Copyright PetaPixel
This past week, Adobe added several new features to Lightroom Classic that are powered by AI. My knee-jerk reaction to any new AI feature is immediate skepticism, but after looking at the updates, the additions all look like welcome improvements. Adobe’s biggest, attention-grabbing headlines over the last couple of years have been all AI, and a lot of it relies on Firefly, the technology behind Adobe’s generative AI, which powers tools like Generative Expand and Generative Remove. It is also behind the company’s attempts at competing with OpenAI and the text-to-video generator it released earlier this year was absolutely not ready for prime time. Adobe has recently changed its tune and gone from focusing entirely on its in-house AI to opening the doors to a wide variety to be used. “Every generative AI model has a distinct aesthetic, and we want to give users more choice and flexibility, especially during the concept phase, to use the right model for their project needs,” Adobe said of the decision. “Whether you need the impeccable quality and commercial safety of Adobe’s models or the unique capabilities and aesthetic styles of the non-Adobe models, you can effortlessly compare outputs to find the ideal style for your creative needs.” Maybe this decision had another side-effect of freeing up internal resources, because the new features in Lightroom Classic feel like a return to form for Adobe. Firstly, the AI culling feature (which was teased earlier this year) feels like a major boon for wedding and event photographers. Culling is and has been one of the most unpleasant aspects of the job, so much so that multiple businesses and products have popped up over the years that attempt to specifically address this pain point. The problem there is the added cost, as each new hardware or software tool adds to the cost of the base software. It always made more sense for this to be a built-in feature. The AI culling tool is still in early access, so don’t expect it to immediately outperform third-party plugins that have lived in the space for years, but it’s still great to see some way of making culling less of a time sink added to the base software. Similarly, a new AI-powered dust removal feature has been added, which will help reduce or eliminate another tedious editing task. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Adobe recently dramatically improved its AI-powered remove tools inside of Photoshop. Previously, the best way to use Adobe’s generative tools to remove an object was to tell Firefly via the prompt box that was what you wanted it to do (this is a hotly debated topic, as I received instructions from Adobe that both leaving that box blank and specifically telling it “remove” were best practice at two distinctly different points in time). But in the last few weeks, a new button appeared on that taskbar: Remove. I now no longer have to guess what method will provide me with the best result; I have an easy button that just does it. An added benefit: it works really well. Another AI-powered tool that got better recently is the selection tool. It does require an Internet connection, but sending the process to the cloud for object and subject selection has gotten extremely good. Using a mix of masks in Adobe Camera Raw and the new selection and removal tools has made it significantly easier for me to produce high-quality work faster than ever. These are simple changes that don’t lean too hard into fully generating visuals with AI, but instead are designed to address very specific pain points in workflow and smooth them out. That’s what AI additions to creative software should do.
