Adobe just added several exciting new features to the beta version of Photoshop. The most significant is Firefly-powered Generative Fill, the ability to select any item in an image and replace it with a different object based on the prompt you type into a dialog box.

This is clearly the most groundbreaking feature ever presented in a digital image editing tool. But what may be the greatest breakthrough for amateur photographers potentially deals a major blow to image retouching professionals.

How To Use It
The Generative Fill option is available only in the beta version of Photoshop at this time. Most beta features migrate to Photoshop after their shakedown run. To access Photoshop Beta, open your Creative Cloud account and download the app. You’ll find it on the left menu under a tab labeled Beta apps. If you do not have a CC account, you can download a free trial version.

Launch PS Beta and open an image. Using the Object Selection Tool, Lasso Tool, Quick Selection  Tool or any other selection method, select an object. Right click the selection and a dropdown menu appears. Near the bottom of the list, select Generative Fill. A dialog box opens. Type in a prompt and click Generate.

A new menu opens to display three small thumbnails of replacement objects created by AI. Pick one and Adobe AI magic replaces the selected object with a new object based on the prompt you entered.

This new feature means any human capable of sitting up and making a fist can alter the contents of a digital image with just a few mouse clicks. The added object looks 100% authentic, complete with shadows and appropriate shading.

The process is fast, easy and exceptionally realistic. It performs smoothly now and will only get better.

Why Develop Skill When AI Can Do It For You?
So why should a budding professional spend hours learning to do this process manually? Aside from total creative control, why work on an image for two or three hours when you can change it completely with two or three clicks? Where’s the incentive to master photo editing?

Other, less radical features introduced in Photoshop Beta are as follows:

• Adjustment Presets: Changes the appearance of an image in just a few steps, for an instant, completely unique output.

• Remove Tool: Eliminates hours of manual compositing by automatically filling backgrounds while preserving the integrity and depth of objects. Another threat to editing pros.

• Contextual Task Bar: Reduces the number of clicks and makes the most common functions more easily accessible with workflow recommendations.

In the following series of images we edit a photo of a fairly typical European-style breakfast (above) my daughter captured in Prague, Czech Republic. You can follow the action without narration. We selected and replaced items, producing a new final image starkly different from the original. It looks legit and took about 15 minutes all in.

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How often have you arrived at a favorite location for a day of landscape photography, only to confront a dull, uninspiring sky? If you’re like most of us, the answer is “more than once or twice.”

So you do the best you can, pack up your gear, and return home to evaluate the images on the computer. Unfortunately, they look just as unremarkable as you expected due to the drab, nearly colorless sky. Thanks to the quick Lightroom tutorial below you’ll know how to transform these rejects into winners the next time Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.

Photographer Anthony Morganti is an image-editing wizard, and this quick episode demonstrates how he often rehabilitates images like those described above. The easy and effective Photoshop technique takes barely four minutes to explain.

Morganti begins with a seaside photo of a rather pretty scene. As you’ll see, the sky does have a few clouds with some detail, but it’s almost totally devoid of color. Another problem is that the overall tones in the shot are a bit too cool.

The solution involves adding warmer tones to the brightest areas of the sky to offset the coolness of the water. Morganti opens Lightroom’s Basics tab, noting that he’s already made a few adjustments that weren’t sufficient to deliver the impact he desires.

Morganti explains that there are several common methods for warming up the sky, one of which is to simply drag the Temp slider to the right. By doing this, however, you’ll end up adding yellow tones to the entire image. So this isn’t the right solution. After illustrating how using the Color Grading panel provides equally disappointing results, Morganti’s demonstrates a straightforward method for getting the job done to perfection.

This approach involves creating a mask for the sky, and opening up the Curves panel. Once he selects the blue curve you’ll notice that the left portion of the graph represents blue tones while the right side controls yellows.

Since he only wants to warm up the brightest areas in the sky, which are represented in the upper right of the graph, he creates a couple anchor points and pulls that portion of the graph down. Voila! This quickly does the trick. Now the highlights are a nice and warm, while the blue water and green foliage on the horizon remain unaffected.

If you like this simple and effective trick head over to Morganti’s popular YouTube channel where you’ll find more of the same. 

And don’t miss the video tutorial we posted earlier, explaining how to edit photos ten times faster by using a straightforward pro technique.

Blurring the background of a photo is a very effective way to make the main subject of an image really pop off the page. It’s possible to create this effect in the camera or during the editing process, and today’s tutorial involves the latter.

This technique has a variety of applications for giving images a professional touch, like when shooting outdoor portraits with cluttered backgrounds, or landscape scenes full of distracting elements in the distance. This episode from British pro Robin Whalley demonstrates how to get the job done with simple tools in Photoshop.

Whalley is a prolific author, educator and photo-editing specialist who says, “achieving a beautifully blurred background is easier than you may think,” and it takes him barely five minutes to explain the method.

While Whalley uses Photoshop 2023 for this straightforward lesson, the technique works seamlessly with any version of Photoshop that includes the Select Subject feature that you can find within the Select menu atop the screen.

Step one is separating the subject from the rest of image by using the Select Subject tool to create a new Layer Mask. This ensures that only this subject remains visible on the screen—while the background becomes transparent

Whalley then creates a separate layer for the background, Here he uses Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill feature to automatically remove the main subject. With the main subject out of the way it’s really easy to blur that background with the Gaussian Blur filter. Whalley shows you how to control the intensity of the blur to create exactly the effect you’re after.

The step-by-step process you’ll learn is simple enough for Photoshop users of all skill levels, and even those with experience will discover how this technique can simplify their workflow.

As Whalley says, “By implementing these techniques you can further enhance the visual impact of your photographsL”. So whether you’re just getting started, or consider yourself a Photoshop wizard, give this a try.

Be sure to take a look at Whalley’s instructional YouTube channel after watching the lesson for more shooting and editing tips and tricks. We also suggest you check out the tutorial we posted earlier from another notable pro, explaining how to shoot unique landscape photos with a telephoto lens. This is an effective in-camera technique for isolating the main subject in a scene.