Have you tried your hand at photo editing? In an age where Instagram and other social media apps provide myriad filters and quick-edit options, the art of sitting on Photoshop and going through hours of tweaking to achieve the desired result is restricted to professional photographers and content creators.
As humans, we often tend to find the easy way out and as a result, our creativity is largely left to the mercy of app developers. While this shouldn’t be the case, is learning a tricky photo editing tool the only way to express your artistic flair?
Thankfully, we live in a world where generative AI has answers to all our dilemmas. Other than striking a human-like conversation in the form of a chatbot, Gen-AI has also shown its magic in the field of image generation and editing.
With powerful AI models, it is now possible to edit images without needing the technical know-how of complex photo editing applications. AI makes editing as easy as ordering the algorithms to paint a realistic object in your image by simply describing it in English!
Do you want a hill as the backdrop of your group photo? AI can do it. Want to remove a photo bomber from your perfect couple photograph? Gen-AI can take care of it without leaving a trace. Do you want to add a special effect filter tailored solely for your photo? You know where to go!
Numerous options promise professional results if you start looking for a good AI photo editing tool. However, Gen-AI processing is expensive and developers often pass the maintenance charges to the customers. Hence, when you pay for these smart Gen-AI photo editors, you deserve to get the ones worthy of your attention.
To help you out in your quest to become a pro at editing, we have summed the top AI photo editors you can try out across all platforms and form factors.
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Best AI photo editor apps you should try today
1. Adobe Photoshop
Price: HKD 183 per month
Adobe’s Photoshop has always been the go-to photo editing app for creators and with generative AI, the experience has only gotten better. Adobe utilised its FireFly AI model to introduce new generative AI-based editing tools that make life a lot easier.
With the dedicated Remove Tool, you can remove unwanted subjects from your image without leaving a trace. The Generative Fill tool lets you type in the objects or background you want to insert in a selected area and use the Firefly AI model to create a photo-realistic object that blends well with the rest of the image. The Generative Expand feature also lets creators fill in extended parts of an image beyond the frame with Gen-AI content.
And since it’s our trusty Photoshop, you can rely on your traditionally powerful manual editing tools to work on images where generative AI couldn’t do a good enough job.
2. Luminar Neo
Price: USD 19.99 (HKD 156 approx.) per month
If Photoshop’s AI tools aren’t enough for you, Luminar Neo is the next best thing that a photographer or artist can bank upon. This application is available on Macs and utilises Gen-AI to offer powerful editing tools. Unlike other one-click solutions though, Luminar Neo lets you adjust the levels of AI interference you want on a particular edit.
Some of its star features include AI-powered Enhance, which adjusts the contrast, colour and tone of the image automatically. There’s an AI sky replacement feature that can make the sky in your dull landscapes interesting. The GenErase feature helps you delete unwanted objects and elements from the photos while the GenExpand extends your image by intelligently filling it up with patterns and objects.
3. DALL-E 3
Price: USD 20 (HKD 156 approx.) per month
You might be a bit surprised to see DALL-E 3 making it to our list of the best AI photo editors but there’s more than meets the eye. While most of us consider it as a text-to-image generator tool, DALL-E 3 can let you do a great amount of editing on images, too.
You can now edit DALL·E images in ChatGPT across web, iOS, and Android. pic.twitter.com/AJvHh5ftKB
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) April 3, 2024
Although DALL-E 3 isn’t as capable as Photoshop, you can use its inpainting and outpainting features to alter larger parts of images. With inpainting, you can tell DALL-E 3 to add, remove or replace something within an image. The outpainting feature relies on text-to-image generation to extend an image outside its usual dimensions.
With the latest update, you can now access these features via the ChatGPT chatbot.
4. Lensa
Price: USD 4.99 (HKD 39 approx.) per month
For those seeking a versatile AI-based image editing tool on iOS and Android phones, Lensa might be just the thing you need. While it is popular for its Magic Avatar feature that takes your selfies to create unique portraits of you, the rest of the feature set comes in handy, too. The Magic Retouch feature enhances your portraits in various styles.
The AI-powered Suggest a Filter feature helps with choosing great preset filters based on your picture, while the AI Eraser impresses with its ability to delete unwanted objects from the frame. The Backdrop Cutout feature comes in handy for replacing image backgrounds whereas the Sky Replacement tool alters the version of the sky.
5. Google Photos
Price: USD 1.99 (HKD 15 approx.) per month
For basic AI-based editing tools, Google Photos may be the last place you might check out but there’s enough to get casual photographers and artists started. If you opt for the Google One subscription, you get to use Google’s AI-based Magic Eraser which can suggest specific objects to omit from an image with one touch.
You can also use the Gen-AI features to erase reflections and lens flares, automatically enhance pictures, apply new filters and a lot more.
Users of the Google Pixel 8 series and Samsung Galaxy S24 series even get AI-based reframing and Gen-AI object erasers. If you are on an iPhone though, you only get the Magic Eraser as part of the AI tools for now.\
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(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Courtesy JC Gellidon via Unsplash)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Which is the best AI photo editor?
Adobe Photoshop with Generative Fill is the best AI photo editing solution you can experience today.
– Which is the best AI photo editor for Android?
Lensa is the best AI photo editor tool you can enjoy on Android.
