Google's Gemini Can Now Perform Hours of Research for You in Just Minutes Quick Links Denoise Auto-Enhance Spot Healing AI Masking Auto-Straightening Clone Stamp Recommended Presets
Photo editing apps are packed with AI features these days, but let's be honest -- most of them are overkill. Some tools are genuinely useful, while others feel like flashy extras you'll never use. After trying countless apps, I've found there are only seven AI features that truly make a difference.
1 Denoise
By far my least favorite part of photo editing is when I have to remove noise from pictures. So, when Lightroom introduced its AI denoise feature in 2023, to say that I rejoiced would be an understatement. This is not just one of the best Lightroom AI features, but one of its all-time greatest tools.
AI denoise is quite simple to use. After going to Noise Reduction > Denoise, you just have to move the slider until you're happy with the result. If I shoot at ISO 1,000 or above, which I often do for handheld nighttime photography, I typically move the slider further to the right.
You can see how your denoised image will look in the on-screen preview. While it's possible to see the full picture, you can also zoom in on specific sections. I suggest doing this for buildings and other elements, as too much AI denoise can make your pictures look fake.
Various other photo editing tools, such as Picsart and AVCLabs' PhotoPro software also have AI denoise. Sadly, while I can use this feature in Lightroom on my desktop, I couldn't access it on my smartphone.
2 Auto-Enhance
Auto-enhance is perhaps the most widespread AI photo editing feature. This tool helped me learn the basics of how different sliders interact with each other, and as a beginner, I often used auto-enhanced pictures without further edits. But even if you want to create your own unique style, you can use them as a starting point.
I often use auto-enhance when I want to make quick adjustments. Virtually every tool, including your smartphone's native editor, will let you enhance the whole picture with a single click. Lightroom, Canva, and Photoshop Express are some examples.
Some photo editing solutions will also let you adjust specific aspects. For example, you can edit the colors in Photoshop by automatically adjusting them. Auto-contrast is also available. Depending on the software you use, you might also be able to use auto-enhance for your white balance.
3 Spot Healing
Even if a scene looks amazing in real life, our cameras won't always capture it exactly how we want to. Sometimes, you'll find blemishes and other annoyances that you want to get rid of. For example, when I take pictures on a sunny day, my camera will sometimes pick up spots. The same occasionally happens when I use a narrower aperture.
While having spots in your pictures will always be annoying, it's nice to know that you can rely on AI tools like spot healing to accelerate the editing process. In Lightroom, for example, you can tap on each spot; the software will then get rid of them.
You can edit more areas in one go by selecting Use Generative AI. After picking the spots you want to get rid of, the app will find and remove them. You can also choose a different part of your photo to replace.
I sometimes remove blemishes in Photoshop using the Spot Healing tool. The feature works identically to Lightroom.
While you can find similar tools elsewhere, I don't think any of them are better than Lightroom or Photoshop.
4 AI Masking
As I've become more proficient in photo editing, I've slowly learned how to edit specific parts of my picture. In my opinion, my edits are now much more refined than they used to be. I started by using the radial gradient filter, and still sometimes use this feature, but AI masking is often more efficient.
I particularly like using AI masking when editing the sky. It's incredibly accurate at selecting the sky, but the tool is hit-and-miss when I try masking subjects and the background.
Once you've used AI to mask part of your image, you can then adjust the sliders like you would with a linear/radial gradient. This feature has become very useful when I want to edit photos on a sunny day because the sky is often too dark, but altering the rest of the picture would make everything more complicated.
Besides Lightroom, Capture One and Luminar Neo are two other tools with AI masking features.
5 Auto-Straightening
Regardless of whether I use my smartphone or camera, I almost always take handheld pictures. Unless I absolutely need to use a tripod (e.g. for photographing the Northern Lights), it just adds extra weight to my bag and is a pain to set up. Some of my pictures are straight, but naturally, I can't get them right all the time.
Even with tons of photo editing experience, I still always use auto-straightening as a starting point for my pictures. I'll then sometimes make my own adjustments, but from personal experience, the tool is mostly accurate.
You'll find auto-straightening in almost every photo editing app.
6 Clone Stamp
Have you ever wished that you could copy one part of your photo to the other? Well, you can -- and AI tools like Clone Stamp are the ideal way to do this.
I normally use Clone Stamp in Photoshop. First, I'll choose the part I want to clone while holding the Option key and clicking on my trackpad. Then, I paste it elsewhere. This is one of many ways that I speed up my Photoshop editing workflow.
Clone Stamp is particularly useful for duplicating smaller objects, such as flowers, bricks, and clouds.
As I've gained more experience with photo editing apps, I've built up a collection of presets that I can easily apply to my images whenever needed. Sometimes, I'll go through each preset and see how it fits my picture. However, I think that this works particularly well when paired with Lightroom's Recommended Presets feature.
This feature is available in the Lightroom mobile app. Once you tap the Presets tab, the software will analyze your picture and give you numerous suggested presets. You can then go through these to see if any match your style.
You can use this tool for editing smartphone pictures in Lightroom, and it'll also work for images you take with your camera. Personally, I think it works best with smartphone images.
While many AI photo editing features feel like gimmicks, some are genuinely useful. These tools can help you seamlessly remove blemishes, refine specific areas, and enhance your images with precision.
