The latest update of Adobe Photoshop includes the ability to restore an old photo in just one click, thanks to the software’s groundbreaking addition to their Neural Filters. Called ‘Photo Restoration’, the new filter uses AI to assess what needs to be fixed and uses tools such as content-aware fill to automatically ‘heal’ the image. The Neural Filters have been around since 2020, and include things like generating a shallow depth of field effect in portrait images, making a landscape image look as though it was shot in winter, and colourising black and white photographs. So not only can you now restore an old photo but you could also colourise it too.
As you can see in the demo video, the Neural Filter can detect and fix scratches, while also enhancing the contrast, noise and colour in the image.
Of course, it has always been possible to repair old photographs in Photoshop, however, the main difference is that with the help of AI, the software actually assesses what needs to be fixed. Formerly the process needed a considerable amount of time, patience and skill primarily using the heal and clone tools to do a convincing job. The Photo Restoration filter is still currently in beta testing mode. That means that the AI is still being improved and worked upon. You can still use the beta filters however the results may be inconsistent. Still, if you’ve just scanned and digitised a bunch of old photos this will certainly save you a lot of time.
