Adobe’s Latest Photoshop Update

credits: Adobe

According to Adobe, the best creative software should let people spend more time on their ideas and less time figuring out the tools needed to make them happen, and apparently the latest Photoshop update is built around that. The update adds several new editing features, including a Light Adjustment Layer, Firefly-powered masking and markup tools, and a new AI Assisted Editor that is initially launching in beta. For photographers, one of the most interesting additions is the Light Adjustment Layer, which brings Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks directly into Photoshop as a non-destructive adjustment layer. These are familiar controls from Adobe Camera Raw, but they can now be used directly inside Photoshop without jumping back and forth.

There are a few new Firefly-powered tools as well. Instruct Edit with Masks, powered by Firefly Image 5, lets you describe an edit in normal language and then automatically identifies and masks the relevant part of the photo. You could, for example, ask it to change someone’s clothing or open closed eyes, and Photoshop will try to make the change while leaving the rest of the photo alone. Adobe has also added AI Markup tools, which are useful when several people are working on the same photo. You can circle an area that needs recolouring, draw arrows toward something that needs changing, or roughly sketch an idea directly onto the photo, with Firefly then using those markings to understand the requested edit.

The bigger AI addition is the new AI Assisted Editor, which is available in beta starting today. It gives Photoshop a separate interface with a natural-language prompt bar, allowing you to describe an edit rather than manually finding and using each individual tool. Photoshop can then combine existing features such as Remove Background, Generative Expand, Generative Fill, and Generative Upscale to carry it out. Elsewhere, Dynamic Text now works with custom shapes and paths, while a redesigned Adobe Stock panel brings access to more than 900 million Stock assets directly inside Photoshop. The new Photoshop features are available now, with the AI Assisted Editor remaining in beta for the time being.