Creative Cloud fans rejoice! Adobe Photoshop 2021 is here, and it’s bursting with brand-new features. YouTuber and editing tutorial titan PiXimperfect has released a 21-minute video, detailing 21 of the standout new features in Photoshop 2021 (see what he did there?) – and here are some of our personal favorites.
Sky Replacement is sure to prove a big hit. Taking a cue from Skylum Luminar 4, in just a few clicks you can seamlessly insert a sky preset or your own sky image. You can then refine your new backdrop via a series of dedicated sliders to adjust the lighting, color, temperature and more. When you’re done with the Sky Replacement window, the program will even split each adjustment into a series of layers and masks so that you can alter them later.
Photoshop 2021’s new Neural Filters are big news, too, and take advantage of the company’s powerful AI: Sensei. While we don't think Smart Portrait is really aimed at pro photographers, it’s a mighty impressive indication of where editing software is heading and is a whole lot of fun. Remarkably, it enables you to alter a subject’s age, hair, facial expressions and more, simply by using sliders! An Adobe Creative Cloud subscription is essential, though, as all of this data is processed in the cloud.
One of our favorite Neural Filters is Skin Smoothing. This enables you to retouch your portraits super-fast, without fiddling around with endless layers and masks. It even separates the effect onto a new layer for you, so that you can mask and refine the edit even further. The Colorize filter will appeal to anyone wanting to recolor black-and-white photos, and once again you can refine the effect to your liking via a host of options.
Other cool new features of note include Pattern Preview, which sees you to create seamless patterns from scratch (and save oodles of time in process), the Discover Panel, which is a new help function that enables you to effortlessly search Photoshop’s many features, and Live Shapes Properties, with which you can easily manipulate shapes and finally draw triangles with ease.
To find out more about Adobe Photoshop 2021’s new features, visit the brilliant PiXimperfect YouTube channel.
Read more:
The best tablets for photo editing
Best graphics tablets for photo editing
The best desktop computers for photo editing
The best ultra-wide monitors for photo editing
The best photo editing tools and accessories
