Light is the single most essential part of a great photograph – and now Photoshop is giving photographers a non-destructive layer just for light. On August 27, Adobe announced a long list of refreshes for Photoshop, including a new Light Adjustment Layer, along with new tools and more control over using AI inside the popular photo editor.
Editing light has long been a part of Photoshop’s workflow, but the addition of the Light Adjustment Layer brings several of those tools into a non-destructive layer. The new adjustment layer adds a dedicated space for adjusting exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks, with the ability to go back and tweak those controls later on.
Photoshop already has Exposure Adjustment Layer and Curves Adjustment Layer options, but the addition of the Light Adjustment Layer adds more nuanced control with the ability to also control highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks.
Unlike the curves layer, adjustments to the new Light layer use a simple set of sliders that will look immediately familiar to any photographer who has used Lightroom before.
Adobe says that the new layer delivers “Camera RAW-level results” without having to go back into Adobe’s RAW adjustment tool.
I do most of my editing in Lightroom Classic, pulling up Photoshop when I need to make more specific, fine-tuned adjustments. I’ve long had a photo open in Photoshop only to realize I still need more tweaks using Lightroom’s light-based sliders, and now Photoshop has a non-destructive tool with similar controls.
The August 2026 Photoshop update also adjusts several AI tools
The new adjustment layer launches alongside a handful of refreshes to Photoshop’s AI-based tools and interface, including updates to localized AI edits and a separate interface dedicated to prompt-based editing, a tool that’s still in beta.
First, Adobe says that Firefly Image 5 understands the photograph’s context better. Instruct Edit with Masks allows users to describe precise edits using prompts and leave the unmasked areas untouched.
Creators will also be able to draw over where Firefly should make any changes using a Markup tool. Adobe says users can now sketch arrows or brush in a rough shape for the software to recolor an area or add in new elements.
Photoshop’s prompt-based editing, which is a beta tool that allows users to describe what they want and have the GenAI assist, also now has its own separate user interface. AI-Assisted Editor is a new separate workspace from Photoshop’s usual one that creates a dedicated space for asking the chatbot for help with images.
Inside the new AI-Assisted Editor space, users can use natural language prompts to ask for help, along with using tools like background removal, generative expand, the remote tool, generative fill, and generative upscale, all in a new space built for working with AI edits.
Adobe says the usual interface will still be available using the Contextual Task Bar inside Photoshop’s usual user interface to access AI tools.
The new AI Assisted Workspace looks like it could be a simplified way for creators new to Photoshop who are using the chatbot to learn the ropes without so many daunting controls. But I do wish that Photoshop would also do the opposite and add in a master switch for turning off all Generative AI rather than adjusting each tool one-by-one.
The August 2026 update also includes an update to Dynamic Text that allows text to follow any custom shape or path, along with a new Adobe Stock panel that puts stock images into a dockable panel.
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