Adobe ships Photoshop 24.5
Adobe has released Photoshop 24.5, the latest version of its image-editing and digital painting software.
The update adds the Remove Tool, a new AI-powered object removal system, plus Adjustment Presets, a new Contextual Task Bar, and improvements to the Gradient Tool.
A separate beta build of the software adds Generative Fill, a new object replacement and background-generation system powered by Firefly, Adobe’s new generative AI toolset.
Photoshop 24.5: new AI-based Remove Tool
Key changes in Photoshop 24.5 include the Remove Tool, a new AI-powered object removal tool.
It makes it possible to do quick object removals by roughly painting over the object to be removed, with Photoshop automatically generating a new section of the background to fill the gap.
The update also introduces Adjustment Presets: new presets in the Adjustments Panel intended as starting points for the looks of portraits, landscapes and black-and-white images, or when repairing photos.
Workflow improvements include new on-canvas controls and a live preview in the Gradient Tool and a new Contextual Task Bar.
New in beta: Generative Fill is the first Photoshop tool from Adobe’s Firefly generative AI toolset
However, the most headline-grabbing new feature in Photoshop is not in Photoshop 24.5 itself, but a separate beta release: Adobe has begun integrating Firefly, its new generative AI toolset, into the software.
The initial beta adds one Firefly tool, Generative Fill, which can be used to add, extend, or remove content from images using simple text prompts.
Users can select a region of an image to replace, then enter a text description of the content they would like to generate in its place, with Photoshop creating the AI-generated content as a separate layer.
As with inpainting systems in other generative AI tools, Generative Fill takes account of surrounding areas of the image, so the new content integrates seamlessly, even including reflections of surrounding objects.
However, the initial beta release comes with several limitations: it isn’t for commercial use, only works with English-language text prompts, and isn’t available to users in China, or those under the age of 18.
You can find more information on Adobe’s approach to generative AI, including how the firm is collecting images on which to train its generative AI models, in our original story on Firefly.
Pricing and system requirements
Photoshop 24.5 is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 11.0+ on a rental-only basis. In the online documentation, the update is also referred to as the May 2023 release or Photoshop 2023.5.
Photography subscription plans, which include access to Photoshop and Lightroom, start at $119.88/year. Single-app Photoshop subscriptions cost $31.49/month or $239.88/year.
Read a full list of new features in Photoshop 24.5 in the online documentation