Photoshop adds Markup tool and Lightroom-style lighting controls
Adobe’s latest update integrates AI-driven drawing tools with professional-grade lighting adjustments, aiming to streamline the workflow for photographers and designers.
Adobe has released a significant update to Photoshop, introducing a new feature called Markup that allows users to draw directly on images to guide artificial intelligence edits. The tool works alongside text prompts, enabling creators to sketch arrows, recolour areas, or brush in rough shapes to suggest new elements. In one demonstration, a roughly drawn cat and wall tiles were transformed into photorealistic elements, illustrating the feature’s capacity to interpret visual cues.
The update also addresses a long-standing request from the user base by bringing Lightroom-style lighting controls into the Photoshop interface. A new Light Adjustment Layer provides professional-grade controls for exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks. Adobe describes the feature as offering "camera raw-level results without ever leaving your Photoshop layers workflow," allowing for non-destructive edits that maintain the integrity of the original file.
Further expanding its AI capabilities, Adobe has introduced "Instruct Edit with Masks," a tool powered by Firefly Image 5. This feature allows users to mask specific areas of an image and apply precise edits, such as opening closed eyes or adding accessories, while leaving unmasked regions untouched. The company is also rolling out an AI Assisted Editor in beta, which groups various AI tools, including Prompt to Edit, Remove Background, and Generative Fill, under a dedicated interface with a natural-language prompt bar.
Additional enhancements in the release include Dynamic Text, Shapes, and Paths, which extend Photoshop’s dynamic text capabilities to any custom shape or path. The update also features a Stock Panel Integration, providing direct access to more than 900 million Adobe Stock assets within a dockable panel inside the application.
These features are available immediately via the latest Creative Cloud update. While the AI Assisted Editor remains in beta, suggesting its final feature set may evolve, the inclusion of RAW-quality lighting controls marks a notable shift in how Adobe positions Photoshop for professional photography workflows.
