JUST A few days ago, Adobe dropped major new releases for both Lightroom and Photoshop. I don't really use Lightroom, so I don't cover it here. The newest version of Photoshop, though, was released on April 27 and contains just a few new features - but they are features with a pretty big impact on post-processing in PS.
LIKE JUST about all computer-science related phenomena, new features and processes are being released more and more quickly. When I first acquired Photoshop, it was stand-alone software that you loaded onto your computer and used locally. Updates were offered bi-annually (sometimes annually). Today, it seems like major version changes continue to be offered annually, but incremental updates both in the beta version and the full version of the cloud-based software are offered incrementally, without any particular timeline, but recently several times a year.
A Short History of Photoshop Updates
A lot has happened in the computing world during that roughly 20-year span, including significant updating of desktop computer technology and specifications, laptop and then tablet style computers and the cell-phone revolution's perhaps most significant addition to all of this: the so-called "smart phone." At the same time, perhaps the most momentous computer technology of a couple generations became available to the public in 1993: the internet ("world wide web"). Like desktop computers, the interface with the internet at that time was quite rudimentary by todays graphical user interface standards. But it was nonetheless revolutionary for the way it changed how we communicate. This included the ability to "share" digital photo files freely. While at first, we communicated digitally by hard wire connections, we quickly had wifi and bluethooth and cell phone networks.
Photoshop (ver. 1) was first released as a program for the Apple McIntosh personal desktop computer in 1991 (I jumped on a few years later with version 3, I believe, and by that time it was running on the PC as well). It seems to me that updates to the program happened every couple years or so, through version 7.0. Many of us hobbyists developed a pattern of only upgrading every other version. While each update brought useful (and often amazing) "improvements," we still felt that we could get along without them until there were enough cumulative additions to feel like we could justify the cost of upgrading. With version 8.0, Adobe changed the naming/numbering scheme, so 8.0 was Photoshop CS (which stood for "Creative Suite" - and about that time, Adobe started offering/bundling some of their other software that seemed related to the processes Photoshop users found useful). Photoshop CS continued the every couple years pattern, through CS6 (ver. 13) in 2012.
In 2007, Adobe introduced Lightroom, a newer, more streamlined processing software aimed at the more limited audience of photographers only. Photoshop was - and remains - one of the premier graphics editing and creating softwares for graphic artists of all times. Nonetheless, serious photographers immediately embraced it, in spite of the "light" photo-editing versions available (primarily Adobe Photoshop Elements). The consumer software just didn't provide sophisticated enough tools for heavy photo-editing. But they worked fine for lest robust editing, were simpler to learn, and much less expensive to acquire. Eventually, Elements gave way to Lightroom, which continued to be less expensive and at the outset was also less complex. Lightroom created a brand new interface that was much more intuitive for photographers (and has basically been copied by many of the quite capable competitor programs out there today). Aimed squarely at photographers, Lightroom incorporated a relational database for cataloging, keywording, and otherwise organizing photographic digital files, making it more of an all-in-one program. Although it has come light years forward since first released, it still doesn't have several of the processing tools that I have come to find indispensible to my own workings, and for that reason, I have never fully embraced it. There may come a day - but not yet.
Adobe, of course, had to adapt Photoshop to the emerging technologies (world wide web, cloud, etc.) mentioned above. By 2012, "the cloud" had become a ubiquitous way for computer users and networks to store and save files, and even to run executable programs from a cloud server. The software models of releasing a hard update that had to be loaded on computers (more or less) individually have, for the most part, become a thing of the past as providers now distribute their programs as licensed use cloud-based software. Like much change, there are pros and cons. In most cases, a user can no longer own their own current version, stand-alone copy of a software program. They are now essentially "renting" them. Some find that to be a significant negative. At the same time, it has made the process of pushing out new features, upgrades and fixes much more efficient. Adobe, like most other providers, got on the bandwagon in 2013, discontinuing the standalone software for PS at CS6. The next iteration was solely cloud - based (Now Photoshop "Creative Cloud"). At first there was a fair amount of push back from seasoned and long-time users. But over a relatively short couple years, I think most of us have embraced the CC versions, finding that improvements, new features and the like are nearly immediately available and cost nothing other than your annual subscription cost. It means we don't have to wait until we think the time to upgrade is right, to have a cool new feature.
At first it seemed like updates and new features were rolled out roughly semi-annually, maybe quarterly. But in the last couple years (particularly with the proliferation of "AI", it seems like those new features come more and more frequently, sometimes as frequently as monthly. PS also has a freely downloable beta version which can be run concurrently with with your official copy which gets them even sooner and lets beta users be the testing ground. For the most part I have viewed this as a great feature! lately, my little "udate available" icon on my PC seems to be lit up in red every week, in some instance more than once a week. Actual version and sub-version changes are less frequent, with full version releases happening roughly annually.
Photoshop (ver. 1) was first released as a program for the Apple McIntosh personal desktop computer in 1991 (I jumped on a few years later with version 3, I believe, and by that time it was running on the PC as well). It seems to me that updates to the program happened every couple years or so, through version 7.0. Many of us hobbyists developed a pattern of only upgrading every other version. While each update brought useful (and often amazing) "improvements," we still felt that we could get along without them until there were enough cumulative additions to feel like we could justify the cost of upgrading. With version 8.0, Adobe changed the naming/numbering scheme, so 8.0 was Photoshop CS (which stood for "Creative Suite" - and about that time, Adobe started offering/bundling some of their other software that seemed related to the processes Photoshop users found useful). Photoshop CS continued the every couple years pattern, through CS6 (ver. 13) in 2012.
In 2007, Adobe introduced Lightroom, a newer, more streamlined processing software aimed at the more limited audience of photographers only. Photoshop was - and remains - one of the premier graphics editing and creating softwares for graphic artists of all times. Nonetheless, serious photographers immediately embraced it, in spite of the "light" photo-editing versions available (primarily Adobe Photoshop Elements). The consumer software just didn't provide sophisticated enough tools for heavy photo-editing. But they worked fine for lest robust editing, were simpler to learn, and much less expensive to acquire. Eventually, Elements gave way to Lightroom, which continued to be less expensive and at the outset was also less complex. Lightroom created a brand new interface that was much more intuitive for photographers (and has basically been copied by many of the quite capable competitor programs out there today). Aimed squarely at photographers, Lightroom incorporated a relational database for cataloging, keywording, and otherwise organizing photographic digital files, making it more of an all-in-one program. Although it has come light years forward since first released, it still doesn't have several of the processing tools that I have come to find indispensible to my own workings, and for that reason, I have never fully embraced it. There may come a day - but not yet.
Adobe, of course, had to adapt Photoshop to the emerging technologies (world wide web, cloud, etc.) mentioned above. By 2012, "the cloud" had become a ubiquitous way for computer users and networks to store and save files, and even to run executable programs from a cloud server. The software models of releasing a hard update that had to be loaded on computers (more or less) individually have, for the most part, become a thing of the past as providers now distribute their programs as licensed use cloud-based software. Like much change, there are pros and cons. In most cases, a user can no longer own their own current version, stand-alone copy of a software program. They are now essentially "renting" them. Some find that to be a significant negative. At the same time, it has made the process of pushing out new features, upgrades and fixes much more efficient. Adobe, like most other providers, got on the bandwagon in 2013, discontinuing the standalone software for PS at CS6. The next iteration was solely cloud - based (Now Photoshop "Creative Cloud"). At first there was a fair amount of push back from seasoned and long-time users. But over a relatively short couple years, I think most of us have embraced the CC versions, finding that improvements, new features and the like are nearly immediately available and cost nothing other than your annual subscription cost. It means we don't have to wait until we think the time to upgrade is right, to have a cool new feature.
At first it seemed like updates and new features were rolled out roughly semi-annually, maybe quarterly. But in the last couple years (particularly with the proliferation of "AI", it seems like those new features come more and more frequently, sometimes as frequently as monthly. PS also has a freely downloable beta version which can be run concurrently with with your official copy which gets them even sooner and lets beta users be the testing ground. For the most part I have viewed this as a great feature! lately, my little "udate available" icon on my PC seems to be lit up in red every week, in some instance more than once a week. Actual version and sub-version changes are less frequent, with full version releases happening roughly annually.
THE RECENT rollout of Photoshop is ver. 27.6.0. In 2023, Adobe stopped labeling it as "CC," and now just refers to it as PS again. Here I touch on the new features in this release that I find most impressive, and more importantly, useful. Some of them are more or less full new features, while others are improvements and additions to features that have already existed in one form or another. Note the heavy emphasis these days on "AI" - powered features. There is a caveat here, in my view. At the time of this writing, you have to pay extra to access many of the AI features. The industry has developed a system for charging, which they call "credits" (Adobe refers to them as "generative credits"). My PS Creative Cloud account gives me 250 credits per month. They are not cumulative! Once I use them up, I must wait until it resets the next month (adding an additional 250), but any unused credits for the month go away when the reset occurs. Alternatively, I can purchase additional credits - in bundles (not individually) by purchasing another subscription to Adobe's AI component: Firefly. The cheapest and smallest number is an additional 2,000 credits for $9.99 per month. Hmnn. Seems like a pretty clever way to lull us into using generative AI to the point we have gotten so used to it that we think we cannot do without. Then before we know it, we are paying another $100 plus per year for our software. Be aware! The other "negative" we are not hearing much about is the environmental resource side of AI. We are seeing huge data centers cropping up all over the world these days. They are controversial, as they are often build adjacent to residential areas and they are noisy. The also consume a huge amount of energy. In addition, they produce heat, which must be disappated - usually in the form of fresh water; already a scarce resource. Some food for thought. But now on to the update.
NEW FEATURES
- Rotate Object: In my view, this is the biggest truly "new" addition. This "AI" driven feature allows you to rotate a 2-D object selected within an image. The AI component attempts to add in elements of the image/object that might have been there if you had photographed from a different perspective. I have seen it demonstrated with relatively simple object where there is not a huge amount of detail or color variations (e.g., a car). Like all of the AI being generated these days (by Firefly in PS), I am amazed at what it can do. But I am also sometimes disappointed in how it renders these AI - generated image elements. Like I have with other features, I have now played with it just a bit, using, among other things, front views of faces and have been duly impressed with how well the AI does. I have also seen it used with cars, motorcycles, etc. I have not tried it yet with a more detailed subject, like "busy" architecture. What we do know is that like all the AI I have worked with, it will get better with time. Be aware that this feature uses a substantial amount of your generative credits (20 per application), so you can see that it would be really easy to blast through your alloted (free) credits with this one..
- Remove Reflections: Perhaps the second "biggest" new feature, Remove Reflections has been out for a while, available in PS "technology previews," as a part of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). It was subsequently added to Light Room. Version 27.6.0 now adds this now as a standard feature Photoshop itself (not just ACR). However, be aware that it only works on 8-b it images! So probably best practice is to continue using this in ACR if you have a raw image. In ACR, this application will be found under "Distraction Removal" / Reflections. I did a dedicated blog post a year ago on this application when it first became available as a part of PS technology previews. At that time my opinion was that it basically wasn't "ready for prime time." Since I did a dedicated post, I won't cover it here, other than to say it is available. Instead, I will do a follow-up dedicated post in the very near future (so watch for it i the next week or so). This feature does not use generative credits.
- Remove Distractions: The next biggest change - but perhaps the one you will find most useful - is a major update to the existing "Remove Tool." Back in 2023, ver. 24.5 added the first "AI" "cloning-type tool." For years we have had the clone, healing brush, and spot healing brush tool as our primary "retouching" tool. Then Adobe added "context-aware" technology. More recently, the addition of the "Remove Tool" to the Tool Bar added the option of AI to context aware technology. The tool provides the option of no AI, AI, or let PS decide if/when AI is appropriate. As of this writing this tool does not consume generative credits. I have taken to using the Remove Tool probably 90 - 95 percent of the time instead of cloning.
In October, 2025, a feature was added to the Remove Tool, called "Find Distractions." It is found up on the Menu Bar and appears when the remove tool is selected on the Tool Bar. Originally, "Find Distractions included only "wires and cables" as a dropdown option in PS, but was also (still is) available in ACR and included both wires and cables, and people (I covered this in a separate blog on AI back in May, 2025). Then, in February, 2025, a second dropdown added a "people" feature to PS. When clicked on, these tools auto-find the subjects. It is a 2-step process with the first click on "find" finding and highlighting (selecting) the objects. A click on the checkmark on the Menu bar completes the action (second step). There is also an option to check create new layer (recommended) on the Menu bar.
The newest version (27.6.0) now adds a new dropdown choice with an even more robust removal algorithym: "General Distractions." General Distractions, auto-finds and categorizes items PS thinks may be a distraction and selects them for removal (I am not sure why, but rather than gather all these under "General Distractions," PS has left the "People", and "Wires and Cables" applications separate). The tool continues to offer the choice of AI off or AI on (or let PS decide). Up to 26 different "Distractions" can be identified in "General Distractions," like poles, urban elements, vehicles, vegetation, "visual clutter," and others. I won't try to describe them all here. Play with it. It is a very powerful tool. While the interface seems sophisticated, it really is just a selection tool. For General Distractions, each differently identified category highlights the selection in a different (customizable) color. But they are all still nothing more than selections. When the tool is active it acts as a highlighting brush and you can highlight anything you want and when you click the checkbox that will be removed along with the automatically selected items. Likewise, if you hold down your alt (option in Mac) key, the brush will be an erasor and remove highlighted areas. This creates a lot of flexibility with this tool.
At the top of the General Distractions dropdown, there is an option to "select all," which is checked by default. you can uncheck/check items to "un-hi-light" them (meaning they won't be removed if left unchecked). You can also use that option to see what each category is recognizing (or not) in the image. I find the image very cluttered when the "select all" option is checked. I prefer to uncheck the select all box and then check each category separately. I think it makes things much easier to visualize. YMMV.
Like so much of AI, this new tool certainly isn't perfect. Most of the time it does a pretty good job. Depending on your setting, you have the chance to deselect indivual object. The selections are color coded (assigned by PS, but you can customize and even brighten them). It also gives you the choice whether to save the result on a new layer. On medium to simple compositions I have been pretty amazed at how "smart" it is. On more busy images, it doesn't always do so well. On one image it did such a poor job that I ultimately reverted it and did my removal indivivually. Most of time, though, it is going to give you good results and at the very least a good start to your retouching. This is another one that might sneak up on you as far as your use of generative credits. Originally, the wires and cables only used one. But using all these above removals could very well stack and quickly exhaust your credits. I like to leave AI off on this tool and have been pretty happy with the results.
- Dynamic Text: I only use the Text tools in PS on very rare occasion, the new text features don't get me to excited. If you use text frequently, your experience (and excitement) may vary significantly. Rather than trying to comment usefully on something I don't use, here is what Google AI says: "Photoshop 27.6.0 introduces significant text engine improvements, including Dynamic Text, which allows text to flow inside custom shapes like circles, arches, and bows, moving beyond traditional rectangular bounding boxes. It also enhances Generative AI capabilities for text prompts."
- Layer Cleanup. Similarly, although I use layers frequently, most of the time they serve a temporary purpose for me and the end product doesn't usually retain them in my final images and don't use lots of them in a file, so labeling them is something I generally forego. But the new "Layer Cleanup" feature is certainly intriguing. If applied, it does two things. First, it "contextually" labels your layers. PS decides what to name them. It is, of course, customizable, so you can change the label names. "Cleanup" seems like a wonky name for that tool. But here is where that "cleanup" name probably comes from. The second thing the tool does is removes any empty layers in your file. I will probably play with those features a bit.
- Harmonize: In 2025, Adobe added this feature to PS beta. It is (yet another) AI application that is designed to use AI to automatically blend an object placed on a separate layer into an image, by adjusting light, tone, color and shadows. It is pretty powerful, and is now incorporated into the main PS program. But keep in mind that it is going to use a minimum of 5 generative credits for each "generation."
- Generative AI Models: PS has used Adobe's AI model, Firefly, for its native AI generated work. But more recently they have partnered with a couple other AI generation softwares, including Gemini, and Flux. These models now appear in a dropdown in the lower left of the dialog box and can be selected in lieu of Adobe's Firefly model, presumably giving you more choices in results, and more choice and flexibility in your prompts for generation, including the ability to add "Reference Images" (see below). Beware, however. Using these partner models will come at a significant cost of generative credits (20 for Flux and 40 for Gemini!).
- Add Reference Image: Here is one that I could see myself finding useful. I only use the PS AI tools on a very limited basis. But one that I have used a little more frequently is "Generative Expand," which is kind of a subset of the Generative Fill and Generate Image, AI features now found under the Edit dropdown in Photoshop. It is also found as an option when using the crop tool. For about 10 years now, the content aware crop option has been there, and I have found it a great tool for around the edges cropping issues. Then, in 2023, they added another option to the crop tool: Generative Expand. I have found it useful in a small handful of images where my on site composition wasn't as good as it could have been. Again, it consumes generative credits. What 27.6.0 adds now is the ability to upload reference images. Note that this only works, though, if you choose one of Adobe's "partners." The default is Adobe's "Firefly," but you have the option to use one of a couple other "partner" softwares (there is a small dropdown on the bottom left of the dialog) and upoad from 3 - 8 images of your own that the software will use as a reference to build its AI addition. There is quite a bit of customization available. I am not certain how many generative credits use of the partners will consume, but it is likely to be more than the default (which has been 1 per generation typically, for generative expand).
- Actions Panel: One final significant new addition is the expanded and improved Actions Panel. The new panel is reorganized, and offers many new "actions" that you routinely have had to do "by hand" like sharpen, resize, save as and others. It also separates Adobe Actions from your own personal actions, which remain in new separate panel. It is worth taking a look and doing some browsing.
THIS ONE was kind of a big "drop" in one update, so I thought it was worth trying to summarize. Of course all the real gurus out there will have their blogs and YouTube videos and I recommend doing some "surfing" and finding them as well as watching the videos. Lots of interesting stuff there!
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