Summary
Photoshop is a tremendously useful tool in general, and it’s also one of the few apps I’d say has adapted well to the AI era, with a handful of small but useful AI features. We’re now getting a look at some of the additions for 2025, and there’s one in particular I’ve really been looking forward to.
Adobe has announced a slew of new features that are coming to Photoshop in beta and are, presumably, going to become available with Photoshop’s CC 2026 version later this year. For the past two years, the biggest additions to Photoshop have been AI-focused thanks to Adobe’s Firefly model, and for this year, it’s no different. We have, for example, Harmonize. This part is supposed to take the hard work out of putting together a composite image—after all, you probably know how hard it is to realistically blend an element from one image into another. Traditionally, this requires meticulous manual adjustments of color balance, brightness, contrast, and shadows to make a pasted object match the lighting and tone of its new background.
The tool, then, analyzes the color and tonal properties of the background layer and intelligently applies a matching look to the foreground object. It adjusts hue, saturation, and luminosity, and it helps create a cohesive final image where all elements appear to exist in the same environment. This feature, if it works properly, could dramatically reduce the time spent on manual color grading for composite work.
We also have Generative Upscale, which is one I’m particularly excited for. This feature allows users to increase the dimensions and pixel count of an image while preserving detail and clarity. According to Adobe, the tool can boost image resolution up to a final size of 8 megapixels. Currently, Photoshop tries to keep as much detail as possible when upscaling something without using AI, using various resample methods you may switch between to find the one that works the most for you. But it’s not great. There are a few AI upscale tools online that use generative AI to increase an image in size and resolution. This would, presumably, be identical to those tools.
The Remove Tool is also getting a neat model upgrade that makes it a lot more accurate. We also have a new Projects feature. The tool provides a dedicated space within Photoshop to group and manage all the assets associated with a single project. You can gather different files, layers, and related documents into one centralized location, helping you see that all components of a project are easily accessible from one place.
We don’t know if this is everything new that we’ll see in Photoshop for this year, but even if it is, I’m more than fine with it. The update is now available for Beta users, and you’ll want to wait for the final update if you don’t want to mess around with beta-grade software.
Adobe Photoshop
Take your creativity to new places. Crop and expand images, adjust color, add and remove objects, and more with Photoshop on desktop, web, and mobile.
