The impact of technology on various sectors and industries must be balanced. This includes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve and facilitate several activities that have been done manually. One such impact is the use of AI in photography. AI has also been employed in photography to reduce and improve photo editing through generating, enhancing, or manipulating images using inputs like text, voice, or other images, thus saving time and effort and even producing better photo editing outcomes.
Despite the need to learn essential natural light portrait photography techniques, photographers also need to master the skill of photo editing to enhance their portrait photos and give them the best appearances despite the poor light conditions. Photoshop is considered the industry’s standard for photo editing. It can be used for post-processing actions such as photo enhancement, digital art creation, transforming images, and creating logos, flyers, and other graphic design tools.
The employment of AI in the editing process allows the software to perform specific tasks or solve problems in photo editing that would normally require human intelligence more efficiently.
Understanding AI-Driven Editing
Much has been said about the technological impact of AI on photography. AI-driven photo editing involves using artificial intelligence for photo processing using tools such as filters, effects, enhancements, etc., to make them more striking and catchy to the eyes. This technology allows the photographer to achieve complex edits faster and more easily with less human intervention. Some key features that make this possible are AI photo enhancer, AI background remover, AI object remover, AI image generator, AI portrait retouching, and AI photo effects. Other benefits of this technological application in Photoshop include:
- It saves time and effort for photographers
- Improves image quality
- Allows photographers to be more creative and expressive
- It makes photo editing more accessible and affordable by providing various easy-to-use tools that produce even better results.
Enhancing Image Quality with AI
Photoshop can be used to improve photo quality using AI-driven image enhancement. This involves using AI algorithms to automatically improve image appearance and quality by tweaking photo aspects such as contrast, sharpness, and noise. AI algorithms can use machine learning and deep learning techniques to analyze and enhance photo images faster and even better than human editors, giving them a professional touch. This is particularly beneficial to novice photographers and beginners.
Noise in photography refers to random variation of pixels that reduces the details and clarity of images. Factors that can cause image noise include low light, compression, sensor size, etc. AI uses advanced algorithms to adjust the effects of these factors and remove noise in images while still preserving elements such as edges, colour, and texture, thus producing much cleaner and more vivid images than the traditional method of photo editing. In addition, AI algorithms in Photoshop can perform many complex tasks that can be very difficult or impossible to do manually, such as noise reduction, image sharpening, and generating realistic content.
Furthermore, photoshop employs AI to remove blur in images which can lead to a loss of focus or detail and reduce image quality. It uses advanced algorithms to sharpen the images by enhancing the edges and details of images to make them look less blurry and sharper while also avoiding artefacts such as ringing, halos, or over-sharpening. AI-based image enhancement generally allows photographers to improve image quality and appearance, achieving professional-level results with greater ease and less time.
AI-Assisted Retouching and Restoration
Facial retouching, object removal, and photo restoration are other ways photographers enhance their photos in Photoshop. This can also be achieved with the help of AI algorithms. Using complex algorithms, AI Photoshop editing allows various facial retouching and portrait enhancement tasks by analyzing the face structure and skin tone of the subject and applying necessary adjustments such as smoothening the skin, whitening the teeth, applying make-up, removing blemishes, and adjusting facial features for a more natural and attractive image.
Photographers can also use AI-powered Photoshop to remove unwanted elements in their photos and customize them to their taste and style, with AI-powered object removal and background manipulation tool. In addition to removing unwanted elements, they can replace them with more fitting ones. AI algorithms can distinguish between foreground and background elements in the photos, enabling the photographer to remove them in a single click while also manipulating the background as desired to suit the photo’s mood.
Another powerful application of AI algorithms in photo editing is restoring old and damaged photos. With AI, photographers can automatically fix photodamage such as tears, decolourization, fading, and stains. These AI tools employ advanced algorithms to scan old photos and repair and restore them to their original quality. They can even be used to improve the quality of an old image better the original quality.
Creative AI-Driven Effects and Styles
Another powerful application of AI in Photoshop is the application of artistic styles and filters to photos, creating stunning images unique to the photographer’s style. AI technology allows photographers to transform their pictures into various styles, watercolour, sketch, cartoon, etc., by analyzing the style of a reference image, such as a painting and applying it to another photo, such as a portrait or landscape photo. This technology also allows them to choose from different effects to customize their photos to their desired level of stylization.
Furthermore, through image manipulation and surreal effects, AI allows photographers to create surreal images by adding or replacing various photo elements and generating new content. Using generative models, AI learns from large data sets of images to produce realistic pictures from voice or text prompts.
The Future of AI-Driven Editing
The evolution of AI technologies over the years has been rapid and very impactful, even in photography. Some of the things possible now with the technology cannot be achieved years back, and even the ones that could be achieved would take much more time and effort. With AI technology in Photoshop, photographers can now capture, edit, and enhance photos more efficiently and creatively with greater ease and less time, thus enabling them to create better possibilities and improve their use of photography as a means of communication and self-expression.
This is possible through various automated photo editings tools such as image enhancement, image manipulation and surreal effects, and facial retouching. These technological innovations have added a new dimension to photography, allowing for better creativity while producing more exciting and professional-level photos with less stress. Several AI tools have emerged and helped photographers achieve even more in their photography careers. Some examples include Adobe Photoshop CC, Luminar AI, Stable Diffusion, Chat GPT, etc.
With the impact of this technology in Photoshop editing already, it promises to be even more impactful in the coming years. Some of the predictions for the future of AI-driven editing in Photoshop are:
- It promises to be more powerful and accurate using machine learning and other advanced learning techniques to analyze and manipulate images.
- It promises to be more user-friendly and accessible, with personalized recommendations, one-click actions, and intuitive interfaces.
- It will offer a wider range of realistic and artistic effects, filters, and styles, allowing photographers to be more creative.
- Promises to encourage better sharing, feedback, etc., making it more collaborative and ethical.
Conclusion
On a final note, AI-driven editing in Photoshop helps users to achieve professional-level results with minimal stress and quicker time through various tools that help execute actions such as image enhancement, image removal, facial retouching, background removal, image manipulation, etc.
However, AI-driven editing, in general, poses some issues about the ownership, privacy, consent, and credibility of the edited images. Thus, this very powerful and innovative technology must be used ethically and responsibly.