Video: Hands on with Photoshop's new retouching tool

6 July 2023

With all the buzz around Lightroom's recent noise reduction tool (see our write-up on it here), and Photoshop's generative AI tool (here), it passed by with barely a murmur that Photoshop also has another new and impressive AI feature, which photographer Nick Page explores in this video.

As Nick explains, the new AI Removal Tool is like a more superior Content Aware fill which significantly lowers the barrier to achieving professional-level retouching results.

It does this by using generative AI to automate the actions normally performed by the Clone Stamp tool or Spot Healing Brush.

The tool makes light work of previously tricky elements to remove, like powerlines. Image: Mike O'Connor

The tool also seems to learn - getting quicker as the algorithm figures out what it needs to edit in the tones and elements in an image.

It's not quite perfect, but editing out these powerlines is still much faster than using the Spot Healing brush. Image: Mike O'Connor.

In our brief testing (above), we found that some parts of the image needed a few passovers to really nail the removal, but it did eventually get there.

You can try the AI-powered Removal Tool for yourself in the latest version of Photoshop Beta - it's located in the Remove Tool dropdown in the toolbar (look for the plaster with the stars around it).

You can also see more of Nick's videos on YouTube.