It has now been five months since I did something I honestly never thought I would do: I completely walked away from Adobe Photoshop.

After using Photoshop as my photo-editing software of choice for around 15 years, I went cold turkey, cancelled my reliance on Adobe’s ecosystem and moved my entire photography workflow across to Affinity Photo. Five months later, I have absolutely no desire to go back.

That is probably the biggest compliment I can give Affinity. This is not a piece of software I have opened a few times, played around with and decided was “good for something free.”

I have actually used it. I have edited JPEGs, TIFFs and DNG RAW files from multiple camera systems, put it through the sort of everyday photographic work I would previously have handed straight to Photoshop, and so far it has never presented me with a problem that has made me wish Adobe was still sitting on my computer.

For my workflow, Affinity has effectively replicated every single action I regularly performed in Photoshop – and in many cases I have found the transition far easier than I expected.

And that is before we get to the rather extraordinary fact that Affinity is completely free. Not free for seven days. Not free with a heavily restricted feature set. Not free until you export your image.

Canva says the new Affinity is free to use with its professional pixel, vector and layout tools included, with free updates and new features continuing over time. You need a free Canva account to download and activate it, but there is no subscription required for the core application.

There is one caveat, and for me it barely qualifies as one. If you want to use Canva’s generative AI tools inside Affinity – including features such as Generative Fill, Generative Expand and generative editing – you will need a premium Canva subscription.

But I never really used those features when I was paying for Photoshop anyway. I edit photographs rather than reinvent them, so losing access to generative AI has had practically no effect on how I work.

If you can live without that side of modern image editing, what remains is an extraordinarily capable professional photo editor that costs absolutely nothing.

That distinction is important, because free photo-editing software has historically come with compromises. There is normally a missing feature, an awkward interface, limited RAW support or something else lurking around the corner that eventually sends you back toward paid software.

Affinity simply has not felt like that to me. Layers, masks, curves, selections, adjustments, retouching, resizing, sharpening, color work and RAW development are all there. And once you have spent a little time arranging the interface around the way you work, the experience becomes remarkably familiar.

This is not Affinity attempting to be a lightweight Photoshop alternative. For the photography work I actually do, it has become my Photoshop replacement.

And perhaps the most encouraging thing is that Affinity is not standing still. Version 3.3 has just arrived, with Canva describing it as Affinity’s biggest photography update yet, paying particular attention to RAW development.

Reusable RAW presets can now be carried across an entire shoot and into workflows including panoramas and focus merges, while the RAW tools themselves have gained broader controls over detail, color and tonal adjustments.

There are improvements to sharpening and detail refinement, hue and saturation curves, wider lens and camera support, Wavelet Denoise and updates to HDR workflows. There is even now a dedicated Astrophotography Studio for photographers working with stacked night-sky images.

RAW presets are probably one of the additions that interests me most, because this is precisely the sort of seemingly straightforward feature that begins to matter when software becomes part of a serious workflow.

Being able to create a look and then carry it across a series of photographs makes Affinity considerably more practical when you are processing larger shoots rather than working on one photograph at a time.

Likewise, additions such as Wavelet Denoise, improved RAW refinement and the new saturation and hue curves show that Affinity is not merely chasing flashy features for a press release. There is quite clearly an effort being made to improve the fundamentals that photographers use every day.

The full 3.3 update is considerably larger than that, but I think that is almost the point. Affinity keeps receiving meaningful updates without suddenly presenting the user with another bill.

Canva says Affinity will keep getting free updates and new features, and that makes the whole proposition feel very different from the subscription model I had become accustomed to over the years.

I spent so long paying for Adobe because Photoshop was simply part of my photographic life. It was the software I knew, the software I trusted and, perhaps more importantly, the software I did not really think about replacing.

Affinity has made me question why I accepted that recurring cost for so long.

Another part of this story still excites me: the iPad. Affinity says a new iPadOS version is in development and coming soon, although there is currently no announced release date. When that arrives, I think Affinity could become an even more disruptive proposition for photographers.

Put genuinely capable RAW development, layers, masks, retouching and professional photo-editing tools onto an iPad without attaching another mandatory monthly fee to them, and suddenly you have something that beginners can download simply because there is nothing to lose, while experienced photographers can install it because they already know exactly what those tools are capable of doing.

That is where I think Affinity could genuinely change the game. Free software removes the hardest part of convincing somebody to try something new. There is no purchasing decision and no subscription calculation. You download it, throw a RAW file into it, and see what happens.

And having spent the last five months doing exactly that, with files from different cameras and in different formats, I suspect a lot of photographers who download Affinity will end up leaving it installed.

I certainly have. After 15 years with Photoshop, I expected leaving Adobe to involve compromises, workarounds and probably the occasional moment of admitting that I had made a mistake. Instead, Affinity has been a breath of fresh air.

It does what I need it to do, it has handled everything I have thrown at it, it continues to get better and, most importantly, it has finally freed my photography workflow from a software subscription I had come to assume was unavoidable.

Five months ago, I went cold turkey on Photoshop. I thought Affinity would have to prove that I could survive without Adobe. Instead, it has left me wondering why I did not leave sooner.

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When people think of the world's most influential photography companies, the conversation often turns to Japan, Germany or the United States.

But Scandinavia has quietly built a remarkable legacy in imaging – from camera systems and lighting technology to professional software and color science.

For Capture One CEO, Rafael Orta, this connection is not accidental. He believes the region's influence comes from decades of expertise in precision, quality and the ability to reproduce images with exceptional accuracy.

"It's truly fascinating to see how some of the names that stand for quality in terms of the image and colors, but also the stability and the reliability and quality in engineering, have come from the Scandinavian region," says Orta.

The Scandinavian color connection

Capture One's roots are closely tied to Denmark, a country with a long history of expertise in visual reproduction.

Orta explains that the foundations can be traced back to the region’s printing industries, where accuracy and consistency in color were essential.

"You can trace this all the way back to many decades ago, the emergence of incredibly high-quality print industries, especially in Denmark," he says.

That knowledge of representing colors accurately did not disappear as photography moved from analog to digital. Instead, it evolved into new approaches to scanning, processing and managing digital images.

"Then that eventually evolved into how to scan and how to represent colors digitally," Orta explains.

This transition helped create an environment where companies focused on imaging technology could develop highly specialized expertise.

From print to digital photography

Capture One is part of a wider Scandinavian imaging tradition that includes companies such as Hasselblad and Profoto, which have become recognized globally for professional photography tools.

For Orta, the common thread is not just technology but a shared approach to quality.

"There are these incredibly specialized companies in photography and in imaging more broadly across Scandinavian countries," he says.

Those companies have built reputations around reliability, engineering and a deep understanding of how photographers use their tools.

Capture One's own focus has been on giving photographers control over their images, particularly in demanding professional environments where color consistency matters.

Whether it is commercial photography, fashion, advertising or increasingly photojournalism, Orta says the company’s role is to support the creative process.

"We're at the service of photographers," he says. "We're at the service of the craft."

A small region with global influence

Denmark-based Capture One has become one of the photography industry's most influential software companies. Headquartered in Frederiksberg (part of Copenhagen), the company has a team of around 122 employees, with additional offices in Greece, England and the United States.

"It's never lost on us that we're this very, very specialized, very focused company from Denmark," says Orta.

"But it's never lost on us that the impact that we have on global photography – especially the more commercially and culturally influential photography – vastly outsize the fact that we're this specialized company based in Denmark."

From advertising campaigns and fashion editorials to photojournalism and commercial productions, Capture One's software plays a role in images seen around the world.

"We're incredibly proud of the scale of the impact that we have on the industry, and in general on society and culture and commerce," Orta says.

As photography continues to evolve through new technologies, artificial intelligence and changing creative workflows, Capture One's Scandinavian roots remain grounded in the principles that have shaped the company from the beginning: precision, color accuracy and reliability.

For Orta, those values – "quality, color and reliability" – remain as relevant today as they were decades ago, and continue to guide how Capture One develops tools for professional photographers.

Explore Capture One's current plans and pricing, including a one-time purchase.

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DxO PhotoLab 10 has launched with a raft of new updates, and it’s available right now. DxO Labs is calling this latest incarnation of its flagship photo-editing software “our most powerful RAW editor yet.” And with all-new tools, powerful upgrades and boosted functionality, that certainly looks to be the case.

The headline feature is Depth Masks. An all-new tool that uses AI to form a depth map of the image in question. As DxO Labs product director, Cyril Duchêne said: “It will emulate the depth of field as if you were moving it directly with your lens. So it will help you select – precisely – a zone on your photo to edit it as if, for example, a ray of sun was touching just a part of that picture, naturally.” The mask is controlled via a series of sliders and adjustable feathering handles to create the desired effect.

PhotoLab’s standard AI masking has been treated to an upgrade, enabling it to identify “every person” in a photo. This is designed to allow photographers to group multiple people under one mask or tackle individuals with separate masking.

Portrait AI masking has also been enhanced with the introduction of face segmentation. A huge range of facial features, including eyebrows, eyes, facial hair, pupils and lips, are now selectable. This lives alongside existing selective masks for elements such as skies, subjects, animals and vehicles.

DxO’s U Point tech now features a Control Brush, allowing users to introduce hand-drawn custom shapes while maintaining the U Point workflow. New elliptical Control Points have also been added and AI Masks can now be combined with the U Point eyedropper, enabling users to select color and luminosity within the confines of an AI-generated mask.

That’s not the only color upgrade. DxO PhotoLab 10 brings with it a new “advanced” color grading tool. This exists within a single color wheel, with sliders for Hue, Saturation, Luminance and Balance. However, a neat little trick is the ability to move all plotted points on the color wheel in unison. As Cyril puts it: “That means you keep the balance you created at first (...) you can move all of them.”

DxO PhotoLab 10 also boasts a “seamless connection” with Canva’s free photo editor, Affinity. At the click of a button, you can open an image from PhotoLab directly in Affinity. And according to DxO, further enhancements are planned for releases in the future.

As you’d expect, there are also a range of quality-of-life upgrades. For example, the crop tool now features original as-shot ratios and you can make histogram adjustments within PhotoLibrary. DxO has also presided over improved folder management, database backup and restore tools. The software also boasts a new AI-powered RAW dust-removal tool.

DxO PhotoLab 10 is priced at $249.99 / £229.99 for a new perpetual license, while anyone upgrading from PhotoLab 8 or 9 can enjoy a discounted rate of $129.99 / £114.99. It's available for purchase now and can also be test-driven via a seven-day free trial.

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The filter that lives on my favorite camera lens a majority of the time is a diffusion filter, which gives light sources a glow that feels like a retro film lens. But now a new slider from Adobe is mimicking that retro effect – and it’s a new launch hidden inside Adobe Camera RAW.

While Photoshop got a major announcement last week with a new light adjustment layer, the new update to Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) came with little fanfare. ACR is Adobe’s RAW file converter that edits and preps RAW files before opening them inside Photoshop.

ACR now has a new slider called “Glow.” The new slider acts a lot like a digital version of a diffusion filter. As Adobe describes, “Glow spreads light from the brightest areas of your image into surrounding tones, creating everything from a subtle haze to a strong cinematic bloom.”

With the diffusion filter as one of my favorites, I immediately had to try out Adobe’s new Glow slider. The slider spreads out light sources in the photograph, but in spreading it out, the tool also seems to dim the light source just a bit.

Importantly, the glow tool works for all the brightest areas of the image, not necessarily just light sources. For example, when I used the tool to exaggerate a sun flare, it also emphasized the sun’s reflection off the building and obscured some of the details in those highlights.

Like any slider, there’s such a thing as going too far. At 100 percent in some shots I tried, the light-up windows in a city streetscape took on a more unnatural hard edge. That’s why the tool is built as a slider, giving photo editors the power to choose how much or how little of the effect to dial in.

But, there's a bit more control built into the new tool than just the overall slider. Clicking on the arrow next to the tool opens up additional sliders for more control, including adjustments for the amount of light spread.

A drop-down filter here also allows creators to choose from different types of glow effects, including halation and bloom, along with the standard diffusion. Bloom is my favorite, as this slider allows the light to spread into the darker portions of the image as well.

The new tool will also mimic the look of a warm diffusion filter by using the warmth slider.

The new glow slider is also available inside ACR's masking tools, which is useful if you want one light source to spread but not another.

Modern camera lenses are often built with multiple coatings that help suppress flare and ghosting. Vintage lenses often didn’t have these coatings – or at least had fewer of them – which is why film cameras tended to create a glow around light sources. A diffusion filter can help modern lenses mimic that look, but now there’s a tool to play around with before opening a RAW file inside Photoshop.

The new Glow Slider is located inside Adobe Camera RAW version 18.6 under the “Effects” section of tools, just underneath the grain tool.

Editing multiple RAW files tends to be easier in Lightroom than in ACR – so this is a slider that I really hope to see come to Lightroom next. It’s not uncommon for a tool to arrive in ACR before launching in Lightroom, like with the recent reflection removal tool, so I don’t think hoping for a similar Lightroom tool is too far-fetched.

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Photography technology has changed dramatically over the past two decades, but one principle remains central for Capture One: understanding how photographers actually work.

For CEO Rafael Orta, developing new tools is not simply about predicting trends. It starts with conversations, studio visits and listening to the people using the software every day.

"One of the things that I am personally most proud of about Capture One is that we speak to thousands of photographers every year," says Orta.

"And this is not an exaggeration or a number that I just picked out of thin air."

Listening before developing

Capture One regularly attends major photography events around the world, including industry shows, conferences, school visits and studio sessions.

But Orta says the relationship goes beyond simply showing products.

"We are a company that is truly, truly connected with the industry," he explains.

"It's not done in a detached, in an arms-length way. It’s actually done in a very physical way."

The company sends team members to meet photographers directly, from large international events to smaller studio visits where they can understand professional workflows in detail.

Orta gives an example and explains that Capture One team members recently visited studios in Paris to hear how photographers work and what challenges they face.

Those conversations help shape future products and services.

"We have an abundance of touch points that allow us to incorporate and understand what our customers need, but also how the industry is evolving," he says.

"The technology almost seems to melt away"

One area where Capture One sees continued importance is tethered shooting – a workflow where a camera is connected directly to a computer during a shoot, enabling images to appear instantly on a larger display.

Capture One says tethering remains a key part of professional photography, particularly when teams are collaborating on commercial shoots.

"It's such a central part of the Capture One experience," says Orta.

“You can have a team of people working around a photography shoot and the camera is connected to a workstation, and that immediately brings that team into the process.”

For Orta, the best technology is often the technology photographers barely notice.

"What we see is that the technology almost seems to melt away into the background," he explains.

"People start to talk about their photography and where they want to get to, and how they get to the creative vision that they have."

Capture One has committed to releasing tethering support for Hasselblad cameras before the end of the year, with the focus on reliability, speed and stability.

"The things that we care about are the speed of the file transfer and the reliability of that connection," says Orta.

"The day that we launch tethering, photographers will just be able to pick up their body, plug their cable there, and it’s just going to work seamlessly."

A small company with a global impact

Although Capture One is headquartered in Denmark with a team of around 122 people, the company also has offices in Greece, London and the US. Orta says the company’s influence reaches far beyond its size.

"We're this very, very specialized, very focused company from Denmark, but the impact that we have on global photography vastly outsizes the fact that we’re this specialized company," he says.

Capture One software is used across commercial photography, fashion, advertising, journalism, entertainment and other areas where images play an important cultural and commercial role.

Sometimes, Orta says, the company even notices its software appearing unexpectedly in films and television shows during photography scenes.

"It's something that is very, very unique to a company that has achieved this status and this position as an industry standard," he says.

For Capture One, the future of photography is not just about new technology – it is about continuing to support the people creating the images.

"We always do that in a very close relationship with our customers," Orta says.

"That's how we influence the way photography workflow works."

Explore Capture One's current plans and pricing, including a one-time purchase.

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Skylum is making it very clear that the photographer comes first. That’s right, the company that helped pioneer AI-powered photo editing software, when it launched Luminar Neo (now Luminar) back in 2022, is reaffirming its stance on the relationship between creativity and artificial intelligence.

In a press release for the program’s latest update, Skylum’s CEO, Ivan Kutanin, addressed “growing concerns around tech affecting human talent,” and claimed that Luminar is taking a different approach, “one where technology helps photographers realize their creative potential, rather than overshadow it.”

This might seem a bit rich coming from a program packed with AI-powered tools, but it feels to me like a statement of intent. A promise, if you will, that Skylum will continue to develop its AI attributes, but not at the expense of the creative.

And indeed, Luminar’s current feature set is very much about enhancing existing photographs as opposed to generating an image out of nowhere.

You need look no further than the controversy surrounding EvotoAI at the beginning of the year to understand why Skylum might want to make its stance clear.

When an AI Headshot Generator briefly appeared on Evoto’s website, it received huge backlash from its user base. For a company that had marketed itself on putting professional photographers first, many felt that the move overstepped the mark.

Evoto apologized and explained that the release was a mistake, but the damage had already been done.

Removing friction, retaining authorship

I got to talk to Skylum’s CEO Ivan Kutanin regarding the shift in the company’s tone, where he was keen to point out that very little has changed: “It has never been about asking AI to replace creativity,” he said. “It is about using AI to remove the friction that stands between a person and their creative intent.”

My understanding of this is that Skylum’s goal is to help the photographer get where they want to go as quickly and as easily as possible, without taking away their creative autonomy.

As Ivan puts it: “Technology should expand photographers’ capabilities without taking authorship away from them,” adding that “the photographer should remain the decision-maker”.

As to why the company is so intent on making this clear now, the CEO explained: “As AI is becoming more powerful, this distinction becomes even more important.”

And Skylum has gathered the data to back this up, with internal research finding that “control, authenticity, and personal style are top priorities among photographers.” So much so that these attributes are more important than both speed and automation.

“What they need is AI assistance that understands the image, reduces repetitive work, suggests possibilities and makes difficult techniques more accessible.” Skylum’s goal, then, is to provide AI tools that integrate “seamlessly” into Luminar’s workflow.

“We want the technology to disappear into the workflow and simply help photographers’ creative minds do their magic,” said Ivan.

He used the software’s Atmosphere and Enhance tools as examples. The latter intelligently applies a wide range of tonal adjustments including shadows, contrast, and saturation, in one fell swoop. However, it’s still controlled via a traditional slider.

“AI is not about 'press a button and let AI create.' It is a much deeper collaboration between human creativity and machine intelligence,” he said.

Still an AI photo editing pioneer

I couldn’t help but wonder if all this meant that Skylum’s priorities regarding AI had changed, but Ivan assured me it hasn’t.

“Using technology to expand photographers’ creativity rather than replace it has always been part of our values,” he said. “With this release, no actual change is coming – we are simply underlining what’s been here all along.”

And for existing Luminar fans, that means continuing to strive for improvement but not at the expense of the company’s AI mantra.

Ivan told me that the team is working on tech that’s “more advanced than ever,” but building a clever feature isn’t enough. It must be something that “genuinely helps photographers express their creative vision.”

Luminar update

The latest update will be released in two phases, with the first phase having already been released on August 05. The second phase is set to launch this fall.

As it stands, you can expect enhancements to the user interface and genAI tools. Export speeds that are up to 25% faster. Masking that uses 33% less RAM. Preset previews that load four times faster. And support for the following new cameras: Panasonic Lumix L10, Sony A7 V and Sony A7R VI.

The fall phase is set to feature a more precise and intelligent Crop tool. Atmosphere – Fog, which is said to give users “a more natural way to shape the mood of their photographs.” Improvements to both AI Assistant and Enhance AI. As well as the introduction of a new Web Editor, boosting its cross-platform workflow via browser support.

Skylum isn’t the only photo editing company affirming its stance on AI. This week, Digital Camera World interviewed Capture One CEO Rafael Orta who said: “We think of ourselves as a photography company… we never had any disposition to reinvent ourselves as an AI company.”

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Artificial intelligence is changing photography at a remarkable pace. From editing assistance to image enhancement, AI-powered tools are becoming part of everyday workflows – but they are also raising important questions about creativity, ownership and the future role of photographers.

For Capture One CEO Rafael Orta, the answer is not about rejecting new technology. Instead, it is about ensuring that technology remains connected to photography itself.

"We think of ourselves as a photography company and we think of ourselves as part of the photography industry specifically," Orta says. "We're a photography company. We're at the service of photographers. We're at the service of the craft."

A photography company in the AI era

Capture One has been developing editing software for more than 30 years, originally helping professional photographers transition from film-based workflows into digital photography.

As AI has become increasingly important in imaging technology, Orta says the company's identity has remained consistent.

"We never had a crisis of identity," he explains. "We never had any disposition to reinvent ourselves as an AI company."

Instead, Capture One sees AI as another technology that can support photographers – provided it is developed with the industry's needs in mind.

"What that has allowed us to do is to look at AI as a technology that has some utility for the photography workflows," says Orta.

The key question, he explains, is not simply what AI can achieve, but how it can be integrated responsibly.

"Looking at it from the perspective of what are the things that we have to protect as we think about these technologies as it relates to the industry."

Putting photographers' rights first

One of the biggest concerns surrounding AI in creative industries is how images are sourced and used.

For Orta, this is an issue that feels particularly important because photography is deeply embedded within Capture One itself. Many members of the team are photographers, meaning questions around image ownership and attribution are not abstract discussions.

"We have a very significant population of photographers. They're part of the team," he says.

"We're very particular about credits and usage."

That principle applies even internally, where images used for presentations and marketing must include correct attribution and usage information.

"If I put up a photo in a presentation and I haven't credited the photographer, someone in the team is going to call me out," Orta says.

This same approach influences how Capture One develops its AI-powered features.

"When we build our software and AI models, we're completely conscious of what we can use to train them and whether we have the rights to use that material."

Building tools around photographers

Capture One has introduced AI-assisted features, including tools for face retouching, denoising and image enhancement, but Orta says the company has deliberately avoided making AI the centerpiece of the user experience.

"You may notice that we no longer label our tools AI," he explains.

"They just have a label for Retouch Faces, for example, Enhance Denoise. All of these tools have really, really powerful technology underneath them."

Rather than promoting the technology itself, Capture One wants photographers to focus on the creative task they are trying to accomplish. For Orta, AI should feel like another tool in the workflow, not the headline feature.

"We define ourselves as a photography company," he says. "Within the greater ecosystem of the industry, our contribution is that we build software – but we do it in the interest of the industry and photographers."

As AI continues to evolve, Capture One's philosophy remains the same: use new technology where it genuinely benefits photographers, while ensuring the craft – not the algorithm – remains at the centre of the creative process.

Explore Capture One's current plans and pricing, including a one-time purchase.

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A high-resolution Hasselblad file is only the beginning of the creative process. For professional photographers, the software that interprets those images can be just as important as the camera itself.

Now, Capture One is expanding its professional workflow with support for three Hasselblad cameras – the X2D II 100C, the X2D 100C and the CFV 100C digital back – bringing the Swedish manufacturer’s medium format files into an ecosystem widely used across commercial, fashion, beauty and advertising photography.

For Capture One CEO Rafael Orta, the partnership represents more than simply adding another camera system. It is the result of years of requests from photographers who wanted Hasselblad files supported in a professional editing workflow.

"Supporting Hasselblad cameras had been something that had been requested by photographers using Capture One for quite a long time," Orta explains.

“And it's really great to be able to offer that now.”

The partnership photographers have been waiting for

Capture One has built its reputation around giving photographers control over their images, particularly in industries where color accuracy and consistency are critical.

"Capture One is widely considered the industry standard, especially for commercial and fashion and beauty and advertising photography," says Orta.

"The proposition that we bring to photographers is that our product gives them tremendous flexibility in terms of the workflow that they choose to use and the devices that they choose to use together with Capture One."

That approach has led the software to support more than 550 cameras throughout its history, but Orta says every camera requires a dedicated process.

"We create camera profiles. It’s a labour of love," he says. "It's something that we do individually for each specific camera."

The craft behind camera profiles

Rather than relying only on technical specifications, Capture One engineers test cameras extensively, photographing in controlled environments as well as outdoors to understand how each system handles color and detail.

"Every one of those cameras is a camera that we have touched, that we have held in our hands, that we have taken hundreds and in many cases thousands of photos with," says Orta.

The aim is to create profiles that behave predictably while preserving Capture One's own approach to image quality.

"We apply all of our experience and knowledge of image quality and color science to the images that we saw coming from these cameras," he explains.

For photographers opening Hasselblad files in Capture One for the first time, Orta believes the difference comes from the creative control the software provides.

"They see more detail, they see things that they maybe hadn't seen before," he says.

"They start nudging sliders in one direction or another, they see these adjustments being applied, and how it flatters their photography."

Capture One's role is not to replace the photographer's vision, though.

"Ultimately what we’re doing is returning control to the photographer," says Orta.

A partnership built around color

The collaboration between Capture One and Hasselblad also represents two companies with deep roots in Scandinavian imaging technology.

Orta says there is a long history of color expertise across the region, from high-quality printing industries to digital image processing.

"It's fascinating to see how some of the names that stand for quality in terms of the image and colors, but also stability and reliability and quality in engineering, have come from the Scandinavian region," he says.

While the initial release supports three recent 100MP Hasselblad cameras, Orta says the company is open to expanding support in the future.

"We're looking forward to broadening the number of cameras that are supported," he says.

For now, the focus is on seeing what photographers create with the new combination.

"We're really looking forward to seeing what photography is going to be created now using Hasselblad cameras and Capture One," Orta says.

"It really feels like a big moment for the industry."

Explore Capture One's current plans and pricing

Unlike the aforementioned Frankenstein this particular portrait project doesn’t require you to scour mortuaries or dig up body parts from the local cemetery. All the facial elements are coming from the same person, but once assembled will produce something as weird or wonderful (but mainly weird) as you like. There are different ways of capturing each feature, as well, but the basic plan is to take a head and shoulders shot with a portrait lens, or 50-100mm focal length lens. You can go with a wide aperture and completely throw the background out of focus, but also soften features in front of or further back from the focal point. Or, you can use an f/8 aperture and try to get the base image all in focus.

You then need to switch to a macro lens and shoot close up images of each facial element – eyes, nose, mouth, ears are the basics – but it’s worth including other parts like the forehead or chunks of neck. Don’t be afraid to get pretty close to fill the frame, because otherwise you’ll need to select and mask off parts of these close up images. You can go for detail, with a narrow aperture, or throw it wide open and just add the shallow depth of field to the sense of unreality. The trick is to shoot the close ups from different angles or with different expressions than the main image. Then it’s time to compose your creation.

How to create a bizarre portrait

1 Shoot the baseline portrait

The baseline image is the one onto which everything else will be added. Use a portrait lens to capture a head and shoulders portrait. Either go wide with an aperture such as f/1.8 or add more depth and detail with a narrower aperture such as f/8.

2 Capture the close-ups

Switch to a macro or close-focusing lens for close-up shots of individual features. Use a wide aperture to avoid having to increase the ISO if you're struggling for light. Ask your subject to exaggerate their expressions for a wilder aesthetic.

3 Start your composite

Load your base portrait into your chosen photo editing software then drop in the individual photos. Resize to fit, rotate some for effect and use masks to remove unwanted parts. Also, add a white border! Save the project so you can make variations and then flatten the layers and export your creation as a JPEG.

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Looking for an exceptionally thin and light Windows laptop that doesn't compromise on performance? The Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro could be the answer. It weighs just 2.2lbs and is only 0.23 inches thick, yet even the base spec includes a versatile Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, a healthy 32GB of RAM and a 1 terabyte SSD. Keen photographers and creatives will also appreciate the high resolution OLED display that promises excellent image quality. Let's see if the GeekBook X14 Pro can live up to expectations…

Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro: Features

The X14 Pro comes in two configurations, though the only difference is the processor. The base config is based around an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU which packs 14 cores and can run at up to 4.5 GHz. Opt for the top tier model and you get a powerful Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, which adds two additional cores while running at up to 5.1 GHz. Both configs include 32GB of RAM and a fast 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD. Physical connectivity consists of two 40Gbps USB4 Type C ports with Power Delivery, along with an HDMI port and 3.5mm audio socket. And if that's not sufficient, Geekom also includes a USB-C dongle which adds an additional USB-C port, two further USB-A ports, another HDMI socket and even an RJ45 Ethernet port.

Sometimes thin and light laptops don't prioritize screen quality, but that's not the case here. The X14 Pro boasts a premium 14-inch OLED display running at a crisp 2880 x 1800 resolution. It also has an advertised 100% DCI P3 color space coverage - there are high-end standalone monitors that struggle to match that - while maximum brightness is a respectable 450 nits. Gamers will appreciate the 120Hz refresh rate, though the X14 Pro isn't designed to be a gaming powerhouse, as there's no dedicated graphics processor - the CPU takes care of that.

Despite its super-thin design, Geekom has managed to cram in a 72Wh battery, which it says is enough to power the laptop for up to 16 hours. When you're out of juice, the included (and surprisingly compact) gallium nitride charger provides 65 watts of charging power - enough to reach 80% charge in around 1 hour.

Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro: Specifications

Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro: Design & handling

As is often the case in the thin and light Windows notebook sector, Geekom has looked to Apple for design inspiration. Consequently the X14 Pro bears more than just a passing resemblance to a current MacBook Air, and it uses a similar CNC-machined magnesium alloy unibody chassis construction. The main deck of the laptop is surprisingly rigid with very little flex, considering its minimal thickness. Inevitably the wafer-thin screen feels flimsier, but that's unavoidable if you want ultimate thinness and lightness.

The trackpad is a useful size, very smooth and responsive. My only gripe is that for some reason only the right-hand third of the trackpad area is clickable, making it a pain to perform click and drag movements, such as when painting or erasing in Photoshop. The keyboard is backlit, with customisable brightness. Key travel will always be restricted on a device this thin, and the click action is slightly rubbery for my liking, but I was still able to type quickly and comfortably. Sound quality is best described as adequate. A chassis this thin leaves hardly any room for speakers, so audio is completely lacking in bass. Even so, music doesn't sound uncomfortably harsh, and there's always the 3.5mm headphone jack when you want better audio fidelity.

Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro: Performance

Our GeekBook X14 Pro review sample came equipped with the faster of the two available CPU options: Intel's Core Ultra 9 185H. In my benchmark testing this returned a healthy Geekbench CPU score of 12297, comfortably outpacing my existing laptop of choice: Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7 Aura. The X14 Pro also outpaced the Slim 7 Aura in Cinebench 2024, scoring 618, and its 1TB SSD is extremely rapid, being capable of a blistering 7004MB/s read speed, with write speeds not much slower.

This all translates to surprisingly potent performance for photo editing. Even when working with very high resolution raw files in Photoshop, the X14 Pro managed to stay snappy, adding filters with ease and showed no sign of slowing when the layer count reached double figures. For an even tougher test I broke out a 1.4GB, 852-megapixel stitched panorama TIFF file and attempted to enlarge it vertically by around 500 pixels using Generative Expand. This took an impressively rapid 27.5 seconds - compare that with the 45 seconds taken by the Slim 7 Aura laptop, which was already a respectable time relative to the 1 minute 23 seconds taken by my personal tower PC equipped with a 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (a much older CPU not designed with AI in mind). What's more, even with this respectable processing speed, the X14 Pro never got overly hot or noisy.

The twin 40Gbps USB4 ports are a very handy inclusion for when you want to import photos or videos, as with a USB4 Type-C card reader you could even max out the speed of a CFexpress 4.0 memory card. A modern NVMe portable SSD should also be able to run at its full speed when attached to one of the USB4 ports. It's a pity one of the two ports is used by the charger, but this is to be expected as Type-C chargers are now the norm.

Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro: Screen quality

A laptop that'll be used for image editing needs a reliable, color-accurate screen as well as decent processing power. Thankfully, the X14 Pro’s 14-inch OLED display doesn't disappoint. Its super-crisp 2880 x 1800 resolution is high enough to blend individual pixels into each other, while vibrancy and contrast are incredibly high by virtue of this being an OLED display, rather than LCD. The only issue I had was that the brightness on our test laptop was stuck and did not respond to the keyboard controls, despite the on-screen brightness slider appearing to go up and down in response to the relevant keys.

But to objectively assess the image quality of any display, you need a specialist device called a colorimeter; more commonly known as a monitor calibrator. Our Datacolor Spyder Pro is ideal for this job, so we can precisely assess just how good the X14 Pro’s screen really is.

Color Gamut

Geekom states that the Geekbook X14 Pro should display 100% of the wide-gamut DCI-P3 color space, and our testing revealed this bold claim to be completely accurate. 95% coverage of the even more demanding AdobeRGB color space is just as impressive.

Color accuracy

Right out of the box the X14 Pro manages an awesome color accuracy of Delta-E 0.48. And notice how every tested color patch is less than Delta-E 1? Many monitors and laptop screens are tuned for a cooler overall color balance, resulting in the cyan test patch being much less close to ideal color than the other patches. But that's not the case here: the X14 Pro is the most color-accurate laptop I've ever tested.

Screen uniformity

Color uniformity at 100% brightness is very good. However it becomes even better when brightness is reduced to a more comfortable 67%. Luminance (brightness) uniformity is also excellent, regardless of the overall screen brightness setting.

Brightness

Unlike the brightness uniformity test where Datacolor's calibration software raises and lowers the display brightness, measuring the screen's overall brightness relies on manual brightness adjustment. As mentioned above, this wasn't working with our sample laptop, hence all the brightness cd/m2 values in this chart are essentially identical.

Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro: Verdict

As tested with the faster of the two CPU options, the Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro costs $1,199. That makes it just $100 less expensive than a base 13-inch MacBook Air, but at that price the MacBook has half the RAM and half the storage of the X14 Pro. You'll also have to pay extra for a MacBook port dongle, whereas Geekom includes this for free with the X14 Pro. Geekom's pricing also compares well to other thin and light Windows laptops with equivalent CPU, RAM and storage specs.

Ultimately, no 13-inch laptop is an ideal tool for serious image or video editing - there simply isn't enough screen area for displaying multiple toolbars, palettes and a timeline, while also having a comfortably large preview pane. But if outright portability matters most to you, then the GeekBook X14 Pro is almost without compromise: it's got plenty of power, its screen is simply stunning, and it sips battery power. To manage all that in such an outrageously thin and light chassis is nothing short of incredible.

Hasselblad is a well-loved medium format camera system – but one of the brand's biggest requests has finally been answered: more native RAW file support across third-party photo editing apps.

Today, Hasselblad announced native RAW file support inside the popular photo editor Capture One. The company says that tethered camera support will follow later this year.

RAW files from cameras like the Hasselblad X2D II 100C – the “finest stills camera ever made” according to my colleague James Artaius – are packed with 100MP resolution and dynamic range.

But while Adobe Lightroom and Camera RAW support the 3FR file format, Hasselblad’s RAW file format isn’t widely compatible with some of the most well-known Adobe competitors. That left photographers opening the files and working with the colors in Hasselblad’s Phocus software for the best color rendering before exporting as a TIFF and importing into other programs.

With Capture One support, the announcement removes an extra step for Hasselblad photographers working with one of the best Lightroom alternatives.

Hasseblad says those files open natively inside the photo editor, including support for the camera's dedicated color profiles. The collaboration also supports lens profiles for Hasselblad glass, enabling lens profile correction inside Capture One.

Capture One support includes file handling for the RAW files from the X2D II 100C, the X2D 100C, and the CFV 100C digital back and is available in version 16.8.3 of Capture One, as well as the mobile version 3.3.4.

“Photographers have asked us to bring Hasselblad’s image quality into Capture One’s platform for years,” said Rafael Orta, CEO, Capture One.

“This partnership delivers exactly that, empowering even more photographers with everything they need, from initial inspiration to final image. It’s a collaboration the photography community has wanted for a long time, and we’re glad it’s finally here.”

New users can also try a free seven-day trial for Capture One.

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The software giant behind popular photo and video editors like Photoshop and Premiere will soon own the popular AI-focused photo and video software brand Topaz Labs.

On June 25, Adobe announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Topaz Labs, a move that Adobe says will bring more on-device AI tools into Adobe Creative Cloud and Firefly. At the same time, Adobe says that Topaz Labs apps will continue to be available as separate programs.

For Adobe’s Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere users, the acquisition means that their existing workflow could soon be updated with some of Topaz Lab’s popular tools. Adobe has already integrated Topaz Labs as a partner model for the popular Bloom and Gigapixel AI upsizing tools, but the integration likely means additional tech from Topaz Labs will make its way into Firefly and Creative Cloud apps.

The move could also bring more on-device AI into Adobe software, as Adobe notes that Topaz Lab’s Neurostream technology, which allows larger complex AI models to run locally on devices, is part of the acquisition.

Topaz Labs Studio is a multi-app suite of tools built around enhancing photos and videos using AI. Topaz Lab’s current portfolio includes:

• Video: A program boosting slow-mo, stabilization, and resolution in videos
• Photo: An AI program for correcting focus, removing noise, and increasing resolution
• Gigapixel: An AI software that can upsize low-resolution images by as much as 6x
• Image: A web browser application for correcting and enhancing images with beginner-friendly controls
• Mosaic: An AI program built specifically for restoring old photographs
• Bloom: A program for enhancing clarity and detail
• Astra: A generative upscaling program for video

Adobe expects the deal to close sometime in the second half of 2026, with Topaz Labs CEO Eric Yang continuing to lead the Topaz team after the transfer.

Like Adobe’s Creative Cloud, Topaz Lab’s software is subscription-based, though the company offers more than one type of subscription with an annual subscription, an annual paid monthly subscription, or a monthly subscription option.

Adobe and Topaz Labs have not yet commented on whether the acquisition will bring pricing changes, good or bad – though the companies have confirmed that the Topaz Labs apps will remain available separately.

When Adobe added Topaz Labs models into some Photoshop tools, the software giant added the tools as a partner model that requires generative credits. It’s unclear if additional Topaz Labs tools would follow the same pattern. While some Adobe-made tools, like the remove tool, do not use generative credits, others do.

Additional details about how the two separate software suites will interact will likely come once the acquisition is finalized, with the deal expected to be completed before the end of 2026.

Êditor’s note: This is a breaking news story; check back for updates

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We’ve quickly got used to AI improving the AF performance of our digital cameras. And now, increasingly, when it comes to further enhancing resultant shots in AI-powered image processing software, including the likes of Evoto AI and Luminar Neo. I’ve recently had a go with the latest iterations of both and one thought struck me.

It feels like cheating.

It also feels like relinquishing control, as the AI tools make visual decisions that – while producing perfectly acceptable-looking results – aren’t necessarily mirroring the decisions I would personally have taken, or the edits I’d have made. Am I happy getting generic results, rather than authentic expressions of my identity?

That said, there’s no denying I can get results a whole lot quicker – and I can imagine professionals, facing an edit of hundreds of images from a portrait or wedding shoot, will be tempted to batch process. It’s not like their clients are going to know that they had help from an AI toolkit.

However, in asking AI to make creative calls on our behalf, do we run the risk of becoming less creative ourselves – and downright lazy?

The tried-and-tested mantra for any jobbing photographer has always been to ‘get it right in camera’, as the primary way to avoid spending hours cleaning up or adjusting images in Photoshop.

If now, with AI, I can get similar-looking – or certainly ‘good enough’ – results in seconds, where’s the motivation to go the extra mile at the outset, or get exposure and depth of field spot-on, while my subject is still in front of my lens?

The counter-argument, of course, is that with such programs promising to speed up our workflow and help us avoid tedious, repetitive tasks, photographers will have more time to devote to the ‘fun’ part of taking the pictures. Or even less fun things, such as filing company accounts with the taxman.

I guess it all comes down to whether we see AI image editing software as a method to maximize our hard-earned skills and take our visual expertise up a notch – after all, it pays to have a decent image to work with in the first place – as well as a timesaver. Or whether we view it as a sticking plaster, or crutch, to make good our own deficiencies or occasional errors.

Perhaps exposure to too much ‘AI slop’ is rewiring our brains and encouraging and excusing our own photographic sloppiness. Or, more positively, is what photographers are wrestling with now more akin to the transition from film to digital, when we potentially ended up with many more ‘keepers’ because we could quickly see the result?

Whether we’re producing images au naturel or aided and abetted by AI, I think what matters most is still our personal judgement. If the result looks great then it’s a keeper, however I’ve reached that stage. If it looks crap, then I’m still reaching for the ‘delete’ button… whatever the robots are suggesting.

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For the longest time, learning photo editing has gone hand-in-hand with learning photography. But I just came across an interesting statistic hinting that a majority of adults actually prefer unedited photographs.

According to research by Getty Images’ VisualGPS, 65% of adults globally prefer brands that use real, unedited photos in ads.

My first thought: Finally. My second thought: Why am I spending so much time editing when a majority actually prefer an authentic look anyway?

The photographs used to advertise brands have been gradually shifting towards a less edited approach. For example, brands like Aerie have been leaving models unretouched since 2014. Dove launched a campaign using a variety of body types in 2004, banned excessive Photoshop in 2021 and vowed never to use AI models in 2024.

But while the move towards real skin and real people to represent brands has been happening gradually over the last decade, I think AI may be the final push.

The photos that I come across in my feed with too-perfect skin has me immediately suspecting that the photograph isn’t a photograph but an AI-generated image. Too many of them aren’t AI at all, but over-edited photographs.

Yes, AI is getting so good that it will generate skin that actually has texture. But nothing makes me scroll past a portrait faster than one with plastic skin.

The increasing number of adults who prefer non-edited photos caught my attention not just as a photographer, but as the mother to a pre-teen daughter. I’m so glad that I’m starting to see fewer photos of impossible perfection (I’m looking at you, terrible skin-smoothing smartphone filters!)

As a portrait photographer, I prioritize flattering light over intense Photoshop editing. Soft light will make the skin appear smoother while leaving in some natural texture, whereas hard light will overexaggerate pores and texture. I still do a light retouch but, especially in the era of AI, my editing style leans towards a natural look.

Notably the statistic comes from Getty, a stock image platform that has been vocal in its lean towards more authentic imagery. The statistic also focuses on brand photography, and doesn’t necessarily mean that portrait and wedding clients may prefer the same thing.

But between the pushback against AI and the rise of retro film cameras with imperfect but authentic images, I think it’s time for photographers to reevaluate their editing style.

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Photoshop can now rename and organize layers, resize projects, or swap out a background with a simple text prompt. On June 18, Adobe launched an AI agent across several Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop and Premiere, allowing the long-standing editing programs to carry out multi-step processes with a text prompt.

The AI Assistant inside Photoshop and Premiere is rolling out beginning today, June 18, in public beta after Adobe previously teased that the feature was coming back in October during Adobe Max.

Photoshop’s AI Assistant was previously only available as a beta feature in Photoshop Web, the browser-based photo editor with a more limited number of tools. I tested the AI Assistant on Photoshop Web, and at times it felt like an overenthusiastic intern, but the experience left me with the impression that the AI assistant could perhaps one day handle the more boring photo editing tasks.

That’s exactly what Adobe is trying to do with the public beta rollout of AI Assistant across several Creative Cloud apps. Inside Photoshop, for example, the AI Assistant can carry out the process of resizing photos for different formats and platforms and even rename and organize layers.

In a demonstration, Adobe showed how the AI Assistant could also proofread graphic designs inside Photoshop, looking for more than spelling but factual inaccuracies as well.

Inside Premiere, the AI Assistant can help video editors organize assets into bins, batch rename clips based on their content, and add markers. Creators working with multiple camera angles of the same scene can also ask the AI to sync the time codes on those files and stack them inside the timeline.

When I tried the earlier beta version inside Photoshop Web, the potential to let the AI carry out more tedious, repetitive tasks felt like a modern AI take on Actions, the Photoshop tool that records your editing steps so that it can repeat them on another image – only the AI doesn’t need you to manually carry out the steps first.

But, the other feature that struck me about the Photoshop Web version of the AI Assistant is that it could also be used as a learning tool. When I asked the chatbot how to do something, it showed me the steps and where the tools were located – the AI Assistant doesn’t necessarily have to carry out the full edit for you.

When I tried that early AI Assistant back in March, the AI had some flaws and limitations. When I asked it for help editing flyaway hairs, for example, the chatbot removed the entire person – but at least apologized for doing so.

As a public beta, I suspect there are still some refinements left to do on Photoshop’s AI Assistant. But, one of my chief complaints was that using the AI bot was often slow – I’m hoping the rollout to the fully fledged Photoshop that isn’t 100 percent reliant on an internet connection will help create a faster experience.

Photo and video editors will be able to test out the AI Assistant as the feature rolls out on public beta.

The June 18 announcements also include news that Adobe is bringing its Creative Agent into Google Gemini. Like the tool already inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot, the upcoming change will allow Gemini users to ask the AI to carry out a task using Adobe software, such as doing simple photo edits.

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VSCO is best known for its mobile editing app with film-inspired presets, but the mobile photo editing powerhouse will soon have its own desktop app for pro-grade photo editing. On Wednesday, June 17, VSCO launched Studio Pro on iOS, with a desktop version of the photo editor set to arrive before the end of the year.

While VSCO Studio Pro is available to download beginning today on iPhone, the app will eventually lead to a desktop photo software by the same name, which VSCO expects to launch for macOS sometime in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The new software comes alongside news that VSCO is working on an all-in-one subscription that mixes editing software with client gallery delivery and online portfolio tools for pros, a result of the company’s acquisition of Tave and subsequent launch of VSCO Workspace.

VSCO Studio Pro carries on several of the tools that VSCO is known for, including its film-inspired presets. But unlike the well-loved VSCO, Studio Pro is designed for editing entire photo shoots.

The new app can edit as many as 100 photos at once using one-tap batch edits based on VSCO’s popular film-inspired presets.

Photographers will also have a handful of traditional tools for adjusting the photograph, such as sliders for exposure, contrast, tone, and white balance. Like the presets, these tools can also be synced across multiple images in batch editing.

The app will also introduce a tool called Style Match, which takes a reference photo – such as one the photographer has edited previously – and matches the new photo to that style.

When editing is finished, photographers will be able to share to VSCO Galleries with one tap.

The original VSCO can work with large numbers of photos by copying and pasting edits or saving recipes, but the new software is designed to move through large sets of images faster, while maintaining visual consistency.

The young software, however, has a handful of notable tools missing, including crops and curves, but has plans to add additional tools down the road.

That list includes tools like aspect ratio, crops, auto leveling, clarity, bloom, halation, and curves. Support for RAW file formats and directly importing from a camera’s SD cards are also forthcoming options, along with the ability to cull photos by assigning each one a star rating.

While the mobile app, as it stands now, feels like a VSCO tailored towards large photo shoots, if the company does add pro must-haves like RAW support, direct memory card import, culling, and advanced editing tools, the new program could eventually become a competitor to key photo editors such as Adobe Lightroom and Capture One.

VSCO says that it is intentionally sharing the iOS app without those features in order to gather early feedback from photographers as it builds up the mobile app and eventually expands the app to desktop devices.

Like the original VSCO, VSCO Studio Pro appears to take on a free-mium price point, allowing users to download and use several tools for free, while a $13 / £13 / AU$20 / CA$18 monthly or $60 / £60 / AU$100 / CA$80 annual subscription unlocks more options. The app is available now for iOS from the App Store.

The VSCO Studio Pro will be part of VSCO’s upcoming suite of tools that packs several commonly used pro tools into one annual subscription. VSCO Studio One will include the editing software as well as VSCO Workspace, a tool for pro photographers to organize and book clients, VSCO Galleries, and AI Lab, among others.

VSCO One will include everything from editing to invoices and galleries to business education resources. Set to launch in late June 2026, VSCO One is expected to have a $499 annual subscription cost. International pricing has not yet been announced, but that converts to about £372 / AU$705 / CA$700.

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Adobe Lightroom can now turn photos into videos using generative AI. The feature, coming as part of a long list in the June 2026 update, gives photographers who forgot to capture video an option to generate B-roll-like footage. However, the tool is only the second Lightroom tool to require generative credits – and the first native Adobe tool in Lightroom to use the credit system.

The update is part of a long list of Creative Cloud June 2026 updates across Lightroom and Photoshop, as well as video tools Premiere and After Effects. Among the photo features, Lightroom’s assisted culling leaves beta, and Photoshop gains the reflection removal tool from Adobe Camera RAW.

Lightroom desktop: generate video from photos

Inside Lightroom on desktop devices, the new Generate Video option will generate an AI video using either Adobe Firefly or Google Veo, using the photo as a starting point. The option is located by navigating to the top menu and selecting Photo, then Generate Video.

That brings up a pop-up that suggests a prompt like “add subtle motion” or “slow pan,” as well as a text field for typing a custom prompt. A drop-down menu allows users to choose from a four, six, or eight-second video.

While Generate Video is far from the first generative AI tool to come to Lightroom, the update is only the second Lightroom feature to use generative credits and the first native Adobe tool to do so. Previously, only the Topaz Gigapixel Generative Upscale used Generative Credits inside Lightroom; Adobe tools like Generative Remove do not currently consume credits in Lightroom.

Some generative credits are included with certain subscriptions, but after that requires purchasing additional credits. The Creative Cloud Photography Plan 20GB includes 100 credits a month, the Lightroom Plan 250, and the 1TB photography plan 1,000 credits a month.

The pop-up generative video box will show creators how many credits the process will consume and what the remaining balance is. That credit amount changes as the different options are adjusted – shorter videos, for example, will consume fewer credits.

Lightroom Classic and Lightroom: Assisted Culling

Lightroom previously gained Assisted Culling, a beta tool that helps photographers weed out the bad shots with tools like checking for focus and ensuring that both eyes are open. Now, that feature is migrating out of Early Access, which is Adobe’s term for a beta feature. The feature is rolling out to both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic.

The Assisted Culling tool will also now recognize faces and give each face a score as to whether or not the eyes are open and sharply focused, a tool designed to help go through photos with more than one person.

The update also offers more filters to give photographers more control over how they want the photos sorted and how strict the culling process is.

The Library module in Lightroom Classic will also allow users to filter photos that use generative AI or need AI settings to be updated, similar to the program’s ability to sort photos by things like shutter speed or what camera took the photo.

Select Subject has improved with a detail slider, which allows creators to refine the masks’ edges to improve accuracy around fine details like hair.

Lightroom updates also include AI sharpening using Topaz Labs’ Noise Aware and support for RAW files from the Sony A7R VI.

Adobe Photoshop: Reflection Removal

Adobe’s reflection removal tool from Adobe Camera RAW is now moving into Photoshop territory. Like the feature in ACR, the AI-based tool detects and removes reflections in photos shot through glass.

Unlike in ACR, Photoshop’s version of Reflection Removal will make the adjustment as a layer, allowing creators to go back and fine-tune later on, which creates a non-destructive edit.

Photoshop’s Remove Tool can now use on-device generative AI, allowing the tool to work without an internet connection.

The updates rolled out on June 15 across Adobe’s photo tools, alongside updates to Premiere, After Effects, and Illustrator.

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If you've been scrolling social media lately, you've probably seen the 'pixel stretch trend' all over your feed. If you don't recognize it by name, this trend does exactly what it suggests: it stretches a slice of pixels from a photograph to create a dynamic sense of motion – and even leading lines.

This isn't the first time the pixel stretch trend has done the rounds on social media. It first surfaced back in 2008, then it appeared again about four years ago. Now it's back a third time, thanks to Gen Z, and if you want to get in on the trend all you need is a photo editor like Photoshop.

It helps to have an image where your subject – specifically its color palette – is distinct from the scenery, as the effect will be far more pronounced than if the subject blends into the background.

The pixel stretch trend works with everything from landscapes to street photography, provided there's a sizeable subject or object to work with. I'm going to use one of my portraits for this example, which I'll edit in Photoshop – but the principles are the same whichever app you're using.

How to do the pixel stretch trend

1) Separate your subject

Use whatever tool does the best job or that you're most comfortable using. Photoshop's Select subject button does a pretty good job, but feel free to go freehand, use the Magnetic Lasso Tool or anything else that gets the job done. Once you've selected your subject, hit Ctrl+J on a PC or Cmd+J to duplicate it as a new layer.

2) Create a pixel strip

On the background layer, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to create a thin strip down the edge (or close to it, if the edge of your subject is uneven). Then hit Crtl/Cmd +J to duplicate it to a new layer, which should be sitting beneath the subject layer you created in step 1. If you want to, you can repeat this process on the same or different parts of your image.

3) Stretch your strip

Hit Ctrl/Cmd +T to activate Free Transform, which will give you a bounding box with transform points around the strip. Click and hold the middle point and simply drag it to the edge of the image to stretch it out. (You might need to hold the Shift key while you do this, if dragging this point stretches the subject in all directions.)

4) Switch to Warp

For some images – such as those with a flat or geometric subject – a simple, straight pixel stretch might be all you want. But to create dynamism, there's more to the process. While in Free Transform mode, click the icon indicated in the image above to switch into Warp mode. Alternatively, with your stretched pixel layer selected, go to Edit > Transform > Warp.

5) Warp 9, engage!

Now you can get creative! Using the anchor points you can drag, stretch and twist your stretched pixel strip. There are no hard and fast rules here; your shapes can be subtle or spectacular. The only thing to bear in mind is keeping colors or other characteristics in line with their source points on your subject, to support the illusion that its individual pixels are being stretched from their origins.

6) Complementary stretches

If you're adding more than one pixel stretch element, make sure that they complement one another – or, at the very least, that they don't clash. You can use them to create leading lines, to help guide the viewer's eyes around the image, and you can even use the Dodge and Burn Tools to lighten and darken the image to create more depth and dimension. Just experiment and see what works best. Have fun!

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Lightroom Classic’s Lens Blur tool uses AI to achieve something rather remarkable, inferring depth and distance in a two-dimensional image. It’s designed to offer a digital simulation of the kind of shallow depth of field you get from very wide lens apertures.

It’s not just a stylistic decision but a compositional tool, too, because it can help separate subjects from their backgrounds so that they stand out more clearly with fewer distractions.

Early versions of this tool tended to struggle with areas of background seen through holes in the main subject, but as this tool has evolved with successive versions of Lightroom it has become much more capable. Here’s my guide to the main features of the Lens Blur panel, what they do and how they work.

Focus range

This is the central tool in this panel. After Lightroom’s AI analysis, it presents the distance range in the image from closest (left) to farthest (right).

Within that range it displays a bounding box, which Lightroom thinks represents the key subject in the scene. You can accept and work with this as it stands, but you can also drag this box left and right to change the ‘focus distance’ and you can also drag on the left or right handles to adjust the near and far focus distances.

It’s easy to adjust this sharp focus range manually, but it’s not always easy to improve on Lightroom’s initial estimate!

Blur Amount

You can use this slider to adjust the blur in out-of-focus areas, and you might find that you need to keep coming back to this adjustment as you make other changes (to the focus range, for example). It’s easy to get carried away, but it’s important to keep the results realistic.

Blur can backfire if you push it too far! In our sample image, the degree of background blur could easily make the motorcycle look like a model shot from close up

Bokeh shapes

Bokeh is a characteristic of lenses that can be replicated surprisingly well digitally. With this tool, though, the differences between the different bokeh shapes (such as circle, bubble, hexagon, ring, cat eye) are not always easy to see, so it’s up to you how long you want to spend on this.

Bokeh shapes show up most clearly with out-of-focus specular highlights or light sources in the background

Auto / manual subject detection

When you first use the Lens Blur too, Lightroom will attempt to identify the key subject automatically. These days it rarely gets this wrong, but there may be times when you want to shift the focus to a subject or area in the background rather than the foreground, so this is how you do it.

Visualize depth

You can generally see pretty clearly how the Lens Blur tool is focusing and defocusing different parts of the image, but if you need a little help, check this box. It adds a color-coded overlay to the image, which illustrates different distances and defocus amounts with different colors.

Focus and Blur tools

You’ll find these in the ‘Refinement’ section at the bottom of the Lens Blur panel, and you can use them to manually paint in or paint out areas of sharp focus. (Lightroom uses ‘focus’ to mean objects or distances in sharp focus.)

This is all done with a simple manual brush tool, but that’s fine – if you do need to alter the depth mask and subject selection, it’s because the AI hasn’t got it quite right and needs the skill and judgement of the human eye.

Do pay attention to the Size, Feather and Flow sliders. Very often you’ll be trying to blend in the focus adjustment subtly, building up the effect gradually rather than trying to achieve pixel-perfect masking

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Color Grading is widely used in video editing to create a consistent look across a series of clips, but it’s now common to find color grading tools in photo editors too, like here in Lightroom Classic. Color grading works by splitting the image up into three tonal regions – shadows, midtones and highlights – and then adjusting the hue, saturation and luminance values for each to produce a range of cinematic or atmospheric effects.

Color grading is carried out using individual ‘color wheels’ for the shadow, midtone and highlight regions, and quick and intuitive control points for adjusting the color shift. It might look complex but it’s actually quite easy to do, and if you create a color grade you like that you want to re-use in the future, you can save it as a preset. Many Lightroom presets are based around these color grading tools.

3-way adjustment

You choose how the color wheels are displayed and adjusted using this set of buttons running across the top of the Color Grading panel. In the 3-way adjustment mode currently selected, you can see and adjust all three color wheels at once – the one you’re currently adjusting is highlighted while the others are greyed out.

This is a quick and simple way to work if you already have an idea how you want the image to look and you need to adjust shadows, midtones and highlights to get it.

Shadows, midtones, highlights

You can use these buttons to adjust the shadows, midtones and highlights color wheels individually. This is useful if the effects you want to achieve uses only one of these tonal ranges, which is not uncommon.

You can use the shadows color wheel to add a deep, rich color to the darker tones

Adjusting the midtones only will preserve neutral shadows and highlights

Global adjustment

You might just want to apply an overall color shift, and the global adjustment option is the way to do it. It’s also the simplest way to add a color grade to a photo.

Color wheel

This is the heart of Lightroom’s color grading tools, and it uses a draggable control point to adjust hue and saturation. Initially, this will be at the center (neutral) position in the color wheel, and you then drag it towards the edge in the direction of the color you want to apply. You can drag the control point around the wheel, not just outwards. The further you drag it towards the edge, the stronger the saturation of the color tint.

Hue control

You’ll see another control point on the outside of the color wheel showing the hue you’ve selected. You can move this control point around the outside of the color wheel to change the hue. It might look as if it’s doing the same job as the main control point, but in fact it adjust the hue only, not the saturation, and it allows much more precise control – especially when the main control point is very close to the center and small movements have big effects.

Luminance slider

The control wheel only allows you to adjust hue and saturation, but the luminance sliders let you change the brightness of the shadows, midtones and highlights too.

Try reducing the luminance for the shadows to make them richer and deeper

Increasing shadow luminance can create an attractive vintage ‘matte’ effect

Blending

BLENDINGIf you are using different color values for the shadows, midtones and highlights, they blend together progressively for a natural-looking color transition. This slider lets you adjust this blending effect to be more abrupt and pronounced or smoother and less visible.

Blending adjustments can be quite subtle but they are still worth experimenting with

Balance

Normally, your shadows, midtones and highlights adjustments will get an ‘equal share’ of the tonal range, but you can use the balance slider to push the effect of your shadow adjustment further into the tonal range, for example, or bring your highlight adjustment further down into the midtones.

The balance slider make quite a difference to the way an image looks, but also introduces another variable that complicates things – you might find it simpler just to tweak the look with the color wheels

Lightroom Classic’s Distraction Removal panel can easily get overlooked. But rather than spend time manually cloning out dust spots or unwanted passers-by with the cloning and healing tools or AI Remove tool, take a look at the Distraction Removal panel first.

It uses AI to automate tasks you might previously have done manually – so no more brushing, no more object selection, just one-click fixes for three common photo-editing scenarios.

Remove mode

This is the mode you need for any image retouching or object removal jobs in Lightroom. The top panel, just called ‘Remove’, is where you’ll find the regular Heal, Clone and AI Remove tools.

The Heal tool has always been useful for blotting out sensor spots, while the Clone tool is still best for pinpoint image repairs where you need to copy nearby details under full control over the size of the repair, the source area and the brush properties.

Distraction Removal

This is the second panel in the Remove mode and it has three sections: Reflections, People and Dust. These are normally collapsed, so if you select one the others shrink back to just the title, but we’re showing them all open here.

Between them, these three Distraction Removal options cover a lot of the everyday retouching scenarios that photographers are faced with.

Reflections

Have you ever photographed a display through a shop window or display case but had the picture ruined by reflections? This tool will automatically find any reflections in your photo – no need for any manual masking – and will subdue the reflection while magically revealing the objects behind the glass.

Like many of Adobe’s AI tools, this sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t – but when it does, it’s like magic

People

This tool tackles a problem faced by every travel or architectural photographer: the scene is filled with passers-by. It would take an age to remove everyone in this shot manually and there are few ‘clean’ areas to clone from – but the ‘People’ Distraction Removal tool does an amazing job, identifying practically every figure then removing them almost invisibly.

This is another tool where you just have to try it and see. I have another shot of the same scene from a slightly different angle where it didn’t work well at all, mainly because it couldn’t figure out complex stepped railings and other irregular objects in the background.

People masking

As soon as you open the People panel, Lightroom will scan the image for people and highlight them with a red mask overlay. All you need to now is hit the Remove button and Lightroom will erase all these people from the scene.

Don’t worry if the mask doesn’t follow the outline of people closely – it’s using surrounding regions, not just the figures themselves.

Keeping people in

The People tool will highlight people and groups of people with a red mask overlay – but very often this is not one mask but several, so that you may see a series of mask ‘pins’ dotted around the image. You can select these individually and delete them if you want to keep these people or groups of people in the scene.

If you are selecting some people for removal and others to keep in, it’s probably going to be easier to use the regular tools in the Remove panel.

Dust

The Reflections and People tools are attempting to achieve complex adjustments that sometimes work well and sometimes don’t. The Dust tool, though, is so effective that you can forget about manually blotting out sensor spots and use this instead. It will even show you spots you hadn’t seen with the naked eye.

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Lightroom Classic’s masking tools use a combination of AI subject recognition and regular brush and gradient tools to offer huge scope for local adjustments and enhancements. But you can get even more control by using masks in combination – in other words, with ‘sub-masks’.

There are many situations where this can be useful, but our sample image shows a very common one – where you want to darken a sky progressively towards the horizon but without darkening any buildings or other objects that jut up into the sky.

In our example, a linear gradient produces the right gradual darkening but would also darken the building. A sky mask would darken the whole sky, right down to the horizon without any natural gradation in tone.

But by ‘intersecting’ a sky mask and a linear gradient, we can get a gradual tonal gradation that affects only the sky. Our cheat sheet shows the location of the key Lightroom Classic masking controls.

Masking mode

To create and edit masks in Lightroom Classic you need to swap to the masking mode. This panel will give you a list of mask types to choose from. When you choose one, it appears in the Masks panel which opens out to the left of the tools sidebar.

Main mask

The Masks panel will show the area affected by your mask as a tiny thumbnail. Each new mask you add to your photo will appear as a new thumbnail. Any or all of these masks can include sub-masks.

Sub-masks

Every mask will have at least one sub-mask. If you’ve just used a single masking tool it will still appear here. Sub-masks become important if you want to combine or edit the masks that Lightroom has created.

Sky mask

To demonstrate this powerful ‘intersect’ command we’ve started off with a sky mask and used the adjustment tools in the right sidebar to darken it. This produced a very ‘flat’ adjustment that didn’t look natural. This is a common issue with sky masks if they are used on their own.

Sky masks identify sky areas very well but don’t offer any natural gradation towards the horizon.

Linear mask 'intersected'

The ideal way to darken a sky progressively is with a linear mask, but these are indiscriminate in that they darken everything at the top of the frame whether it’s actually part of the sky or not.

This is where an ‘intersected’ sky mask and linear mask can achieve what’s needed – a progressive darkening of the sky with other objects in the foreground left untouched. The linear mask achieves the gradual tonal adjustment, while the sky mask restricts it to the sky alone.

Gradient sub-masks remain editable, e.g. you can move them around even if they’ve been ‘intersected’, added or subtracted from the mask.

Add/Subtract buttons

The Masks panel can look pretty busy, especially if you have all your masks expanded to show sub-masks too – so how do the Add/Subtract buttons fit in? In fact, they apply to the main mask you’ve selected. When you use them, they add new sub-masks. They do not apply to sub-masks.

Adjustment tools

Keep in mind that Lightroom’s local adjustment tools apply to the main mask. Any sub-masks you create simply change the area covered by the mask. These sub-masks do not have their own adjustments. If you need to create a new set of adjustments for a different part of the image then you will need a new mask.

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Should you edit your photos? Yes or no? How long is a piece of string… What I’m trying to say is that there really is no single right answer. It all comes down to what you want to achieve with your images.

As someone who hates being in front of a computer, and who, for the most part, dislikes the highly unnatural extent to which many photographers edit their photos these days, I always lean toward minimal editing when it comes to non-professional work.

But as someone who also uses photography in a professional capacity – and wants that work to look professional – I’m willing to slog through hours of touching up in Lightroom.

I don’t particularly enjoy editing; in fact, I’d go as far as to say I truly dislike being in front of a computer, regardless of the task. But I want to ensure my clients see why they paid me instead of taking the photos themselves.

The great thing about taking pictures for yourself is that you set the creative vision and the standard your photos must meet. Don’t feel like burning your eyes out comparing 10 versions of the same frame? Then don’t do it.

I think a lot of photographers forget this, especially as posting on social media puts your images out to the whole world, which can make it feel like a global audience of photography experts is judging them.

In fact, if you truly hate editing – which I’m sure many photographers do – then why not build your identity around “no-edit” photography? You could probably build a following online with other “lazy” photographers who just want to bask in the strength of their compositions without worrying about color theory or fiddling with sliders in post-production.

Who knows, if you stick with it long enough and develop a strong eye for composition, your “straight out of camera” work might even attract clients.

Although, take that with a pinch of salt. 99% of the time, the way to gain traction as a professional photographer is through editing. Making the leap from amateur to professional requires a good eye for composition, regardless, but in the internet age, most viewers probably care more about the final edit than the scene itself.

Going back to my earlier gripe about the flood of overly edited images we now see, these have unfortunately set a kind of new photographic standard. So as much as I hate to say it, you’d better get good at making your photos “pop” if you want to earn a living with your camera today.

But it’s not just about adjusting hues to “harmonize” the color palette and then boosting contrast and saturation. Editing is a skill developed over time, and there’s a big difference between a well-edited image and an overcooked 16:9 mess.

As for avoiding the slog of editing, I’m not sure there’s a shortcut to developing your skills. Like any ability, it requires repetition, which comes with spending time in your post-production software.

However, I’m not against using AI to save time by applying edits in bulk. A lot of people disagree with this and, from an environmental perspective, I understand why. But there’s no denying that the biggest downside to editing is that it involves so much repetitive, admin-like work, which AI can handle with a few clicks.

In my view, as long as you don’t outsource creative control to AI and only use it to apply a vision you’ve developed yourself, there’s no issue with tools that help batch your editing style. If the AI isn’t doing anything you wouldn’t have done manually, then you’re just saving time—and possibly making the process more enjoyable. At least for me it does.

So, should you edit your photos? If it brings you pleasure or you’re aiming to become a professional, then absolutely. But if you don’t enjoy it and no one’s judging your pictures, then why bother? It doesn’t make you any less of a photographer—it just means you might never be seen as a serious one.

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Tone Curve adjustments are a very powerful way to modify the tonal range and contrast of your photos. The basic principle is simple – you drag on the curve to change its shape to alter the brightness of different tonal regions, from the shadows on the left to the highlights on the right. However, Lightroom Classic’s Tone Curve panel has hidden depths which are easily overlooked but make it a much more powerful and intuitive tool. Here’s a guide to the key features…

Parametric Curve

This is an alternative way to make curves adjustments. Instead of dragging control points directly on the curve, which can sometimes be a bit imprecise, here you get sliders for the Highlights, Lights, Darks and Shadows so that you can adjust these tonal regions individually. Adjustments made with one slider will ‘push’ slightly into the others in order to maintain a smooth tone curve.

• Try boosting the Lights slider to add brightness and sparkle to flat looking images
• Try reducing the Shadows slider to add depth and contrast to an image

Adjust tool

Click on this tool to activate it, then click and drag up or down on any area or object in the image to adjust its tone value – you’ll see this reflected in the tone curve. This is a good way to target specific tonal values and objects only.

• You can use this tool to increase the contrast between two similar tonal values. Click and drag on one area to lighten it then click on the other and drag down to darken it

White point and black point

You can drag the white point to the left if the image histogram doesn’t quite stretch to the right-hand side and you can drag the black point slider to the right to meet the left edge of the histogram. Lightroom Classic does not have a separate levels adjustment, but this does the same job.

• For a faded analog ‘matte’ look you can drag the black point slider upwards so that the darkest tones in the image don’t quite go to a solid black

RGB color curves

Normally you would work with the combined curves adjustments to adjust all three color channels in the image at the same time. However, you can also edit the red, green and blue color channels individually to create a huge range of color shifts and effects.

• Using RGB curves to adjust colors can get confusing. Try the Color Grading panel instead!
• If you want adjust individual colors, you need the Color Mixer panel, especially its Point Color mode

Curve shape

To change the shape of the curve, just drag on the line or click to add a control point which you can then move around to reshape the curve. You can add as many points as you like but things can quickly get messy, so try to keep it simple.

• A classic ’S-shape’ curve will add midtone contrast to a photo without clipping the shadows or highlights. Use on control point to lower the darker tones and another to raise the lighter tones

Curve presets

This little drop-down menu is easy to miss but very useful if you find yourself making the same curve adjustments again and again.

• To save a curve preset, make your curve adjustments first and note the menu now shows ‘Custom’. Open the menu, choose the Save option at the bottom and name your new preset.

Lightroom Classic has powerful options for black and white photographers, even without delving into the masking tools for dodging and burning. Unlike color photography, where you can often use image straight from the camera, black and white relies on a little extra work in the digital darkroom. Images shot in black and white modes on the camera typically benefit from some careful contrast, clarity and color mixing adjustments to really bring them to life. So here are some key tools in Lightroom Classic to help achieve that monochrome mastery.

B&W button

This simple button at the top of the Basic panel switches the Develop tools from regular color editing to monochrome. The key difference is that what would normally be the Color Grading panel now swaps to the B&W panel, where you can apply the same color mixing tools to your black and white images that feature in Photoshop’s Channel Mixer and B&W adjustment layers.

• You could convert color images to black and white simply by reducing the Saturation value to zero, but B&W mode is designed specifically for this kind of work

B&W panel

This displays eight different color ranges which you can adjust and ‘mix’ to create your black and white conversion. When you reduce the value of a color it comes out darker in the black and white image; when you increase the value, it comes out lighter. To make blue skies darker and foliage lighter in landscape shots, for example, you would reduce the Blue value and increase the Green.

• If you apply larger adjustments, trying shifting adjacent color sliders slightly in the same direction to blend in the adjustment more subtly
• Look out for edge effects around objects if you apply too strong an adjustment to darken blue skies, for example
• The Adjust gadget can save you a lot of time. Just select it then drag up and down on areas of the image to darken or lighten those colors

Tone adjustments

These work in the normal way, but you’ll find you can often push the Contrast and other values further than you would with color images. Black and white is more forgiving of extreme adjustments, which can often add to the graphic impact.

• By all means use the histogram display at the top to check for clipping, but you can often afford to lose more highlight and shadow detail than you can with color

Presence sliders

The Presence sliders need to be used with a little care when you’re working on color images, but in black and white you can afford to go wild. As a medium it’s already more dramatic and theatrical than color, and the Texture, Clarity and Dehaze sliders can really add to the impact of an image.

• The Texture slider is good for adding micro-contrast to details in the image
• Use the Clarity slider to make objects really stand out and give a lift to flat-looking images
• The Dehaze slider adds drama to skies and gives darker tones a lift too. In color it can often add too much color saturation, but in black and white that’s not a problem!

Profiles

It’s easy to overlook the Profiles in Lightroom Classic, and while the default Adobe Color and Adobe Monochrome profiles will do a decent job, it’s definitely worth clicking the Browse button to look through all the other profiles available. Lightroom comes with a selection of bespoke B&W Profiles which all deliver a unique ‘look’

• These profiles are not like presets. They are like a kind of pre-processing step that doesn’t involve the editing tools at all

Effects panel

The Effects panel has two great tools for black and white photographers. The Post Crop Vignetting tool adds subtle corner shading to increase the contrast in your photos and add a framing effect to aid the composition, while the Grain effect offers a very realistic simulation of actual analog film grain.

• You can get into the nitty gritty of the Grain Size and Roughness sliders if you like, but for quick and convincing results you can leave them at their defaults and just use the Amount slider

I’m a massive fan of the black-and-white landscape photography that helped bring the artistic genre into the mainstream, especially from the likes of Ansel Adams. His black-and-white work truly embodies the phrase “composition is king,” and I think the lack of color makes you hone in on this.

But there's another historic photographer whose name is less well-known that I think more landscape photographers should know: Galen Rowell.

Sometimes, even the black-and-white works of the great Adams leave me wanting more. It’s certainly not related to the way his images are composed. In fact, I’ve spent hours studying his frames, as I think every landscape photographer who takes the craft seriously should.

But for photographers like myself who wish they could see those same striking scenes in color, I think you'll find inspiration in the work of Galen Rowell.

Rowell (1940-2002) was a landscape photographer who published in major outdoor magazines, most notably National Geographic, and his excellent color stills inspire a real sense of adventure. While I absolutely love looking at Adams’ work, it just doesn’t feel as immersive as when I admire Rowell’s.

For me, landscape photography is all about depicting the raw beauty of nature, and black-and-white photography just doesn’t do this to the same extent as color.

Granted, things like textures, leading lines, and layers in the scene are probably even better pronounced in black and white, but color images give me a sense of how it would feel to be standing where the photographer was.

I’m not saying Rowell composed better images than Adams. On the contrary, Rowell was greatly inspired by Adams, even being dubbed the “35mm Ansel Adams.”

Rowell’s landscape photography, which often featured mountains, was seen by some as a modern evolution of Adams’ traditional monochrome approach. Born nearly 40 years after Adams, Rowell's gear of choice was typically a portable 35mm SLR, like the Nikon F5. "Ninety percent of my best life's work could have been made with a manual body, a 24mm lens, and a telephoto zoom in the 80-200mm range," he once wrote.

Interestingly, there are at least 3,500 color stills that Adams created, mostly on commercial assignments throughout the 1940s and 1950s, primarily with Kodachrome. However, he often found the process lacked the creative control and precision of black and white, calling it an “out-of-tune piano.”

Adams’ color photos aren’t that easy to come by, as the originals weren’t published until 1993, when a small selection was included in that year’s edition of his book, Ansel Adams in Color, which you can still buy. Of course, you can find digitally remastered color versions of his famous black-and-white shots all over the internet.

I find it fascinating that Adams saw color photography as a frustration rather than the gift it has been in enabling such rich and emotionally inspiring landscape photography. I wonder if he would’ve felt the same had he discovered photography in the digital age, when color was already the standard and black and white a niche.

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Today is Earth Day, and the thing that’s on my mind is how much water the AI-powered features in my photo editing software use.

In fact, this has been on my mind for some time as, earlier in the year, the UN announced that we have entered an “era of water bankruptcy,” which got me thinking about how, especially as a landscape photographer, my photographic passions affect our home planet.

I know that using some of these features consumes water, but I don’t know which ones nor how much they consume. But this is only one half of the issue because, if I wanted to find out this information, it would be far from easy, and this is a major issue, in my view.

See, pretty much none of the companies behind the major editing software tools including, but among others, Lightroom/Photoshop (Adobe), Luminar Neo (Skylum), or Capture One (Capture One A/S) publish any kind of pages dedicated to explaining how thirsty these features are.

Sure, they’ve got information touching on this buried in sustainability policies, or you could try deciphering the stats in scientific studies that try to quantify AI water usage, but, practically, who’s going to do that? Even if you wanted to, it would be so time-consuming.

Admittedly, it's not easy for these companies to precisely explain how much water a click of a button uses. Cloud-based AI features often run on infrastructure owned and managed by major cloud computing service providers such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, and it's these companies' servers that consume water to cool mechanisms that stop their data centers from overheating.

In 2025, Google said that a single query to Gemini uses roughly 0.8 oz (25 ml) of water. Of course, this doesn't directly correlate to using an AI feature in editing software, but it at least gives us an idea of the impact using AI in our workflow has, especially when you multiply it by the number of people around the world using such software.

However, more certainly needs to be done to at least give photographers like you and me a better insight into the environmental impact of our editing choices. Admittedly, I’m a huge fan of tools like Lightroom’s generative remove, which allows me to get really creative without having to run photos through Photoshop or use a bunch of different masks to achieve the same effect.

But I know that with a click of that button, water has been slurped up by a data center somewhere, perhaps unnecessarily. And when I consider the reports that have been coming out of the US in particular over the past couple of years about how local residents are now complaining about data-center-related water issues, I’d like to be better informed in order to decide, if, in fact, I want to use the AI feature at all, or dial back my editing.

There is an upside to all this, though, as what I’d consider to be the most helpful AI-powered editing features are mostly run by your computer and not cloud infrastructure in a data center. Tools like spot removal, masking, sharpening, and noise reduction – essentially, anything that doesn't require generative work – are typically run by your machine's CPU and GPU, which is great as I use these all the time.

Of course, using any digital device requires electricity, which produces its own set of environmental challenges, but at least using these AI-powered features doesn't also come at the cost of water needed for server cooling.

Either way, this speaks to my overarching point of a lack of communication from the companies behind photo editing software. I had to dig through tons of information and, admittedly, used an AI platform to help me compile all of this information.

Surely the likes of Adobe, Capture One, and Canva (the creators of Affinity) should have this information clearly displayed, or even build infographics into their software.

I don’t know… I just know that when you consider that, by 2027, AI is projected to consume half of the UK’s total water usage, and this will surely only grow, then even photographers need to be mindful of how they use the technology, regardless of how minuscule the impact of clicking a button may feel.

But again, in order to make these decisions, we need to be informed by the companies whose products we use in our creative workflows.

So, to all of the companies behind editing software, as a photographer who wants to use your tools, but who also wants to know how thirsty your tools are, please be more transparent on this, and please keep striving to develop AI features that run locally rather than on the cloud.

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Canva has just announced a raft of expansions to its Professional Suite, but as a photography expert, it’s the seemingly smallest release that caught my eye: integrations between its Affinity creative software and both Capture One and DaVinci Resolve. That means the latter two pieces of software now support Affinity’s proprietary .af file type. And if you ask me, that’s a much bigger deal than it initially seems.

This integration will make it easier than ever to work between Affinity and Capture One and/or Affinity and DaVinci Resolve. And let’s not forget, Affinity is the best Photoshop alternative on the market, and Capture One is the best Lightroom alternative on the market; buddy them up with seamless file transfer makes them an even more viable alternative to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom than ever before.

And while Capture One is admittedly rather expensive, Affinity balances the scales by being (almost) completely free. I thought Affinity and Capture One combined to deliver the best Adobe alternative workflow for photographers on the market before, and this news has only bolstered that opinion. The DaVinci Resolve integration won't be quite as ground-shaking for most creatives, but it’s still big news, made all the more interesting by Blackmagic’s news this week that DaVinci Resolve 21 is debuting stills compatibility for the very first time.

Canva's headline announcement is that its professional motion-design software, Cavalry, which Canva acquired earlier in the year, is now free. That’s right, Cavalry is taking a leaf out of Affinity’s book in that its full range of features is now free to use.

On the subject of Affinity, Canva has revealed that over five million users have adopted the free-to-use design suite since its Canva relaunch in October 2025. It’s getting a boost, too, with AI-powered assistance courtesy of Anthropic’s Claude AI, said to automate time-consuming tasks.

Finally, Canva has launched Brand Systems within Affinity. This allows users to build branded elements such as logos and photos within Affinity and publish them directly into Canva’s Brand Kit. Brand Kit is designed to help creatives retain control of branded assets, where approved assets are housed in one place for other teams to access, allowing for greater control of asset use and branding consistency.

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DaVinci Resolve has a reputation for color-grading major Hollywood films – and now those same tools are coming for still photos. DaVinci Resolve 21 will support still photos, including organizing and culling, color editing, and node-based editing – and it’s part of the free version of DaVinci Resolve.

During a livestream event on April 13, Blackmagic Design unveiled DaVinci Resolve 21. The software update brings a long list of tools for video editors, but the software also jumps into editing for still photos. Along with giving photographers access to longstanding color tools, the update gives hybrid creators working in both video and stills one program that can edit across both formats.

BlackMagic Design says that the move brings Hollywood-level color tools to still photography, giving still creators cinematic color grading tools. Cinematic photos have been a rising trend on social media lately – BlackMagic’s move brings actual cinema color tools into still photos. That list of tools includes color corrections, curves, and qualifiers – and the support goes beyond color editing as well.

Adding photo support to the longstanding video program gives still photographers access to DaVinci Resolve’s color wheels and custom curves. The programs Scopes – which are like histograms for color, including channels, hue, and saturation – are also supported on still photos.

Photographers will also find the well-known sliders for adjustments like exposure and white balance within the long-standing video editor as well.

DaVinci Resolve uses a node-based workflow rather than the layers that are popular among mainstream photo editors. Where layers in Photoshop are stacked on top of each other, nodes are a flow-chart style set of adjustments. As Blackmagic explains it, "It’s possible to add nodes in series or parallel to build complex grades, apply different corrections to different parts of an image simultaneously and use shared nodes to apply the same look across an entire album of photos at once."

The list of photo features also includes the program’s Film Look Creator, which adds film-like effects, including halation, bloom, grain, and vignetting. Relight FX, which adds lighting effects in post, also works with photos, along with Magic Mask and Depth Maps, to adjust only a portion of the image.

The program’s AI-based tools will also support increasing resolution, lowering noise, and removing unwanted distractions. AI blemish removal is also available, along with tools for smoothing skin and removing dark circles under the eyes.

While DaVinci is known for its color tools, the support for photos also gives photographers and hybrid creators a free software option for organizing and culling images. DaVinci Resolve 21’s Media Pool supports still photos and includes tools for star ratings, setting a photo as a favorite, rejecting a bad shot, and color labels. Albums are also supported.

DaVinci Resolve 21 will support native RAW files from Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, and Sony, along with the iPhone’s ProRAW format. The software will also support wired tethering to import images from supported Sony and Canon cameras into the software as you shoot.

The added support for still photos comes alongside a long list of updates for what DaVinci Resolve is traditionally used for: videos. That list includes AI-powered focal point adjustment, a search tool, and more.

One important thing is not changing with the latest update: DaVinci Resolve 21 is still free, with a paid Studio version housing the most advanced tools. The beta version of DaVinci Resolve 21 is available to download now directly from Blackmagic Design.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates and a full list of features coming to DaVinci Resolve 21.

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Who among us hasn't been bored at work? However, few people are bored enough to Photoshop their boss's face for a joke and run it by them to ask if it's okay to put it on the company website - before turning them into a meme.

However, that's what a guy called Lincoln McCoy just did in the US company he works for, VanDoIt (they build customised vans for everything from mobile clinics to SWAT teams).

He Photoshopped his coworkers' faces, giving them everything from huge foreheads to funny googly eyes and amusing eyebrows, occasionally also causing them to bald, using the Liquify tool.

He then sent them the photos, asking, "Hey, we're updating everyone's photo on the website. Good to go?"

There was definitely a gender split in the replies, with women caring far more about their appearance.

Chief Management Officer Brent Cline was positively thrilled with his forehead being, shall we say, embiggened, saying, "I'm absolutely good with that because it makes me look much better than normal."

CEO Jared McCauslin, whose forehead and ears had also been greatly enlarged, along with his shirt being opened to reveal a vast expanse of chest hair, mused, "Something is off with my forehead. Other than that I say good to go!!"

The COO, Daniel Crosby, whose eyes were closer and whose eyebrows had been knitted together into a unibrow, initially replied "Approved - thank you sir," before rowing back: "Wait... I just paid attention. Why do I look like a caveman???"

Director of Sales Kaylee Anderson's eyebrows were raised and her smile was extended. When asked, "You good with this photo of you?" she replied with multiple laughing emojis, "No, what happened to my eyebrows?" When Lincoln asked, "What do you mean?", she answered, "I look like the joker."

On seeing her distended face, CFO Sally Stefancik replied, "Who dat?"

Lincoln cheekily fibbed, "I searched your name online and found this as a headshot of you?"

Sally answered, "What in the world? Maybe my eyes, definitely not my mouth."

"That's odd..." Lincoln replied.

But it was Director of Operations Shayna Dieckmann who had the bluntest response to her eyes and teeth being enlarged: "Immediately no"!

Luckily Lincoln's colleagues all had a sense of humour and allowed him to turn their responses into a video, which was then uploaded to the company Instagram earlier this week, gaining over a million views. @AlphaFox popularised the video on X, captioning it "Editing coworkers' photos weirdly and asking them if it's okay to use [them] on the company website" with a crying emoji. At the time of writing, the post had over half a million views.

"I like how the men didn't really care," commented @sloopythesloop on X.

"Proof that women read what you’ve sent and men barely skim it," said @annemariemarcantel on Instagram.

Like I say, we've all shirked in the office, but risking getting fired by turning your Photoshopped CEO into a meme is wild. Looks like VanDoIt is a fun place to work.

With the rise of AI photo-editing tools, we are in danger of not only losing the valuable skill of taking a “good” photo, but more worryingly, we’re at risk of thinking that this skill has become redundant. I’m not overstating my point, and it’s not because I “wish things would go back to the way they were.”

Let’s put things in perspective. Fixing photos in post has been a reality for as long as I can remember. If you get the white balance wrong in the camera, then Lightroom can fix that. If the exposure value blows the sky out, then bringing detail and colour back is easily done (assuming you shot in raw). And if a shot were time-sensitive and the crop not perfect, then just adjusting the crop afterwards is one of the easiest edits of all.

These types of changes seem pretty reasonable, and I don’t think anyone would argue against the necessity of them. None of them are adjusting the “truth” of what was present in front of the photographer, and viewers are not going to question the reality of the captured image. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

My concern is that AI editing tools have shifted photography so far into post-production that taking the photo matters a lot less than it used to. It appears that the fix-it-in-post attitude is now on steroids. With Generative Fill and AI Uncrop, it’s now possible to completely transform a subject, fabricate the environment, and even rewrite the lighting in the space.

All of this, and more, means that, for many creators, the photo is no longer the final product; it’s just the data input. Professional photographers can now train private AI models on their own archives and let AI apply their signature style or look automatically. This is the logical extension of downloading a LUT from the internet and applying it to your photos blindly.

This reliance on AI often goes well beyond color corrections, though. Recent years have also seen an increase in hybrid compositing. This is where a photographer takes a high-quality studio shot of a product or model and uses AI to generate a photorealistic environment that matches the perspective and lighting of the original. The photographer doesn’t need to leave the studio or even bother capturing a background plate.

I’m not saying we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. A lot of AI tools can significantly enhance our workflows. Take AI upscaling, for example. Being able to increase the resolution of a photo or video has a lot of benefits, especially when it comes to large-format prints. But what about when that upscaling introduces detail that wasn’t there in the first place?

The ProScaler feature on the Samsung Galaxy S26 is evidence of this problem. Processing makes its best guess of what a low-detail area is and fills it in with what it thinks you want. But if we’re not too careful, we’ll end up delivering a fabricated photo with people present who weren’t there in reality.

I’m all for the evolution of photography, but what I’m concerned about is that we are in danger of becoming lazy photographers who no longer have to put in the hard graft of becoming better at finding and capturing the perfect shot.

This might not be a problem at this point in time, but looking ten or twenty years down the line, we might end up with a significant skills gap within the industry where no one cares about the art of photography.

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Your archive is full of them. Files from your first digital camera, 8MP shots that felt revolutionary at the time but now look soft and limited. You still hold on to them because the moment mattered, but cropping was never an option. Straighten the horizon and you'd end up with something barely usable for the web. Pull in tighter on the composition and forget it. 640 pixels of tears.

Super Resolution changes this. It's not magic, but it does allow you to make larger prints and crop much further in those older photos.

The feature lives in Lightroom Classic's Detail panel, using machine learning to quadruple your pixel count (and it can also be found in Adobe Camera Raw). That 8MP file becomes 32MP. More importantly, it means you can finally make compositional decisions in post that were impossible before. The wider shot you took because you couldn't get closer? Now you can crop in. That slightly wonky horizon you lived with because straightening would kill the resolution? Boom, fixed.

How it works

Open your raw file in the Develop module and find the Detail panel. You'll see Super Resolution as a toggle option. Click it, and Lightroom calculates the enhanced version. The process takes a few seconds, longer for older machines. Unlike the old workflow, this doesn't create a separate DNG file. The enhancement is applied non-destructively to your original raw file, saving drive space and keeping your catalog cleaner. The information is still stored within the catalog files, but you’re not creating the new file.

Once processed, you can toggle Super Resolution on and off without recalculating. Your edits remain intact whether the feature is enabled or disabled. This makes it easy to compare the enhanced version against the original without starting over.

For batch processing, select multiple images in Grid view, then enable Super Resolution from the Detail panel. Your settings sync across all selected files.

What actually improves

Super Resolution works best on sharp, clean files. Good glass, low ISO, proper focus. The algorithm can't invent detail that was never captured, but it can interpolate convincingly when the underlying data is solid. That landscape shot from your 8MP DSLR where everything was sharp? Excellent candidate. The high-ISO concert photo with noise and motion blur? Save your processing time. Perhaps in the future we might have Super Resolution and Denoise available for the same shot, but for now they are mutually exclusive.

The real test is cropping. Take that old file, enable Super Resolution, then crop to 50%. Compare it to what you'd get from the original. The difference is usable versus unusable. Even if you’re cropping to one quarter of the photo, you’re still back to the original 8mp, still fine for A3 or at a push A2 prints.

The practical reality

Super Resolution isn't going to turn your 2005 point-and-shoot files into gallery prints. But it might make them usable where they weren't before. It's particularly relevant if you're sitting on archives from early digital cameras that were perfectly capable but resolution-limited.

The sustainability angle matters too. Rather than constantly chasing newer bodies for more megapixels, you're extracting more value from files you've already shot. That 8MP file you took fifteen years ago suddenly has compositional flexibility you couldn't have predicted.

Try it on a few candidates. Open the Detail panel, toggle Super Resolution, see what's actually there. You might be surprised what becomes usable.

I’ve lost track of the number of hours that I’ve spent in Photoshop tackling tedious, boring tasks like resizing images and editing out powerlines and trash cans. But Adobe is working on a fix: An AI chatbot integrated into Photoshop that can tackle edits for you.

I tried the new Photoshop AI Assistant, which launched only in Beta and only on Photoshop Web earlier this week. While the chatbot did carry out a few pleasant edits for me, I was largely left with the overwhelming feeling that I had just worked with an overenthusiastic photo editing intern, from the chatbot not quite doing what I asked to laughable corrections to lengthy waits.

In short, I didn’t get the impression that professional photo editors should be worried about their future career prospects, at least for now. The AI Assistant was, at least, a much more flexible tool than the Photoshop built into ChatGPT that I tried. But, there are a few key areas where I think a Photoshop chatbot could be rather helpful in future renditions.

First, the AI Assistant is only rolling out to Photoshop for Web for now, which isn’t exactly a full version of Photoshop, and it also has difficulty handling larger, high-resolution files. Many of the new tool’s limitations lie just in the fact that it’s only for the web right now.

One of those limitations is that the web-based Photoshop feels slower than the desktop version. There were a handful of edits that I thought I could have already finished while the AI Assistant was still doing its thing.

The Photoshop AI Assistant works in two ways. First, you can click on parts of the photo and type in a prompt to adjust a specific part of the image. Or, you can talk to the chatbot in the dedicated AI Assistant sidebar.

I started out editing a landscape photo that I took with a film-inspired preset, exaggerating the purples. The AI Assistant scanned the image, then made suggestions, so even if I come into the program without an idea, it sparks some based on what’s in the image. The AI Assistant is eager to use generative AI, and in a few minutes, it added more glowing city lights to the scene and even a full moon (though the craters didn’t feel quite accurate, never mind that it wasn’t a full moon on that day).

Then, I moved on to trying to edit a few portraits. I asked the AI to help clean up flyaway hair, and instead it removed the entire person…twice. At least the AI owned up to the mistake both times, telling me “Oops, looks like the stray hairs AND the whole subject got zapped!” complete with emojis. The bot told me, “It’s really tough for me (and even for Photoshop pros) to accurately select just the stray hair strands.”

The overly enthusiastic hair selection wasn’t the only time the selection was off. When I asked the bot to help make the eyes pop, it applied the effect to the face instead, overbrightening and adding saturation that brought out the skin’s redness.

Because of those whoopses that I had to go in and manually adjust – and the slower pace of a web-based software – I was left with the impression that I probably could have just done it myself faster (and without wasting as many resources).

But, while I won’t be trying the AI Assistant again anytime soon, I was left with an impression that there are a few areas where such a feature could be rather helpful. After all, the AI Assistant is only in beta, which means Adobe is collecting feedback and still making changes.

The feature that impressed me the most is that you can use the AI Assistant in two ways: First, by asking “do it for me” questions, and second, by using “show me how” prompts. The latter prompt I can see growing into a tool to help novices learn the program directly inside the app itself.

The chatbot walked me through the instructions for several common edits, such as adding more background blur and adjusting color casts. Hovering over the blue text in the chatbot’s response highlights where the tools are located, so I’m not searching through different menus and toolbars. (This would, admittedly, be more helpful if Photoshop for Web had more in common with the fully fledged Photoshop, as some tools are in different locations.)

When I asked the chatbot to carry out those edits for me, I could also see them being completed on the screen in real-time, so it actually shows me what’s happening and leaves me with the layers and tools to make tweaks to those AI-applied adjustments. Thanks to the Cloud, I could also open those files into the real Photoshop for further tweaks, directly from my recent files.

The other thing that I feel the Photoshop AI Assistant could actually be useful for – once it irons out the beta kinks – is as a sort of replacement to the software’s Actions panel. The Actions panel allows photo editors to edit one image and save the steps in order to apply those same changes to another image. I feel like if the AI could watch me carry out one edit, then apply it to other images, the results would feel more customized to my style.

The Photoshop AI Assistant is only in beta and, while I can see it becoming a learning tool and replacing some tedious tasks, the chatbot has a way to go before it feels more like an assistant and less like an intern.

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Evoto, the company behind AI-powered desktop editing software Evoto AI and Evoto Video, has found itself in hot water due to a “technical pilot” for an AI Headshot Generator briefly appearing on the company’s website. Evoto has always maintained a fervent creators-first stance, with AI software designed to work alongside professional creatives, but this glimpse of full-image generation has caused much controversy among its user base.

Early Evoto AI adopter and ambassador, as well as YouTuber and photographer, Sal Cincotta, released a video to air his grievances, in which he discussed the situation and said he would have to "rethink" his ambassadorial role. The same video cites a Facebook post from Evoto explaining that the AI Headshot Generator “recently moved into a phase of visibility beyond our intended roadmap for general release” and that it has since been removed from the website.

The company has also released an official statement to both apologize and address the situation and its users’ concerns, stating: “We realize that by testing a tool that generates images from scratch, we crossed a line. Evoto was built to handle the heavy lifting of retouching – not a tool that replaces the person behind the lens.”

Perhaps the most important part of the statement is that, following confusion as to how the AI Headshot Generator was being trained, Evoto has reclarified: “We do not use your images or your clients' images to train our AI models (...) We source our data exclusively through commercially licensed and purchased imagery.” The statement closes with a commitment to earn back customers’ trust.

However, it would appear that such statements have done little to quell the concerns of disgruntled commenters, with some questioning how a functional-looking tool could be accidentally released.

This isn’t the first time a photo-editing software company has faced the ire of the creative community over AI-related material. Adobe famously caused an uproar in June 2024 when an update to its terms of service caused confusion over image usage, which it swiftly had to clarify. But in a world where many creatives are wary of artificial intelligence, the road to redemption isn’t always an easy one.

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VSCO, the mobile photo editing app perhaps best known for its film-inspired presets, can now edit photos using text rather than filters and sliders. This week, VSCO added prompt-based editing to AI Labs inside the mobile photo editing app.

Prompt tool is the third tool that VSCO has added to its young AI Lab, following the addition of the Remove and Upscale tools. Prompt enables users to upload a photo, ask for edits in plain language and get AI-generated results.

The AI Lab is part of a VSCO subscription but, with each new launch, VSCO has a trial period to try the new feature without a subscription – though in this case, it only let me try one and wouldn’t let me download without committing to the seven-day trial.

I tried out the new Prompt tool inside the AI Lab and naturally, since it’s VSCO, I wanted to see if the AI would try to replicate film-like effects. I wasn’t disappointed, as when asked the AI edited my photos to add a light leak, film-like colors and even film frames.

Some results were better than others – my first try, I didn’t specify anything other than “film,” and the result was too washed out for my tastes. I got better results when I was more specific, like asking for film from the 1970s or a type, like 35mm or instant film.

The AI can also remove things, though sometimes it is left up to interpretation. I asked it to remove wrinkles in a backdrop, and it did, but it replaced the backdrop that was underneath the table with a floor.

Of course, as AI, there’s a lot of potential for mistakes. I asked it to alter a smile, and instead it closed the eyes.

The AI even took a few creative liberties, adding birds in flight that I didn’t mention in my prompt and that didn’t exist in the original photo. That’s a clue as to what the AI is doing – I suspect it’s not applying VSCO filters for you but regenerating at least part of the image.

I was impressed with some of the images that it managed to churn out, which felt more true to the retro look that I asked for compared to other AIs that I’ve tested.

But, as with any AI, there are some ethical considerations. VSCO’s AI Lab is built from a mix of Black Forest Lab’s Flux.1 and a mix of “proprietary technology.”

Black Forest Labs doesn’t indicate where its training data comes from. Like with any AI company that doesn’t disclose where its data comes from, that can lead to copyright concerns.

The tech that VSCO adds is meant to help preserve the original image. "AI Lab is built with a layer of our own proprietary computer vision technology on top of the Flux.1 Kontext model to ensure as much of the original image is preserved,” Chris Haire, CTO of VSCO had said when the company launched the AI-powered Remove tool.

“VSCO's tech combines intelligent area detection and seamless blending to produce natural, resolution-safe edits that respect the integrity of the image."

The Prompt tool is available in the updated VSCO app (iOS and Android) by selecting an image and tapping the AI Lab icon at the bottom, then selecting Prompt. A subscription is required to save images from the AI Lab.

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Photoshop alternative Pixelmator Pro will soon be more portable. Tucked in with the announcement of the new subscription-based Apple Creator Studio bundle, Apple revealed that Photomator Pro is coming to the iPad.

Formerly a Mac-only app, Pixelmator Pro has been re-imagined for iPad OS, including support for the touchscreen as well as Apple Pencil. Apple doesn’t offer any touch-enabled laptops, so bringing the Apple-exclusive software to iPad opens the photo editor up to touchscreen-based editing.

Apple says the iPad app was built from scratch with “all the powerful editing tools users have come to appreciate on Mac.” That includes layers, which are arranged in a sidebar, along with Smart Selection.

Tools like Super Resolution, which is Apple’s name for upscaling, are also included on the iPad OS version, along with Deband and Auto Crop.

Apple says the iPad app has full Apple Pencil support, which includes the ability to hover, squeeze, and double-tap with the touchscreen accessory. The Pencil also supports the app’s different pressure-sensitive brushes.

While Apple’s launch primarily focuses on the new iPad version, the desktop app wasn’t completely ignored in the announcement. A new Warp tool allows creators to twist and shape layers and will be available in both the desktop and tablet versions.

However, the Warp tool will be an Apple Creator Studio exclusive. While Apple says that Pixelmator Pro will remain available as a one-time purchase without a subscription, subscribers will have access to premium tools that one-time purchasers do not. So far, that list includes the new Warp tool.

The announcement also includes The Content Hub, a new space for downloading graphics, photos, and illustrations for creative projects, another feature available with the Creator Studio Subscription.

Apple’s Creator Studio subscription is expected to roll out on January 28 for $129 / £129 / AU$209 / CA$129 a year, or $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$20.99 / CA$12.99 a month. That includes Pixelmator Pro as well as Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage.

Interestingly, Apple did not bundle the Lightroom alternative Photomator in the bundle. Apple acquired both Pixelmator Pro and Photomator in February 2025.

A one-time purchase of Pixelmator Pro remains available for $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$79.99 / CA$69.99.

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As the sort of person with enough coordination to trip over my own feet, I’ve always looked at standing desks with a mix of fascination and fear. I hate the sitting marathons that photo editing entails, but is it even possible to keep a steady hand on the mouse while exercising at the same time?

I finally decided to stop sitting on the idea (pun intended) when FlexiSpot reached out about its new flagship E7 Plus Max. I paired the standing desk with a walking pad. That was more than two months ago – but I already can’t imagine working without it.

I’m both a writer and a photographer, and while much of my time with the standing desk is spent typing (as I’m doing right now) I’ve also used the setup for some photo editing.

I was concerned at first that I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands steady enough while using the treadmill to edit photos. But I find I brace my forearms on the desk as I walk anyway, and that gives me enough stability to work with the Lightroom sliders and even zap zits in Photoshop.

I wouldn’t use a treadmill to hand draw digital art in Photoshop, but I was surprised that I could keep my hands steady enough for culling, slider edits and light retouching.

Now I find that I’ll often spend two or three hours out of my day work-walking. This has really helped to break up the monotony, and also helps relieve some of the soreness in my back and hips that I get if I sit for too long.

I feel like I need to clarify, however, that I’m not exactly getting in a fantastic cardio workout. Right around 1.1mph seems to be my sweet spot for work-walking. This gets my heart rate above my resting rate, yes, but it’s not quite in the range that gives my heart and lungs a good workout.

I bought an under-desk treadmill to fight the soreness that comes from sitting for too long – and it’s fantastic for that. I burn a few calories, keep my joints loose, and break up some of the monotony of my day, but it’s more of a supplement to a good cardio workout rather than a replacement.

Of course, that’s me and my coordination that favors a slow and steady pace while working the mouse and keyboard.

Following the advice of a chiropractor, I wear good tennis shoes while on the treadmill. I also don’t walk for eight hours straight, either, but try to fit in an hour and a half in the morning and then another similar stretch of time in the afternoon to break up the long stretches of sitting.

One of my biggest struggles with photography is that I’m either carrying a heavy pack while walking and squatting for several hours, or I’m sitting and editing photos for what feels like days. Adding a bit of light walking while editing photos helps bridge the drastic change that occurs between a day of editing and a day of shooting.

The freedom to photo-edit while sitting, standing or walking doesn’t necessarily need the very best desk, depending on how heavy all your computer equipment is. But I love the Flexispot E7’s customizable four-leg design that looks more like a traditional desk, along with the ability to customize the desktop material.

I’m annoyed at the amount of particleboard whenever shopping for furniture online, so it was refreshing to have a wide range of different materials, including real wood, to choose from.

I know not everyone loves standing desks, but as someone who is a bit lacking in athletic coordination, I’m surprisingly in love with photo editing (and writing) while I’m walking.

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Black-and-white photography is all about control – and one misstep in post-processing can completely limit your creative potential. Understanding how to handle grey tones properly is the key to impactful monochrome images – no matter what genre you're shooting.

One of the most common mistakes photographers make when editing black-and-white photos is converting files straight to greyscale. While it sounds logical, this instantly discards valuable color data – and with it, your ability to precisely control luminosity contrast and tonal separation.

For context, the color information is crucial to control luminosity, which heavily influences the visual outcome of black-and-white photographs. The result? Flat, lifeless black-and-white images.

Instead make use of the Black & White Adjustment Layer, which enables you to individually control the colors' grey shades via luminosity. In general, working with Adjustment Layers only is the way to go. This has the benefit of maximum control over the editing process, as you can always go back to the specific layer to reset or readjust settings.

Let's take a look at the powerful – and flexible – tools for optimizing your monochrome images. From simple adjustments to advanced conversions, these techniques will help you fine-tune your black-and-white work with intention, creativity and full control.

To demonstrate the effects, we're editing images by Mostafa Nodeh, an award-winning photographer known for his minimalistic black-and-white photography.

The top four

1. Control luminosity

Use the color information to visually set elements apart in mono. Add a Black & White Adjustment Layer and a window opens showing color tones from Red to Magenta. This adjustment works similarly to the in-camera color filters but, with access to specific sliders, you have maximum control over the luminosity levels.

2. S-Curve 

To enhance or decrease the contrast of your black-and-white shots, add a Curve Adjustment layer. Here, most frames benefit from a classic curve. Click on the anchor points and adjust these into an S-shape. However, it is worth experimenting with settings as each frame is different.

3. Dodge and Burn

To fine-tune specific image elements in contrast and luminosity, use Dodge and Burn tools. With these, you can target the tonality of subjects (Dodge) or add contrast (Burn) by painting in the frame. Don’t forget to specify the tonality range to either work on shadows, midtones or highlights.

4. Texture overlay

Adding some fine-grain noise or a pattern overlay is a clever technique to add a more classical analog touch to your monochrome shots. Texture filters are available, but you can also raise the texture slider in your RAW Editing Converter. Here, bear in mind that the latter can not be fine-tuned after the setting has been applied.

Toning effect

High key 

Add a Curve Adjustment Layer. Now raise the curve via the anchors to lighten the grey tones in your image. Keep an eye out so that you don’t lose any details in the highlights.

Sepia

First, add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Now set the Hue value to around 30, while dragging the Saturation slider to around a value of 25. Tick the Colorize box.

Cyanotype

Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Set the Hue value around 220 and Saturation to 35. Tick the Colorize box. Open the Curve Adjustment Layer and add contrast via an S-curve.

Split-tone

Use Split Tone panel or Gradient Map Adjustment Layer. Set shadows to one colour and highlights to another. Complementary color combinations such as red and blue work best.

Advanced conversions

Step 1: Create Gradient Map

Click on the half-white and half-black circle found at the bottom of the Layers panel. Now select the Gradient Map. Then a window will appear in the Properties panel.

2. Open dialog box

Simply click on the gradient shown and the Gradient Editor opens. Under Presets, you will find a Basics folder. Open it and select the third option shown named Black, White.

3. Add Level Adjustment Layer

To reduce the contrast, set the black output level to around 25. To enhance the contrast, set the white point to 10, mid-tones/brightness to 1, and the black point around 200.

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Snow is one of the most challenging subjects to photograph correctly. While it appears white to the eye, cameras often interpret snowy scenes as blue, grey or overly warm – especially in winter light.

This appears because incorrect white balance (WB) exaggerates color shifts, while snow reflects surrounding light more intensely than most surfaces. Even a small adjustment error can change the mood of your images.

Understanding how to achieve correct white balance in snow photos will instantly elevate your winter photography. Clean whites, balanced tones and accurate color help your images feel natural while preserving atmosphere.

Correcting white balance doesn't always mean removing all color; cooler tones or warmer yellow hues can be used intentionally to enhance mood, as long as the choice is creative rather than unwanted and accidental.

(If you're new to this topic, here's a simple explanation of what is white balance in photography is and why it matters.)

Follow these five simple editing steps – demonstrated in Affinity Photo 2.0, but easily transferable to other editing software like Photoshop – to regain control over color, fix unwanted tints and ensure that your snow photos look exactly as you intended, before the next snowfall arrives.

Before and After

Editing tutorial

1. Open WB settings

When working with RAW images in Affinity Photo 2.0, the Develop Persona option opens automatically when you open the image. This gives you access to the White Balance control sliders. For JPEGs, simply add a White Balance Adjustment Layer above your Background Layer.

2. Select the reference hue

Select the Picker tool located at the bottom-left of the White Balance dialog box. Click on an element of the photograph that appears relatively neutral – it is best to focus on white and grey frame areas. This process may require a few attempts to get right.

3. Set the balance

Affinity Photo automatically adjusts the White Balance and Tint sliders based on the chosen reference color. It’s beneficial to experiment with the Picker tool to see how different selections affect the image. Once you’re satisfied with the result, close the dialog box.

4. Control highlights

Next, add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer and set the Tonal Range to Highlights. This enables you to control the colors of the highlights. To introduce a cooler tint, move the Cyan/Red slider to the left and the Yellow/Blue slider to the right. To create warmth, do the opposite.

5. Boost colors

To edit specific hues, add a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. Look where you might benefit from a boost to enhance color contrast and where you can minimize it to make it more neutral. Select a color and adjust the sliders. Work with the Neutrals and Whites options to optimize the snow.

Key tip

Don’t underestimate contrast 

When working with snowy scenes, adding either subtle or strong Contrast can enhance the visual impact. As a final step, add a Curves Adjustment Layer and tweak the tones to your preference – both approaches have their merits.

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You’re probably thinking this is a silly argument. If it’s decisions I want, what’s to stop me making a decision about how my photos should look when I process my RAW files? If I want black-and-white, I can have it. If I want vintage, faded color, I can have it. RAW files enable me to choose whatever style I like – so what’s the problem?

Well it’s become apparent to me that there are two problems in particular. Whatever the technical advantages of shooting RAW, it’s certainly made me indecisive.

Some of the best photo editing software applications are now fully non-destructive – and some, like Adobe Lightroom Classic, Capture One and DxO PhotoLab, enable you to create endless 'virtual' copies of the same image.

My Lightroom catalog is littered with RAW editing experiments, often with multiple versions of the same image styled in all sorts of different ways. With RAW files you can undo, redo, re-edit and revise, and it’s hard to stop. I started out as a photographer but I’ve ended up as a digital dabbler who can never quite commit to a final version of anything.

Maybe it’s just me, but I doubt it. With every new editing technique we learn, there’s that irresistible itch to go back over your old RAW files and re-do them; with every new Lightroom feature, you think about all your past RAW files that could benefit.

Non-destructive editing sounds like a blessing, but it can also be a curse. The urge to keep experimenting can become stronger than the desire to finally finish, export and commit to an edited image.

That’s bad enough, but there’s something worse. I strongly believe from my own photography that the processing style, the subject and the way you shoot it are locked together. If you shoot with color in mind and then decide on a black-and-white treatment later (for example), it’s not as good as shooting for black-and-white in the first place.

With digital cameras, and especially with the EVFs on digital cameras, we’ve got it made. We can choose an in-camera picture style and the camera will ‘visualize’ that style for us when we shoot.

Shooting to match a style will change your framing, your composition, your exposure, your white balance – maybe even your shutter speed and lens aperture. I’m no longer convinced that you can shoot a generic RAW file with the intention of applying a style later and expect it to be as effective.

So here’s a third thing. In the past I’ve always recommended RAW files because of their wider tonal range, the extra shadow and highlight detail you can bring out later. But does this make photographs better?

If you choose and compose a shot for the lighting, the contrast between light and shade, for an etheral high-key look or moody low-key, why mess it up later with your RAW processing? Is it the urge to placate the silent rebuke of your clipped histogram, or a persistent memory of camera club judges insisting on detail in the shadows and the highlights?

Perhaps the most telling point is that if I go back later and compare my in-camera JPEGs with my processed RAW versions, the RAW files have a wider tonal range and more editing potential from a technical standpoint, but very often it’s the JPEGs, for all their flaws, that capture the spirit of what I was trying to achieve.

What I would suggest is, don’t stop shooting RAW, but shoot JPEGs at the same time – and take a long, hard look at both sets of images later to see which captures your subject best. Not technically, but creatively.

RAW files are great for getting you out of a hole where you’ve shot with the wrong settings, or for trying out a dozen different editing styles on the same images.

But maybe – just saying – it might be better to hone your camera work so that you don’t need the safety net of RAW files. And maybe it’s better to commit to a style at the moment of shooting when you match your photographic approach to that style – and then stick to it.

Maybe shoot RAW+JPEG with the aim of keeping the JPEGs and having the RAWs as backups? I'll try anything if it brings me back to being a photographer, not a digital dabbler.

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Leica has announced a new strategic partnership with Capture One, strengthening the relationship between two brands long associated with high-end image creation. The collaboration focuses on delivering a faster, more reliable and deeply integrated tethered shooting experience for Leica photographers, whether they’re working in a controlled studio environment or shooting on location under pressure.

At the heart of the partnership is a tighter connection between Leica cameras and Capture One’s professional workflow system. The integration offers direct, stable, high-speed tethering, giving photographers instant image transfer, accurate Live View, and real-time adjustments as they shoot.

It’s designed to support the level of precision and consistency demanded by working professionals, while also bringing Capture One’s renowned colur handling and Leica-optimized profiles directly into the workflow. The result is a tethering and editing experience that mirrors Leica’s commitment to craftsmanship and image quality, from the moment of capture to the final grade.

To introduce the partnership, Leica and Capture One are launching a new Trial Program that offers Leica customers three months of complimentary access to Capture One’s All-in-One plan. The trial allows users to explore the full Leica-ready workflow, including tethered shooting, color refinement, and detailed post-production tools. Leica photographers can register at https://club.leicacamera.com to receive their three-month licence and setup guide.

“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Capture One following our initial agreement. Capture One remains the best tethering solution on the market, and together we’re enabling Leica photographers to experience the most reliable and seamless tethered workflow available today,” says Nico Koehler, Head of Product Experience at Leica Camera AG.

Mathieu Bourlion, Director of Product Management at Capture One, adds:

“Leica has a long and distinguished legacy of shaping the art of photography for over a century. We’re proud to continue this collaboration by bringing our world-class tethering and workflow solutions to Leica image creators. Together, we’re supporting the next generation of photographers to carry that 100-year tradition forward, with greater speed, precision, and creative freedom.”

This renewed partnership marks a meaningful step forward for both companies, offering Leica users a streamlined, professional-grade workflow backed by tools designed to match the brand’s heritage of excellence.

DxO has launched a raft of updates for a trio of its latest photo editing software suites: PhotoLab 9, PureRAW 5, and Nik Collection 8. The Parisian outfit’s had a busy few months, what with the release of both PhotoLab 9 and FilmPack 8 in September, and now, users of DxO’s mainline trio of software can benefit from a range of updates and tweaks, including enhanced AI Masks in PhotoLab 9, a new non-destructive PureRAW workflow in Adobe Photoshop, and a range of new paper textures in the Nik Collection 8’s Analog Efex. Scroll down to find a more detailed breakdown of all that and more.

PhotoLab 9.2 updates

PhotoLab 9 enjoys the biggest raft of updates, chief of which is “significant improvements” to the software’s AI-powered masking tools. AI Masks allows users to form automatic AI masking selections almost instantly. PhotoLab 9.2 is said to improve on this process further, thanks to “improved matting and an upgraded sensibility threshold for cleaner, more accurate edges around complex subjects.” All this amounts to masks that DxO is calling “smarter, faster, and more intuitive than ever.”

That’s not all. PhotoLab 9.2 also provides users with the ability to reorder masks and sub-masks, while also adding sequential numbers to mask duplicates, in a bid to make edits with complex masking structures easier to organize and navigate.

Three new PhotoLibrary filters have also been added in a bid to improve file management and image curation. Users can now filter libraries via Unedited Images, Edited Images, and Edited Images featuring Local Corrections. Finally, PhotoLab 9.2 for Windows gets an improved History panel, which is already available on macOS. This allows the panel to remember each step of an edit, even after PhotoLab is closed and reopened.

DxO PureRAW 5.5 updates

DxO is calling PureRAW 5’s new smart filter integration a “minor” update, but as somebody who often uses a combination of masks and the Camera Raw Filter within Photoshop to produce non-destructive edits, it certainly has the potential to redefine my workflow.

Smart filter integration allows the user to edit an image in PureRAW 5, then open that image in Photoshop as a smart filter. By clicking on the smart filter, the user is transported back into PureRAW 5, whereby they can apply any further edits, which will then be applied to the smart filter in Photoshop. If you’ve ever made use of the Camera Raw Filter within Photoshop, this is a similar workflow.

Nik Collection 8.2 updates

The Nik Collection 8 update concerns the software’s Analog Efex plug-in, which is used to apply vintage film effects to digital imagery. In version 8.2, DxO has added 30 paper surface textures, from fine-art matte to watercolor finishes, inspired by traditional photographic, artistic, and antique papers.

According to DxO, these textures provide photographs with “unique depth, tactility, and character.” While also letting “users add subtle atmosphere or bold artistic style with just a few clicks.” The software also allows users to tweak each paper effect via different blend modes, altering the intensity and tonal integration.

All three updates are available on compatible Windows and macOS machines now, with each software also offering a free trial so you can try before you buy.

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Almost three years after the launch of Affinity Photo 2, Canva has launched Affinity Studio, which is available to download now. Affinity CEO, Ash Hewson, is calling the new design suite – not just photo editing software – “A fully reimagined professional design app that unites photo editing, vector design, and layout tools in one powerful platform.” And what’s more, it’s “completely free”. I certainly didn't see that one coming!

Affinity looks set to take a leaf out of Canva’s book by implementing a free model. And it really is free. As Hewson told the crowd live from Australia at the Canva Keynote speech: "We're proud to announce that the all-new Affinity is entirely free, forever, for everyone (...) This isn’t a stunt; it is a statement. A commitment to your creative freedom." He continued: “Affinity is free forever because creatives deserve better.”

As it stands, the only paid element is the newly launched Canva AI Studio that lives within Affinity Studio. This AI-powered feature is available to users with a paid Canva account that allows AI access.

That’s certainly a bold new direction for the Adobe alternative, but it’s a direction that’s served Canva very well indeed. While addressing the crowd at the keynote speech, Canva founder and COO, Cliff Obrecht, revealed that the total number of designs created in Canva has now reached 40 billion! That’s 433 designs per second. And with a bold new visual direction comes a bold new brand design and visual identity for Affinity. Hewson is keen to point out that Affinity’s latest iteration was “built in close collaboration with its community of creators”, but also acknowledges the fact that change can raise questions among existing users.

To that, he points out: “While the all-new Affinity has been reimagined, it still feels instantly familiar (...) The tools, workflows, and precision you rely on are all here – refined but not replaced.” That’s great news for the Affinity faithful, but what’s going to attract new users?

For starters, it certainly appears as though Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher have all been resigned to the history book, with Affinity Studio providing an all-in-one solution, putting vectors, photography, and layout tools under one roof.

My first thought was: Great, sounds impressive. My second thought was: Hmm, the interface could get very busy. But it seems like Affinity has thought of that, too, because a headline feature is customization.

“Creatives can mix and match tools from the Vector, Pixel, and Layout studios to build a workspace that fits their unique process,” says Hewson. “Rearrange panels, choose the tools you need, remove the ones you don’t, and save multiple setups for different projects or tasks.” What’s more, you can share your custom studios, which is great news for collaborators and teams.

As you might have already guessed, artificial intelligence has a big part to play in the next generation of Affinity, too. The software is set to include intelligent tools such as Smart Selections, live filters, and batch processing. As previously mentioned, users with Canva premium access can also make use of Canva’s AI tools, such as Generative Fill, Expand & Edit, and Remove Background, all within Affinity Studio’s interface via the new Canva AI Studio.

As always, copyright and privacy are concerns when dealing with AI. Hewson says that “your creative work will always remain yours. Canva AI features are built with privacy and control in mind, ensuring that your creative work in Affinity stays secure, runs on the user’s device, and work is not accessed to train AI features.” Clearly, the worlds of Affinity and Canva are set to collide in a way we’ve never seen before, so it makes sense that you can export Affinity projects into Canva, too.

All these tasty new features aren’t worth much if the software isn’t optimized. To meet the demands of this ambitious new software, I’m told it’s built on a high-performance engine and can handle real-time adjustment updates, instant previews, and detailed edits at 10,000,000% zoom (literally, that's no joke!) to thousands of layers. “It’s ultra-fast, super-smooth, and precise down to the last pixel.”

What about Canva?

Affinity is now intrinsically linked with Canva, and it’s not just Affinity that’s enjoying a revamp. Canva has released a plethora of new enhancements, too. Here’s what I’m most interested in.

Canva has launched Canva Video 2.0, a content-creator-focused video editor with no paywall and no watermarks. A headline new update is a new timeline, but the software also features AI voice-overs, smarter animations, volume balancing, instant edits, as well as access to Canva's creative library of assets.

Canva’s AI has been used over 22 billion times. It’s partnered with AI giants OpenAI, Black Forest Labs, Google, and now Leonardo AI. Today, Canva has revealed a world-first AI launch, the Canva Design Model. Canva Founder, Cameron Adams, says, “it can create a fully editable Canva design in seconds.” Once the content generation is finished, you can head in yourself and tweak it manually. Canva Design Model isn’t just accessible in Canva, but also in ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Other AI additions include AI Where You Work, which is AI integration across Canva itself, so everyday tools that you use are now boosted by artificial intelligence. As it was put in the keynote speech, “AI is being integrated into Canva throughout.”

And in a world first, the design software giant is also introducing Ask Canva. This is essentially an AI agent/chatbot that you can communicate with to give you advice. But what’s most impressive about this addition is that the advice it gives you is specific to the design that you’re working on.

Affinity Studio is available to download now. Stay tuned for the upcoming Digital Camera World review.

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Affinity, the software developer behind the popular Affinity Photo, has temporarily halted all sales of its software ahead of “big changes.” In a banner posted on its website and posts to social media, Affinity announced an October 30 launch event while removing all software sales from its website.

“True creative freedom is just around the corner,” Affinity’s post reads. The announcement was paired with a graphic that says “Creative freedom is coming. See it first. October 30.” In an email to subscribers, Affinity adds, “This isn’t just another update. It’s the beginning of something new. A shift in how creative freedom is defined.”

The social media announcement comes with the absence of the option to purchase any Affinity's three key creative software programs –  Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher – on the company’s website. “We’re making space for what’s next,” the company commented on social media. “This short pause lets us transition cleanly without confusion between versions. Existing customers keep full access to their apps. This only affects new purchases and trials.”

The announcement – and missing software from its website – has created a flurry of speculation online among photographers and designers. Several commenters beg the program to stay with its perpetual license format, noting that it's a key advantage over subscription-based competitors. Others have taken to the comments to make requests for anything from Linux support to an After Effects competitor.

Several commenters ask the software not to use AI in the update. Affinity Photo has AI-based selection tools, but in a post back in 2023 said that it was not developing any generative AI tech, noting that the company was “against anything which undermines human talent or tramples on artists’ IP. Any ML/AI features will be workflow-focused.”

Another recurring fear among commenters on the social media announcement ties in to Canva’s acquisition of Affinity in 2024, as Canva uses a subscription-based model and also integrates generative AI tools.

Removing the option to purchase software ahead of a new launch isn’t a common move, although preventing new users from making a purchase only to have a new version out may make sense for perpetual licenses.

Affinity directs fans to watch its social media channels for teasers of what’s coming, along with signing up for email updates to stay updated on the latest.

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Summer is over, which means an end to the lovely warm weather and vibrant lighting conditions, but what if you’re working on a project that requires a summery look? Well, I’m going to show you how you can inject some mid-June vibes back into your outdoor portraits. In fact, with the right gradients in Affinity Photo, you can theme your portraits for any season you like.

One of the problems with shooting outside is that you don’t want the subject squinting in the light. You can remedy this by backlighting them, but then you have the problem of the subject looking dull. Don’t worry, though, I’ll also show you how to fix that with lighting effects to go with the color gradients.

How to use gradients in Affinity Photo to fake seasonal lighting

1. Make a gradient

Load the image you want to make summery and then duplicate that layer, calling the new one ‘Lighting’. Then go to Layer > New Fill Layer and click and hold in the top-left corner of the image. Drag and release near the bottom corner. You will now have a new layer called ‘Fill’ that’s a black-and-white gradient.

2. Add some color

On the top-left are the details for the gradient. Click on the mono gradient patch and then click on the control point at the white end to select it. Then click on the Color box and select a nice yellow, which will go in the sky area. Repeat the process for the black control point and use a warm red colour.

3. Blend and Lighten

Change the blend mode of the ‘Fill’ layer to Overlay and reduce the opacity to 50%-75%, depending on how much of an effect you want. Then select the ‘Lighting’ layer and go to Filters > Lighting. Change the Type to Point and place it just on the shoulder of the subject – in your images, either put it on the brightest point or on the subject.

4. Tweak the settings

There are a lot of parameters to play with here; the important thing is to overexpose the light. Also, add yellow as the Specular color and a reddish-pink as the Ambient light. Keep the main light color as white. Use the Distance slider to increase the coverage over most of the subject. Click Apply and reduce the layer opacity if required.

5. Finish up and try a different season

Merge your layers and save to finish. Now, as mentioned, this is fine for bringing back summer, but how about adding a green-yellow gradient for spring, or a brown-orange one for fall and a blue one for winter? Just change the gradient to give a seasonal feel to your outdoor portraits.

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There are some things you always tweak when editing landscape photos. Sure, you’ve straightened the horizon and cropped that dodgy looking bloke out of the corner of the photo, but the color, contrast and sharpening adjustments tend to be very similar, making them ideal to implement as macros. That’s just the start though, because whatever ideas you can come up with, you can create and save a macro of it to use later. That’s what we’re doing here, starting with those basic landscape edits, which are all created as adjustment layers so they can be tweaked for each individual image.

1 Work it out

Rather than loading a photo, correcting things and then deciding you want to create a macro halfway through, it’s best to have a clear plan of what filters or adjustment layers you’re going to use and write down the settings used. Then go to Window> Macro and move it from the left side to a more useful size.

2 Begin recording

Click on the red button in the Macro panel to start recording then go to Layer> New Live Filter Layer> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask. Enter values of Radius: 30px, Factor: 0.5, Threshold: 1%. Then click on the X in the corner of the palette to close. Next is colour so go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Vibrance.

3 Finish the edits

Enter value of Vibrance: 40% and Saturation: 20%. Close and then go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves. Put in three control points and create an S-shape to boost the contrast. You should now have three basic adjustments that can be edited later. Click on the Stop Recording icon.

4 Save your macro

In the Macro palette, click on the Add to Library icon. Enter a name for the action that reflects what it does then click on OK. It will now appear in the Library where it can be activated with one click. The adjustment layers can all have their parameters tweaked so if something causes highlight clipping you can reduce the effect.

Loading and saving macros

To export the macro that you’ve created, click on the Export Macro icon which is next to the Add to Library icon. In the file browser that appears, give the macro a descriptive name and save in a notable location. Next to this is the Load Macro icon. Click on this, navigate to the macro you want to load and click on it and then on Open.

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As an ugly, geeky kid who boasted sticky-out buck teeth and a full moustache at the ripe old age of seven, I've always known that people are worth more than their appearances might suggest. "It's not what you look like, it's what you are", my mother used to tell me, and though my seven-year-old tormentors didn't seem to believe this, it's an adage I've carried with me throughout my life.

Until, that is, I became a photographer. Of course I don't think ugly people are less worth my while than beautiful people – in fact, the reverse can often be true, especially when 'pretty privilege' means the beautiful coast through life and don't develop their personalities as a result. But I can't deny that, as a snapper, I prefer working with photogenic clients - and that when I get a truly physically unattractive client, my heart sinks a little.

It is, unfortunately, much easier to take photos of attractive people. As my teenage daughter might say, "Well, duh!" but this is for many reasons, and not always the obvious.

Firstly, aesthetically pleasing clients tend not to panic about photo shoots, because they've constantly been told how hot they are. So they tend not to lament their appearance, frantically reapply their makeup, repeatedly check their reflection, ask for reassurance or constantly ask to see the photos on the camera screen. This saves a lot of time.

Secondly, they're more likely to know how to pose. Maybe it's self-assurance, maybe it's practice from taking endless selfies for Instagram, but they don't look as awkward in front of the lens as their less physically blessed counterparts.

Thirdly, they're far easier to take good photos of (of course), quicker to retouch, and more fun to edit. If you have to spend hours looking at someone, it might as well be someone worth looking at. Nature is cruel, and people with big eyes, clear skin and symmetrical features are always going to be more pleasurable to stare at as a photographer.

However, there doesn't seem to be any rule that says attractive people are easier to work with or won't request a million photo edits.

I had a terrible experience with a perfectly nice-looking client who demanded five rounds of pointless and vague edits such as "Make me look natural but also glam" and "Adjust my eyelids" (with no further directions). At this point, I put my foot down and refused to do any more work, rather than bellow, "What do you mean, woman, adjust your eyelids HOW?!" They then apologised for the numerous edit requests, and said, "I thought it was all included in the price". I'm not sure how to price up 'endless frustration'...

What about the effect of AI, and the effect on you?

But, aside from the shoots and retouching being easier with attractive clients, photography and AI photography apps seem to have had a detrimental effect on my brain.

These days, when I look at someone, I mentally work out how I'd retouch them – 'Oh, I'd use the healing brush on that mole', 'I'd make their nose smaller', 'I'd whiten their brown teeth', etc.

To be fair, I also do this to myself, focusing on the acne scars on my chin, wrinkles on my forehead, and the trilogy of moles on my left cheek.

So I do worry that being a photographer has made me focus more on people's beauty (or the lack of it), because my USP as a shooter is making people look better in portraits – and you can only do that if you work out how to fix what's 'wrong' with their appearance.

I have to keep reminding myself: "It's not what you look like, it's what you are."

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There are some things you always tweak when editing landscape photos. Sure, you’ve straightened the horizon and cropped that dodgy looking bloke out of the corner of the photo, but the color, contrast and sharpening adjustments tend to be very similar, making them ideal to implement as macros. 

A macro is simply a series of commands, keystrokes, and mouse actions that are recorded and can be played back to automate repetitive tasks. On a Mac, macros are known as Actions.

Basic image adjustments are just the start though, because whatever ideas you can come up with, you can create and save a macro of it to use later. That’s what we’re doing here, starting with those basic landscape edits, which are all created as adjustment layers so they can be tweaked for each individual image. 

I'm using Affinity Photo 2 - but macros will work with whatever photo editing software you use.

1. Work it out

Rather than loading a photo, correcting things and then deciding you want to create a macro halfway through, it’s best to have a clear plan of what filters or adjustment layers you’re going to use and write down the settings used. Then go to Window> Macro and move it from the left side to a more useful size.

2. Begin recording

Click on the red button in the Macro panel to start recording then go to Layer> New Live Filter Layer> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask. Enter values of Radius: 30px, Factor: 0.5, Threshold: 1%. Then click on the X in the corner of the palette to close. Next is color so go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Vibrance.

3. Finish the edits

Enter value of Vibrance: 40% and Saturation: 20%. Close and then go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves. Put in three control points and create an S-shape to boost the contrast. You should now have three basic adjustments that can be edited later. Click on the Stop Recording icon.

4. Save your macro

In the Macro palette, click on the Add to Library icon. Enter a name for the action that reflects what it does then click on OK. It will now appear in the Library where it can be activated with one click. The adjustment layers can all have their parameters tweaked so if something causes highlight clipping you can reduce the effect.

5. Loading and saving Macros

To export the Macro that you’ve created, click on the Export Macro icon which is next to the Add to Library icon. In the file browser that appears, give the Macro a descriptive name and save in a notable location. Next to this is the Load Macro icon. Click on this, navigate to the Macro you want to load and click on it and then on Open.

Sometimes the photo you take just doesn't live up to the dramatic spectacle that you experienced when you took it. Fortunately Affinity Photo has a range of color grading tools that can bring the drama back and give an image much more impact. How much you use of each one largely depends on the qualities of the image that you are processing, but put them all together and any image can be significantly enhanced. In this tutorial, weíll be looking at color balance, HSL shifts and split toning.

1. Adjust the brightness

The first step is to get the brightness right across the image. Here the shadows are a bit too dark so needed brightening. All these adjustments are in the Photo Persona so firstly go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Shadows/Highlights. Increase the brightness of the shadows. Then use a Curves adjustment layer to add more contrast using an S-shape.

2. Start coloring

Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Color Balance. Select the Shadows from the Tonal Range list. Now, increase the cyan and blue tones to give those areas a much more cooler feel. Then select the Highlights from the Tonal Range list and increase the red and yellow elements. As these are adjustment layers you can always come back later and tweak them.

3. Increase the saturation

Time to boost individual colors with a HSL adjustment layer. Select a specific color and use the color Picker tool to click on the precise color itself. Increase the Saturation Shift to give it more saturation but be careful not to introduce color noise. If you want to change the colors, such as making the white more yellow, then use the Hue Shift slider.

4. Use split toning

The final adjustment can have the most dramatic effect. Add a Split Toning adjustment layer and then use the Highlights Hue to tweak the overall coloring of the highlights and use the Highlights Saturation to add more red/yellow. Do the same with the Shadows Hue and Saturation sliders for more cyan/blue. Use the Balance slider to weight the image to one or the other.

Final look and feel

All of these adjustments are editable layers so if you're not quite happy with the overall effect, or you want to try different styles, simply go back in and click on the adjustment effect icon in the layers palette to tweak the settings. If you save the project as an Affinity file you can create more variations later. Simply export the ones you like as JPEG/TIFs.

Architecture photography thrives on detail – whether you're capturing the clean lines of a modern skyscraper or the weathered textures of a centuries-old façade. While a single exposure might seem sufficient at first, it often fails to do justice to the full dynamic range and complexity of the scene. That's where advanced editing techniques like HDR (high dynamic range) come into play.

That said, HDR has a bit of a notorious rep; we've all seen those overcooked, surreal images online that give you goosebumps for all the wrong reasons. When pushed too far, HDR can ruin the subtlety that makes a photo compelling. But when applied with care and restraint – especially in black-and-white architecture photography – it can add incredible depth, texture, and tonal range that a single exposure simply can't match.

Tools like Affinity Photo 2.0 make it easy to merge exposures and reveal the hidden character in both contemporary and historical structures, without falling into the trap of over-editing.

HDR architecture photography: before and after

Tutorial

1. Prepare and select

After shooting your images, connect your memory card to your device and create a folder with the image series you want to merge. Open Affinity Photo 2.0 and open the File option from the bar along the top. Select the New HDR merge option and add the images you want to merge.

2. Control the merge

Affinity offers a few supporting functions to help you create a clean merge process. Activate Automatically align images on Perspective, Automatically remove ghosts, and Tone map HDR image. When working with JPEGs, tick the Noise reduction box if there is image noise evident.

3. Choose a preset

Affinity will now automatically create an HDR merge. When the program has finished, you will find some preset suggestions in the left bar, click through the options to see the differences. Here, I selected the high-contrast black-and-white option as it highlights the architectural details.

4. Fine-tune settings

To the right, there are various sliders you can use to fine-tune the result. Start by adjusting the Tone Compression and Local Contrast. Next, focus on Shadows and Highlights, followed by Detail Refinement and Curves. The HDR effect is strong in itself, so take care when adjusting these settings.

5. Crop and retouch

In some instances, the merger may leave ghosts, especially if there were people present in the frame. We used the Automatically remove ghosts feature, but it didn’t completely eliminate them. Use the Inpainting Brush Tool or the Crop feature to clean up those areas for a more focused result.

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