technology from Adobe Firefly and machine learning (ML) contributions from Adobe Sensei, Photoshop's AI tools are impressive and add to Photoshop's historical stance in the creative league tables. There are now over 15 AI tools in Photoshop in 2024, and they're pretty good, but these 5 are the only Photoshop AI tools worth using. Let me explain why.
Related
How much does Photoshop cost?
Adobe Photoshop's price depends on the length of the subscription and the bundle you choose
5 Neural Filters
Turn mundane to insane
Photoshop has offered filters in its tools for years, but with the addition of AI and ML, the Neural Filters have allowed for insane image editing and manipulation. Each Neural Filter must be individually downloaded to use it, which saves RAM space if you're not using the filters often.
The list of filters is constantly growing, and Photoshop users can even see the wait list for what's to come, or occasionally use some filters while in Beta mode. The Neural Filters have five categories: Portraits, Creative, Color, Photography, and Restoration. Portrait filters include skin smoothing, smart portraits, and makeup transfer. The Smart Portrait filter allows you to change facial features, such as adding a smile, redirecting the eyes, or changing facial age, hair, or the facial pose.
The Restoration filters are helpful for taking old film photos and bringing them into the modern era with color, artifact removal, and general enhancements. The results are quick to apply and still allow for further editing with slider menus. All Neural Filters have non-destructive options like being applied as a separate layer, a mask, a new document, a smart filter, or on the existing image's layer (making it destructive).
Related
Best photo editing laptops in 2024
Looking for a new laptop to work on photography projects? We've rounded up the best laptops you can buy if you're into photo editing.
4 Match Font
Find fonts from real-world images
Close
The Match Font tool in Photoshop is offered the same as Illustrator's Retype tool, allowing you to select an area of text in your image, allowing the tool to find the closest match. It can be frustrating to find a font out in the wild and not be able to identify it, so Match Font quells a lot of grief in the search for typographic design. After identifying the matching font, select it, then whenever you next use the Type tool, that font will be selected for you to use in your design or image.
I think Match Font is a tool worth using, but it isn't perfect yet. It currently only matches fonts with those already installed in your system or fonts available in the Adobe Font library -- this means if the font is from elsewhere, you likely won't get a perfect match. But keeping this in mind, don't let perfect be the enemy of good; the tool is super helpful regardless.
Related
How is Adobe Illustrator different from Photoshop?
Illustrator and Photoshop are two of the most popular editing programs, but when should you use one over the other?
3 Object Selection
The perfect selection every time
Close
Anyone using Photoshop at some point has had the draining exercise of making precise selections around a subject -- whether it be a person with flyaway hair, or an object on a plain background -- it takes time and patience to complete and get it right.
The Object Selection tool makes these precise selections in seconds and rarely makes a mistake with it. If the selection precision is off, then using the manual selection tools, you can fix it easily -- but you've already saved time and energy on the bulk of the selection, allowing your patience level to be much higher to be able to fix it.
The Object Selection tool highlights in red the proposed area that will become the selection before you confirm it.
This tool is overlooked as an AI tool because it doesn't have a fancy AI-telling name, and it's hidden among other manual selection tools. It's one of the best AI tools I could use, and it is not yet found in many other creative software programs that boast AI features.
For extra AI selection tools, there's also the Quick Selection tool, which lets you brush over an area and the AI identifies the outlines to select the object, rather than only the area the brush defines. This tool is a bit more hit-and-miss compared to Object Selection, but it's helpful for some aspects.
2 Generative Expand
Open your image's borders
Close
The Generative Expand tool has allowed me to improve my photos for various uses. This tool is one way to resize your images in Photoshop, but it also offers so much more. You can re-compose your images by adding more sky, more ground, or more background in general. Great for both studio shots with seamless background color as well as landscape imagery with beautiful scenes filling the space.
I typically don't add a text prompt in the Contextual Task Bar when using Generative Expand; I like to see Photoshop's invented results first. Using the Crop Tool, pulling out the border edges any which way prompts you to fill the new empty space with Generative Expand's imagery (you can turn this off though if you do just want to insert blank space in your newly cropped photo).
I've expanded my photos for fun and professional reasons this way. Fitting stock imagery to Etsy's store image proportions, while keeping the model in the center. Adding some new background space above people's heads so I could crop the photo into a heart shape and use it for crafting at home. Adding more sky to create balance in my photography when I've not composed it quite right. The possibilities are endless.
1 Generative Fill
Remove and replace with ease
Arguably the best generative AI tool in Photoshop's offerings is the Generative Fill tool. As a photographer, photo editor, and social media user, there have been countless times when I've edited photos and found an annoying distraction or an unwanted person in the background. While the Clone Tool equally does the job of removing said distractions, it takes time, patience, and precision to use.
Generative Fill takes seconds to implement, and Photoshop provides multiple variations for the results. Whether I want to erase something and fill in the background texture or replace an element with something different (e.g. using the text-to-image prompt) Generative Fill makes it so easy.
Largely, I choose to use Generative Fill to erase objects as if they never existed and fill in the gap with a matching pattern or background. I find text-to-image prompts are less precise when looking to replace an object with something realistic. But there is also a Reference Image tool which can help enhance its accuracy, if you are so inclined.
Photoshop's AI tools are fantastic
There are around ten other AI tools available in Photoshop that I didn't mention, many of which are still good tools. I don't agree with using AI tools just because they're present, as sometimes they cause more frustration than they fix. Many AI tools do not fix current or common problems, but the five listed above are helpful in many ways. Making selections and removing or replacing objects is a daily part of a Photoshop user's workflow, as is font identification. That's why I believe the above tools are the most worthwhile to use.
Adobe Photoshop
See at Adobe
