Lightroom, Lightroom Classic get more AI masking, Content-Aware Remove

This morning, as a part of the Adobe MAX conference, Adobe announced updates to a variety of products, including the Lightroom ecosystem. Both Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw will see more AI-powered masking options — including a Select Object tool — as well as Content-Aware Remove, interface tweaks and more.

The updates will begin rolling out today, and will be available to everyone by the end of the week.

More advanced AI-powered masking

In October 2021, Adobe debuted its re-envisioned selective adjustment tools with Select Sky and Select Subject. Now, Lightroom for Mac/Windows, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw see updates with the all-new Select People, Select Objects and one-click Select Background.

Less brushing and faster edits with Select People

Following Adobe’s release of the Select Subject tool last fall, the company has tweaked this tool, allowing for easier and faster editing. Select People can now detect and generate high-quality masks for individuals or groups in any portrait.

Specific body parts like face skin, body skin, eyes, teeth, lips, hair and more can also be selected. The expanded interface for Select People allows you to quickly create all the necessary selections with fewer clicks and brush strokes.

Precise selections with Select Objects

With Select Objects, you can easily mask objects in Lightroom that will help you make targeted edits. Simply paint over the desired object with Brush Select or draw a rectangle around it with Rectangle Select, and Adobe’s AI will automatically refine the edges to create a precise mask.

One-click Select Background

Previously you could select the background by inverting a mask of Select Subject. Now, Adobe’s AI can directly generate a mask for the background with a single click.

Adaptive Preset updates, allowing you to access the full power of AI masking

In June 2022, Adobe introduced Adaptive Presets. Available for Lightroom for Mac/Windows, Lightroom Classic, Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom for iOS and iPadOS, these AI-powered presets are now available for portraits.

Adaptive Presets for portraits

You can now use this class of Adaptive Presets to quickly enhance an entire portrait, or target specific features with presets like Enhance Eyes, Whiten Teeth, Darken Eyebrows, and more with a single click or tap.

Adaptive Presets for sky and subject for mobile

You can now access the power of AI masks for Sky and Subject on mobile through Adaptive Presets. With one tap, Lightroom can detect and create an adaptive mask based on the contents of the image.

Healing with Content-Aware Remove

Healing or removing distractions is easier than ever in Lightroom with the addition of Content-Aware Remove. Available across the Lightroom ecosystem, Content-Aware Remove utilizes the same Content-Aware technology as Adobe Photoshop. Lightroom will adaptively fill in remove blemishes based on surrounding content.

This feature also includes a Refresh option and the ability to pick the sampled area with keyboard commands for finer healing control.

Additional updates — Lightroom for Mac and Windows

Compare while editing

Access full edit functionality while in Compare mode to easily edit images side by side.

Mask Amount slider

Adjust the intensity of the edits applied to your local adjustments.

Performance updates

Images now load faster when switching from one image to the next, and export times are now much shorter with the help of GPU acceleration.

Additional updates — Lightroom Classic

Left-right panel swap

Customize your Lightroom Classic workspace to fit your workflow needs with the new ability to swap the left and right panels for all modules or just for Develop.

Faster import from portable devices (Windows)

Experience faster preview loading and importing on Windows machines from connected portable devices such as phones, tablets, etc.

Additional updates — Lightroom Mobile

Masking support for more Android devices

The power of AI masking is available on more mobile devices than ever with the introduction of server-side support for Android devices. Now all Android users, no matter their device capabilities (e.g. less than 6GB of RAM), can take advantage of subject and sky masking in the cloud.

Additional updates — Adobe Camera Raw

Masking Curves

Achieve the perfect tones for your edits with the added ability to adjust Curves for your local selections. Now available in Camera Raw today and will be coming to Lightroom in the future.

HDR support for displays (tech preview)

Make the most of the highlights in your images with new HDR support. Enabling HDR will allow you to visualize and edit your highlights in even greater detail on your HDR-compatible display. Now available as a tech preview in Adobe Camera Raw.

Additional updates — Lightroom on the Web

Video editing

The same edit controls you use for your images can now be used for your videos. Now available for Lightroom on the web wherever you go.

Preset Amount slider

Adjust the intensity of a preset to your liking to achieve the perfect look for each image.