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Photoshop's new AI features include neural filters and sky replacement
Adobe will also suggest Quick Actions based on what you're working on.
Adobe adds split-screen multitasking to Lightroom on iPad
If you'd prefer to have a second app open on your screen while editing photos, Adobe might have just granted your wish. It's enabling split-screen multitasking in Lightroom on iPad with the app's most recent update. It's a handy addition that should bolster productivity for many, and it follows the arrival of a direct import tool on iPhone and iPad.
VSCO will discontinue its desktop photo editing presets on March 1st
VSCO is pretty well-known for its photo and video editing app, but the company has sold desktop presets as well. However, VSCO has now announced that it will shift its focus entirely towards mobile in the coming year and will, therefore, be discontinuing its desktop presets. VSCO Film will be fully discontinued starting March 1st, 2019 and users will no longer be able to download purchased preset packs, view their license keys or seek technical support from VSCO at that time.
The best gear for photo and video editing
If you do a lot of video or photo editing, the one thing you want to avoid when buying equipment is nasty surprises. A slow or badly equipped PC, laptop or tablet will be a drag on your creative process. Meanwhile, a subpar monitor or laptop display could yield videos that look shockingly different than what you saw during production. And you may miss a deadline if your machine can't render the final product quickly enough. This doesn't just apply to PCs. Adobe is planning a full version of Photoshop for the iPad, and it's developing an all-in-one video tool, Project Rush, that will work across platforms. Whichever app you choose, it's crucial to do some hardware research to ensure that your equipment will work with the app rather than against it. Luckily, we've already done a good chunk of the homework for you. Here's how to pick gear for photo and video creation, whether you've got $500 or $5,000.
Apple teaches photo editing with over-the-phone classes
Many device makers give you the tools to capture and edit great photos, but they seldom teach you how to make the most of those tools. Apple thinks it can -- and unlike in the past, you don't need to show up in person to develop your skills. The company has launched an over-the-phone training program that teaches you how to edit with Photos (both iOS and macOS) in a 30-minute one-on-one session with a specialist. It'll both show how to use simple adjustments like Auto Enhance as well as deeper edits like color balance and exposure. If you have Live Photos or Portrait mode pictures from your mobile devices, you'll learn how to edit those as well.
NVIDIA's AI fixes photos by recognizing what's missing
Most image editing tools aren't terribly bright when you ask them to fix a photo. They'll borrow content from adjacent pixels (such as Adobe's recently demonstrated context-aware AI fill), but they can't determine what should have been there -- and that's no good if you're trying to restore a decades-old photo where you know what's absent. NVIDIA might have a solution. It developed a deep learning system that restores photos by determining what should be present in blank or corrupted spaces. If there's a missing eye in a portrait, for instance, it knows to insert one even if the eye area is largely obscured.
Gnarbox's mobile video editing drive now comes in an SSD version
Gnarbox broke new ground in portable storage with its first drive, which let pros start editing photos and videos before they've reached a PC. But what if you still want something more powerful? Don't worry, you're covered: the company is crowdfunding Gnarbox 2.0, an updated version with an NVMe-based solid-state drive (instead of the previous model's basic flash storage) as its centerpiece. Hook up a camera through USB-C and you can back up your photos and videos at a rapid 450MB/s, which might set your mind at ease if you have a ton of footage to save. You'll also find a faster processor (an unnamed 2.4GHz quad-core Intel chip) and an OLED that lets you perform some backups without even needing your phone.
The best desktop photo-editing apps
Last month we covered the best mobile photo-editing apps, but if you're serious about photography you'll need more than the tools a phone or tablet can provide. Professionals rely on software from Adobe and others because of the power these programs afford them. Combined with shooting in the uncompressed RAW format, dedicated image editing suites allow you to adjust white balance, exposure, sharpness and color at a granular level. That might be a little intimidating for folks used to point-and-shoot cameras or a smartphone, but for professionals and hobbyists, this means they can reproduce the image they saw in their minds when they hit the shutters on their DSLR or mirrorless cameras. Beyond editing tools, some of these software suites also offer ways to organize and share your photos without leaving the app.
Instagram’s new feature lets you draw on your friends’ photos
Instagram released a new feature today that lets you edit pictures friends send you via direct message. Here's how it works. Once someone sends you a photo directly, tap the camera icon in the bottom of that message to reply. Then snap a picture to send back. The original picture sent to you will be included within the photo you reply with and you can then change that original photo by moving it, resizing it, drawing on it, adding stickers or adding text.
Google figured out how to flawlessly remove stock-photo watermarks
Watermarks are placed on copyrighted images like stock-photos in order to keep people from using them without permission or without paying. And manually removing them requires Photoshop skills, time and being ok with the image not looking its best post-removal. But Google has found a way around watermarks -- work it recently presented at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference.
Loupedeck's hands-on controls make you better at Lightroom
Adobe's Lightroom can do wondrous things to photos, but fiddling with a mouse can impede your speed and creativity. This is where a product called Loupedeck comes in. It's a control panel designed especially for Lightroom that lets you adjust white balance, contrast, exposure and many other settings by twiddling dials and pushing buttons instead of a mouse. It easily met its crowdfunding goals and is now a hit in retail, so I decided to try it out and see why it caught on with the photo crowd.
Affinity Photo is another powerful editing app for iPad
With the announcement of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro today at WWDC, Apple continues to push the idea that its tablet can be a feasible mobile workstation. Third-party developers have been urging the same, like Affinity Photo, piggybacked off Apple's event to release an iPad version of its professional image editing toolbox.
Google app test makes editing photos more social
Right on the heels of killing off Google Talk, the company has admitted it's working on a new app for group photo editing and sharing. While Google already has the chat app Allo and video calling app Duo, it may be feeling pressure from its competitors' similar offerings. Facebook has a similar social photo sharing app called Moments, for example, while Apple just announced its AI-powered movie editing app, Clips.
Adobe Lightroom mobile now captures RAW images in HDR mode
If you enjoy capturing high dynamic range (HDR) images with your phone, Adobe just added a new feature to Lightroom mobile that might come in handy. Starting today on both Android and iOS versions of the app, you can capture those HDR scenes as RAW files. The software automatically scans your subject to determine the ideal exposure range before snapping three photos in Adobe's DNG RAW format. Lightroom mobile will then employ algorithms to do all the aligning, merging, tone mapping and more to build the final 32-bit RAW image.
Snapseed makes it easier to add drama to your photos
Snapseed doesn't see quite the amount of updates that other Google-owned products do, but each one lately has been pretty significant. The name of the game for the latest is the addition of curves. Essentially, what this new feature does is allow manipulating things like contrast, brightness and color intensity in a given image. Oftentimes, it's one of the easiest and most dramatic ways you can edit a photo.
Photoshop is ready to put your MacBook Pro Touch Bar to work
When Apple replaced the physical function keys on the new MacBook Pro with a swipe-friendly Touch Bar, the company touted its ability to make edits with apps like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop a breeze. While the new laptop has been available for a few weeks now, today Adobe announced that its flagship photo-editing app is ready to play nice with the machine.
Adobe Lightroom update makes edits easier on desktop and iOS
Adobe brought true RAW file edits to Lightroom mobile for iOS a while back and now the company is updating the interface to make photo tweaks easier while you're on the go. First, Adobe redesigned the edit view to make it friendlier for one-hand use. This includes a slider-based UI for making adjustments and putting the tools you use most often, like showing the before and after images, where you you can get at them quickly and with one hand.
Google's new PhotoScan app makes it easy to digitize old prints
On the surface, Google Photos has a simple mission: to store all your pictures. Specifically, Google says it wants the service to be a home for all of your photos, and today that mission expanded to encompass the old photos you took on a point-and-shoot back in the '90s. The company just released an app called PhotoScan for iOS and Android, and it promises to make preserving the memories in your old printed photos much easier. Additionally, while Google was at it, it also issued several updates to its core Photos app.
Photo-editing app VSCO is turning off its sync feature today
Almost two years ago, the popular photo-editing and sharing app VSCO released a big iOS update that, among other things, brought the app to the iPad. At the same time, VSCO added a sync feature: if you imported a photo into your VSCO library and made edits on your iPhone, the same photo and edits would appear on your iPad (and vice versa). It was a handy feature, letting you make changes on the iPad's big screen while sending them to the iPhone for easy sharing to apps like Instagram. However, as of today, that sync feature is going away.
Adobe Lightroom now lets you edit RAW files on your phone
Adobe Lightroom mobile users have been asking for the ability to edit RAW files in the mobile app, and now the company doing something about the request. In the latest update for the iOS version of the software, there's a RAW Technology preview. This means that you'll be able to import those hefty files to your iPhone or iPad, giving you a means of checking the images before you get back to your computer. Lightroom mobile for iOS will also let you edit the files just like you would in the desktop or web versions of the app, making changes to white balance, highlights and more for an uncompressed file. Those changes also sync across devices.
