The Most Significant Update to Photoshop in 20 Years

Fasten your seatbelts, Adobe Photoshop enthusiasts! Ever since we embraced the Creative Cloud subscription model in 2013 – yes, a thrilling decade has flown by – Adobe has been faithfully delivering updates, making your Photoshop experience smoother and more efficient. However, brace yourselves, because today’s update is a game-changer, ready to send shockwaves through your digital design journey. This is not just an update – it’s a jaw-dropping revolution!

Introducing Generative Fill

In March this year, Adobe released a public beta of its generative AI technology called Firefly. You can check out Firefly at firefly.adobe.com (there is a waitlist to get access to the site and we’re working hard to clear the backlog as soon as possible). While the website is fun to play on and allows you to generate images via any text prompt that you can dream up, bringing that technology into Photoshop takes Photoshop to the next level.

With Generative Fill, you can use the Firefly AI to add, replace and remove parts of your image. If you want to add something to your image that didn’t exist, select the area that you want to put it in, click Generative Fill on the NEW Contextual Task Bar, and key in the text prompt that describes the content you want to add to that spot. Generative Fill will then create three versions of your prompt and fit it perfectly into the selected area. Not only does it get the size right, but it also gets the lighting, color, tone, shadows and reflections to make your new composite look realistic.

I could go on describing it, but it’s better if you see it. Click here to watch my video showing Generative Fill

As you can see, Generative Fill changes everything, literally. This will forever change the way we use Photoshop going forward. While this feature is a Public Beta it’s not ready for commercial use just yet.

What’s New in Photoshop for May 2023?

While Generative Fill is the headliner for this release, there are other notable features for the release version of Photoshop that rolls out today. I made a separate New Features video that you can check out here.

The Bottom Line

Think of AI as that friendly genie who’s stepped out of the bottle, eager to lend a hand, and isn’t planning on going back in. Now, we have two ways to view generative AI. You could see it as an intimidating replacement for your skills, or as I prefer to see it, an invaluable tool ready to simplify your job like never before. Speaking from my experience as a photographer, this tool opens up a world of possibilities, allowing me to provide my clients with an array of photo options more cost-effective and diverse than ever before.

You can get started checking out Generative Fill today by downloading and installing the Photoshop public beta via your Creative Cloud App, Beta Apps section.

You can also join me LIVE today starting at 8AM PT here

Also join me LIVE Fridays for my Photography Masterclass and this Friday it’s all about the new releases here