Adobe Photoshop Camera turns your phone into "the camera of your dreams"

Adobe has just surprise-released Photoshop Camera, available for free for both iOS and Android devices, which is essentially supercharged filter software that turns your phone into "the camera of your dreams".

Bringing real-time Photoshop editing tools to your handset at the point of capture, rather than having to work your magic in post-processing, expect to see the effects of this free app start showing up on social media very quickly. 

While most of the best camera phones are able to run the app, Apple devices need to be running iOS13 and at the moment only newer Pixel, Galaxy, and OnePlus phones are officially supported – though you can be pretty sure that this will spread to other phones like wildfire. 

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Powered by the company's Sensei technology, Adobe Photoshop Camera uses artificial intelligence to detect what you're shooting and suggest edits and filters – referred to, distressingly, as 'lenses' – to enhance and add creativity to your photos directly at the point of capture. 

By enabling photographers to consider and add these effects as they are taking a photograph, as well as removing the need for any Photoshop knowledge to add them manually, this could fast become one of the best photo apps both for casual photographers and the Instagram crowd. 

"With Photoshop Camera you can capture, edit, and share stunning photos and moments – both natural and creative – using real-time Photoshop-grade magic right from the viewfinder, leaving you free to focus on storytelling with powerful tools and effects," says Abhay Parasnis, Adbobe's executive VP and Chief Technology Officer.

"Leveraging Adobe Sensei intelligence, the app can instantly recognize the subject in your photo and provide recommendations, and automatically apply sophisticated, unique features at the moment of capture (i.e. portraits, landscapes, selfies, food shots), while always preserving an original shot. It also understands the technical content (i.e. dynamic range, tonality, scene-type, face regions) of the photo and automatically applies complex adjustments."

This means that the app can automatically do anything from adding fake bokeh to portraits, to replacing skies to achieve perfect sunsets – or even to achieve surreal spacescapes, if you'd prefer.

It will also enable shooters to access a curated feed of 'lenses' (bleurgh) made by "well-known artists and influencers" including Billie Eilish. And of course, having the original shot (the equivalent of the RAW file) means that you always have a clean shot to edit or use in a conventional manner. 

For more information, visit the Adobe Photoshop Camera microsite.

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