Adobe Max 2022 is kicking off today and with the event comes an announcement of updates for Adobe Lightroom and the various version of Adobe Photoshop that are now available.
In the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, you now get:
- Selection improvements
- One-click delete and fill
- Guides enhancements
- Remove Background & Content-Aware Fill is now available on iPad
For Lightroom users, the latest update adds:
- Content-Aware Remove
- Adaptive Presets
- Edit while comparing
- Select People/Objects with AI-powered masks
The Object Selection tool was first introduced to Photoshop back in 2020 and since its release, the Adobe team has worked to improve the accuracy of how the software automatically detects and selects objects. With today’s announcement, the team has worked on this even further and they have also added to the list of objects the AI can automatically recognise.
“Now, the Object Selection tool recognizes complex objects and regions such as the sky, buildings, water, plants, different types of flooring and ground (e.g., mountains, sidewalks, streets). With these improvements, you can save time and get more precise and high-quality selections, all the while preserving hair details and edges,” says Adobe.
After selecting an object you may want to delete it and this process is now quicker with one-click delete. Combining the Object Selection Tool with Content-Aware Fill and the Shift+Delete shortcut, users now have an efficient way to remove an object from a photo. All you have to do is click on the object, press Shift+Delete and the area the unwanted item is removed from is automatically filled.
Neural Filters aren’t new but there is a handy Photo Restoration Neural Filter now available. The Photo Restoration Neural Filter uses machine learning to detect and eliminate scratches and other minor imperfections on old photographs without too much effort from the photographer.
Other new or updated features include the ability to customise and colourise guides, edit guide properties, access guides via new keyboard shortcuts, and use accessible guide options with a new right-click context menu. You can now also delete guides with the delete key, as well as multi-select to edit and move guides. Content Credentials (beta) enable a Photoshop customer to attach attribution information to their image when exporting from Photoshop and there have been quite a few updates to the iPad version of Photoshop, too, which you can read more about below.
Photoshop on the iPad
You can now remove backgrounds with just one tap as clever AI will isolate the main subject from the background and automatically apply a layer mask. This allows you to take the subject and place it within other images, replace backgrounds with other scenes, and more. Along with one-click Background Removal, you also get one-tap Content-Aware Fill so you can use Adobe’s AI technology to automatically fill any selection with content based on its surroundings.
For quick tonal corrections, you can use the one-tap Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color commands and when selecting tricky subjects, the Select Subject model can now identify photos of people, animals, objects and more, perfectly selecting and refining small details like wisps of hair and edges of clothes.
Adobe Photoshop On Web
This version of Photoshop is still in BETA and it doesn’t include all of the functions of Photoshop yet but you do have access to tools such as Object Selection, Remove Background, Adobe Camera Raw’s image adjustments, and Content-Aware Fill.
Adobe Camera Raw
A new Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plugin makes it easier than ever to use masking workflows, remove unwanted elements from your images, and apply presets with AI masks inside ACR. You can also achieve the perfect tones for your edits with the added ability to adjust Curves for your local selections and make the most of highlights in your images with new HDR support. Enabling HDR will allow you to see and edit your highlights in even greater detail on your HDR-compatible display.
Adobe Lightroom 2022 Update
The updates in Lightroom make it easier than ever to use masking workflows, remove unwanted elements from your images, and apply presets with AI masks on mobile. The latest updates will be rolling out to Lightroom on Win/Mac, Lightroom Classic, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), iOS, Android, iPadOS, ChromeOS, and Web
Editing and retouching portraits in Lightroom has gotten easier with a new Select People tool that can detect and generate high-quality masks for individuals or groups in any portrait. Specific body parts like face skin, body skin, eyes, teeth, lips, hair, and more can also be selected.
Select Objects is now the quickest and most flexible way to mask objects in Lightroom that will help you make targeted edits seamlessly. Simply paint over the desired object with Brush Select or draw a rectangle around it with Rectangle Select, and our AI will automatically refine the edges to create a precise mask. You can also use AI to directly generate a mask for the background of an image with a single click.
Another way to edit portraits is with Adaptive Presets that can be quickly applied to an entire portrait, or target specific features with presets like Enhance Eyes, Whiten Teeth, Darken Eyebrows, and more with a single click or tap. Adaptive Presets aren’t just for portraits either as you can now access the power of AI masks for Sky and Subject on mobile through Adaptive Presets. With one tap, Lightroom can detect and create an adaptive mask based on the contents of the image. Those on Win/Mac will also notice they can adjust the intensity of the edits applied to your local adjustments via a Mask Amount Slider.
Another feature just found in the Mac/Win update is the ability to access full edit functionality while in Compare mode to easily edit images side by side.
For the easy removal of unwanted objects, the Content-Aware feature found in Photoshop is now available in Lightroom. This feature also includes a Refresh option and the ability to pick the sampled area with keyboard commands for finer healing control.
Other updated features include the ability to customise the Lightroom Classic workspace, images now load faster when switching from one image to the next, and export times are now much shorter with the help of GPU acceleration.
For more information on what’s new, visit the Adobe website.