Simple Photo Retouching Powered by AI

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Photo retouching is easier now than ever before, thanks to generative AI features.

These simple tips will show you how to quickly enhance the quality of your photos in Adobe Photoshop 2024.

Colorize

Black and white photos can be easily colorized with a simple filter.

  1. Choose the Filter menu.
  2. Select “Neural Filters.”
  3. Toggle on “Colorize”
  4. Choose “Output to New Layer” and click OK.
https://youtu.be/wdc5AdHIL4Q?feature=shared
Watch a video demonstration of these steps to colorize an image.

Generative Expand Canvas

It’s easy to extend photos so “more” of the image is shown.

  1. Click the Crop Tool.
  2. Drag to expand your canvas in any direction. 
  3. Choose “Generative Expand.”
  4. Click “Generate.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw1DwrXT2F4
Watch a video demonstration of these steps to use Generative Expand to extend a photo.

Isolate Subject

You can remove a subject from a background in just a few clicks.

  1. Open the image in Photoshop.
  2. Choose “Select Subject” from the Generative AI toolbar.
  3. Click into the selection and choose “Layer via Copy.”

 

https://youtu.be/zrNRLyaJDGs?feature=shared
Watch a video demonstration of how to isolate a subject from a background.

Super Zoom

Generative AI makes it easy to improve the quality of low resolution photos and even enlarge them.

  1. Chose the Filter menu.
  2. Select “Neural Filters.”
  3. Toggle on “Super Zoom”
  4. Use the magnifying glass to enlarge the image to the desired scale, i.e. 2x or greater.
  5. Choose the option to “Output to New Document.”
  6. Click OK.
https://youtu.be/UP8WIkJraDU?feature=shared
Watch a video demonstration of Super Zoom.

Removing Objects

Long gone are the days of manually retouching and cloning to remove objects from a photo. Generative AI makes object removal a snap.

  1. Use any selection tool to draw a selection path around the object you want to remove.
  2. Click “Generative Fill.”
  3. Choose “Generate.”
https://youtu.be/zgVVqO68CD8?feature=shared
Watch a video demonstration of simple object removal.

Learn more about photo retouching powered by Generative AI via LinkedIn Learning.

Adobe Express and Firefly

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UTA currently licenses Adobe Creative Cloud for all employees. To get started go to adobe.com, click on “Sign In” in the upper right-hand corner, enter your employee email address, and click “Continue”. You should be prompted on the standard UTA login page for a password. Once you are logged in you will have access to all the tools in the Cloud suite. Just added to that suite is Adobe Express.

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This is Adobe’s new collection of tools for everyone. It features handy tools for creating images, video, and documents. It also exposes Adobe AI tools like Firefly. Because these tools are licensed by UTA, any images created can be shared and used in other works per the Terms of Use. However, be careful not to upload any private or restricted data as it is a public tool.

If, after playing with Express and Firefly, you need more. Check out Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere — the professional tools from Adobe — which have all added AI features this year.

If you still need more or need a private sandbox to work with your own data, please contact OIT for a consultation (login required) to create your own private AI deployment for research needs.

Student licenses for Creative Cloud are available as a lab fee attached to specific courses and for purchase in the UTA store. Faculty interested in using Adobe Express or Adobe Firefly should contact academiccomputing@uta.edu to work out licensing for upcoming semesters.

Meta Joins Generative AI Fray with Imagine

Meta's Imagine

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has launched a new app called Imagine. It can be accessed via a web browser. It does require a Meta account which will instantly link your activities to your other Meta accounts. This is Meta’s offer to compete with Adobe Firefly.

Firefly is currently licensed for all UTA employees and is designed with protections in place that make it suitable for use for campus needs. Firefly is designed with safeguards to help mitigate the risks of copyright violations and training bias. Anyone who wants to punch up a presentation with a custom graphic or change the background of an existing image, can use Firefly today. Users should still exercise caution to not upload private or proprietary information into the AI prompts.

Comparatively, there is currently no business relationship in place between UTA and Meta. Users should be very cautious if they choose to try Meta’s products as it is very difficult to protect private information while using their tools. Always remember that if you are getting something for free, then you are the product.

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