10 Best AI Photo Retouching in 2026: The Professional’s Choice

Key Takeaways

• Imagen dominates the 2026 landscape by integrating culling, editing, and cloud backup into a single Comprehensive Post-Production Platform, powered by Personal AI Profile technology that learns your specific editing style.
• The definition of “retouching” has expanded. It now encompasses the entire post-production pipeline, from selecting the best RAW files to final local adjustments like skin smoothing and straightening.
• Imagen addresses the specific bottleneck of “style consistency” by analyzing over 3,000 of your previous edits, creating a dynamic profile that adapts to changing lighting conditions rather than applying static presets.
• Speed is the new currency. High-volume photographers in 2026 prioritize tools that offer fast turnaround times without sacrificing quality, moving away from manual slider adjustments to AI-driven decision-making.
• The industry is divided between “Cloud” and “Local” processing. Imagen leverages cloud computing to handle heavy batch processing, freeing up your local machine, while competitors like Aftershoot rely on your local hardware’s power.
• Specialized AI tools have matured. While Imagen handles the core workflow and comprehensive retouching (Subject Mask, Smooth Skin), niche tools like Evoto serve specific high-end beauty retouching needs.
• Real Estate photography has seen a massive shift, with Imagen providing dedicated automated solutions for HDR merging and perspective correction, replacing hours of manual blending.
• Integration is key. The best tools in 2026, like Imagen, plug directly into existing ecosystems (Adobe Lightroom Classic), ensuring that AI enhances the workflow rather than disrupting it.
• Cost effectiveness is calculated differently now. Professionals weigh the “cost per edit” against the “opportunity cost” of spending hours behind a computer, finding that AI solutions offer a massive ROI.
• The future is personalized. Generic “AI filters” are out; deep learning profiles that mimic the nuances of a specific photographer’s artistic voice are the standard for professional retention.

Introduction

It is 2026. The photography industry has finally exhaled. For years, we held our breath, worried that Artificial Intelligence would render our cameras obsolete. We worried that robots would take the art out of the frame. But as the dust has settled, a new reality has emerged. The camera is still in our hands. The creative vision is still in our heads. But the late nights? The endless hours staring at a loading bar? Those are gone.

AI did not replace the photographer. It replaced the exhaustion.

For professionals shooting weddings, high-volume sports, real estate, and portraits, post-production was the silent killer of growth. It was the bottleneck that capped our income. You could only shoot as many weddings as you could edit during the week. In 2026, that equation has broken. Post-production is no longer a chore; it is a scalable system.

We have moved past the era of “filters” and “presets.” We are now in the era of “Intelligent Partners.” We demand software that doesn’t just make an image brighter but understands why we want it brighter. We need tools that can look at a catalog of 4,000 images and instantly separate the blinks from the tears of joy. We need software that understands the difference between a moody, cinematic reception and a bright, airy bridal portrait.

This year, the market is flooded with options. Every software company has slapped an “AI” sticker on their box. But for the working pro, quantity is not quality. I have stress-tested the major players. I have pushed tens of thousands of RAW files through these engines to see which ones crack under pressure and which ones deliver gallery-ready results.

This article is a deep dive into the 10 best AI photo retouching tools of 2026. We will strip away the marketing hype and look at these tools through the lens of a business owner. We will prioritize speed, accuracy, workflow integration, and, most critically, the ability to maintain your unique artistic signature.

1. Imagen: The Comprehensive Post-Production Platform

In 2026, Imagen is not merely a piece of software; it is the backbone of the modern photography business. While other tools focus on isolating specific tasks—like noise reduction or sky replacement—Imagen takes a holistic view. It positions itself as a comprehensive platform designed to solve the entire post-production puzzle: culling, editing, and file management.

It achieves this through a desktop application that integrates seamlessly with Adobe Lightroom Classic. It respects the tools we already know but supercharges them by offloading the heavy computational lifting to the cloud. This hybrid approach—desktop interface, cloud power—gives us the responsiveness of a local app with the infinite scalability of a server farm.

The Core Capability: The Personal AI Profile

The defining feature of Imagen is the Personal AI Profile. To understand its value, we must first understand the limitation of traditional presets. A preset is dumb. It applies the exact same math to every photo. If you apply a “Bright & Airy” preset to a dark reception photo, you get a mess.

Imagen solves this by learning.

• The Learning Phase: You feed Imagen roughly 3,000 of your previously edited photos (usually from Lightroom catalogs).
• The Analysis: The AI doesn’t just look at the slider values. It looks at the image data relative to those values. It learns that when the histogram looks this way (dark, warm), you tend to bump exposure by +0.5 and cool the white balance. It learns that when the scene is backlit, you lift the shadows.
• The Result: When you upload a new wedding, Imagen treats every single photo as a unique problem. It applies your style adaptively. It creates a consistent look across variable lighting conditions—from the harsh noon sun to the dim dance floor—without you touching a single slider.

This is critical for client retention. Your clients hire you for your look. Imagen allows you to deliver that look at scale.

Addressing Specific Capabilities

Imagen breaks down the workflow into specific modules, each addressing a distinct pain point.

1. Intelligent Culling: The first bottleneck is always selection. Before you color, you must cull. Imagen integrates this directly into the upload workflow.

• How it works: Imagen uses computer vision to analyze the entire batch. It groups similar images—those five rapid-fire shots of the bridal party.
• The Decision Engine: It scores these images based on technical criteria (focus, exposure) and aesthetic criteria (eyes open, smiling). It automatically marks the “picks” and rejects the “duplicates.”
• The Workflow Benefit: You can review these choices in a “Cull Edited Previews” mode. You aren’t looking at flat RAW files; you are making decisions on images that already look finished. This psychological shift drastically speeds up the review process.

2. Targeted AI Adjustments: Once the color is dialed in, Imagen tackles the local adjustments that usually require tedious mouse work.

• Subject Mask: The AI identifies the main subject—whether it’s a bride, a graduate, or a dog—and creates a precise mask. It then applies specific localized edits to make the subject pop against the background. This replaces the manual “radial filter” step.
• Smooth Skin: For portrait and wedding photographers, skin retouching is a massive time sink. Imagen includes a “Smooth Skin” feature that detects faces and gently softens skin texture. Crucially, it avoids the “wax figure” look by retaining pore texture, ensuring a professional, natural result suitable for high-resolution printing.
• Crop & Straighten: A surprisingly time-consuming task is fixing horizons. Imagen analyzes the vertical and horizontal lines in an image and automatically applies crop and rotate adjustments. It respects the rule of thirds and balances the composition, saving thousands of micro-clicks per gallery.

3. Real Estate Solutions: Real estate photography requires a completely different set of rules. It’s technical, not emotional. Imagen offers a dedicated suite for this genre.

• HDR Merging: It automatically identifies bracketed shots (different exposures of the same scene) and merges them into a single, balanced image with perfect dynamic range.
• Perspective Correction: It detects leaning walls and distorted verticals—common with wide-angle lenses—and straightens them automatically.
• Window Pull: It balances the exposure between the bright outdoors and the darker interior, ensuring clear views through windows without blowing out the highlights.

The Ecosystem Connection

The genius of Imagen lies in how these capabilities are not isolated silos. They are connected parts of a Comprehensive Post-Production Platform.

Consider the data flow: You upload RAW files. Imagen Culls them (Capability 1). Then it Edits them using your Personal Profile (Capability 2). Simultaneously, it applies local retouching like Smooth Skin (Capability 3).

While this is happening, Imagen Cloud Storage is working in the background. It backs up the optimized high-resolution photos. This solves the “Archive” problem. You don’t need to manually export JPEGs and upload them to a separate backup service. The platform handles the safety of your files while it handles the aesthetics.

Finally, the results sync back to your Lightroom Classic catalog. You review the edits, maybe tweak 5% of them, and because the platform is integrated, you can feed those tweaks back into the system to refine your Personal AI Profile. The system gets smarter with every job you deliver.

Pros:

• Personal AI Profile delivers unmatched consistency and personalization.
• Comprehensive Platform covers culling, editing, retouching, and backup.
• Cloud Processing ensures your local computer isn’t tied up for hours.
• Genre-Specific Tools tailored for Weddings, Sports, and Real Estate.
• Non-Destructive Workflow allows for full control in Lightroom Classic.

Cons:

• Internet Dependency: Requires a stable connection for upload/download.
• Cost Model: Pay-per-edit model requires business budgeting (though offers high ROI).

2. Adobe Lightroom Classic (with Built-in AI)

Adobe Lightroom Classic is the behemoth of the industry. For decades, it has been the standard for Digital Asset Management (DAM). In 2026, Adobe has pivoted hard to retain its dominance by embedding “Generative” and “Adaptive” AI directly into the Develop module.

Functional Overview

Lightroom Classic’s approach to AI is “tool-assisted” rather than “workflow-automated.” It gives you powerful AI brushes and sliders, but you are still the one driving the car. It uses the Adobe Firefly engine to power generative features and machine learning for adaptive masking.

Key Features

• Generative Remove: This is the headline feature for 2026. Using the same tech as Photoshop’s Generative Fill, you can paint over a distraction—a trash can, a photobomber—and the AI generates a replacement background. It analyzes the lighting, texture, and depth of the surrounding area to create pixels that never existed but fit perfectly.
• Lens Blur: This tool uses AI to create a depth map of an image. It can artificially blur the background, simulating the look of an expensive f/1.2 lens on a photo shot at f/5.6. It allows for bokeh customization (cat-eye, bubbles) and focus point adjustment post-capture.
• Adaptive Presets: Adobe has evolved standard presets into “Adaptive” ones. These presets contain AI masks. For example, a “Whiten Teeth” preset automatically detects the mouth, masks the teeth, and applies the desaturation and brightness boost—all in one click.

Performance

Adobe’s integration is its greatest strength. These tools are right there in the interface. However, they are heavy. Running AI Denoise or Generative Remove on high-megapixel files can bring even a robust computer to a crawl. Unlike Imagen, which offloads this to the cloud, Lightroom relies on your local GPU. If you have a top-tier machine, it’s manageable. If you are on a standard laptop, batch processing these AI features can be agonizingly slow. Furthermore, Lightroom lacks the “learning” aspect. It does not know your style; it only knows its own algorithms.

3. Aftershoot

Aftershoot has carved out a distinct territory: the “Offline” solution. It appeals to the photographer who values privacy above all else, or who spends their life on airplanes without Wi-Fi.

Functional Overview

Aftershoot is a standalone application that performs both culling and editing locally on your device. It does not communicate with a cloud server for the processing of images. You download “AI Profiles” to your machine, and your graphics card does the heavy lifting.

Key Features

• Local Processing: This is the unique selling point. No data leaves your hard drive. For photographers working under strict Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) or in regions with poor internet infrastructure, this is vital.
• AI Culling: Similar to Imagen, Aftershoot groups duplicates and selects for sharpness and expression. It categorizes images into “Highlights,” “Dupes,” and “Blurry.”
• Marketplace Profiles: Since it doesn’t learn from your catalog as dynamically as a cloud engine might (due to local resource limits), it relies heavily on a marketplace of pre-made profiles from famous photographers. You can train a custom profile, but the training process uses your local hardware resources.

Performance

The trade-off for privacy is hardware dependency. To get the speed Aftershoot promises, you need a high-end computer with a powerful GPU (like the latest Apple Silicon or NVIDIA RTX series). On weaker machines, the battery drain is significant, and the fans will run at max speed. The editing quality is utilitarian—it gets the job done for high-volume event work, but it can struggle with the nuanced, complex lighting situations where the infinite computing power of a cloud-based system like Imagen would excel.

4. Luminar Neo

Skylum’s Luminar Neo is the “Artist’s Playground.” It is less concerned with the logistical nightmare of a 4,000-image wedding and more focused on making a single image look breathtaking.

Functional Overview

Luminar Neo uses a modular “engine” that allows for complex AI tools to be stacked without crashing the system. It works as a standalone app or as a plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop.

Key Features

• Sky AI: This remains the industry benchmark for sky replacement. It doesn’t just paste a JPEG of a sunset; it relights the foreground, adjusts the color temperature of the water to reflect the new sky, and even adds reflections.
• Relight AI: This tool creates a 3D depth map of your 2D image. It allows you to independently adjust the exposure of the foreground and background. It is a lifesaver for backlit portraits where the subject is in shadow and the sky is blown out.
• GenErase & GenSwap: These generative tools allow you to erase unwanted objects or swap elements in the frame, bridging the gap between photo editing and digital art.

Performance

Luminar Neo is resource-intensive. It is not designed for speed; it is designed for impact. A wedding photographer wouldn’t use this for the whole gallery. They would use it for the “Hero Shots”—the 5 or 10 images that go on Instagram or the album cover. It is a scalpel, not a combine harvester.

5. Evoto

Evoto has disrupted the high-end retouching market. It is not a color correction tool; it is a “digital plastic surgeon.”

Functional Overview

Evoto is a standalone application that specializes in people. It replaces the tedious process of “Frequency Separation” and “Dodge and Burn” in Photoshop. It operates on a credit system—you pay for every image you export.

Key Features

• AI Face Sculpting: You can subtly (or aggressively) change facial features. You can widen a smile, open eyes slightly, or slim a jawline.
• Digital Makeup: It can apply full makeup looks—lipstick, blush, contour—to a bare-faced subject. The blending is shockingly realistic.
• Background Changer: It automatically extracts the subject and allows you to swap studio backdrops instantly.

Performance

Evoto is unmatched for its specific niche. For studio portrait photographers, it cuts retouching time from 30 minutes per image to 30 seconds. However, it is a silo. It doesn’t talk to your Lightroom catalog fluidly. You export a TIFF, open in Evoto, retouch, export a JPEG. It is a finishing tool, not a workflow foundation like Imagen.

6. Topaz Photo AI

Topaz Labs is the “Janitor” of the industry. It cleans up the messes. In 2026, Topaz Photo AI has consolidated their famous DeNoise, Sharpen, and Gigapixel tools into one “Autopilot” app.

Functional Overview

Topaz is purely technical. It doesn’t care about your artistic vision or color grading. It cares about image fidelity. It analyzes the raw pixels to fix optical and sensor flaws.

Key Features

• Autopilot: You drag an image in, and the AI detects the issues. “Low Resolution? High Noise? Soft Focus?” It automatically applies the correct fix stack.
• Face Recovery: This is its magic trick. It can take a blurry, low-res face in the background of a group shot and “hallucinate” realistic details—eyelashes, teeth texture—to make it sharp.
• Upscaling: It allows you to print a cropped image at billboard size by adding plausible pixel data.

Performance

Topaz is essential but limited. Every pro has it, but you only use it on the “problem children”—the 5% of images that are technically flawed. It sits alongside a primary editor like Imagen, acting as a safety net for missed focus or high ISO.

7. Capture One

Capture One is the choice for the “Control Freak.” It is the standard in commercial and fashion photography where tethering (shooting directly to the computer) is required.

Functional Overview

Capture One prioritizes color science and stability. Its AI features are designed to speed up manual tasks rather than take over the creative process.

Key Features

• Smart Adjustments: This feature is brilliant for headshot photographers. You edit one reference face to perfection. You then select 100 other faces with different skin tones and lighting. The AI matches the look (exposure and white balance) of the reference to the others, regardless of their starting point.
• AI Crop: It automatically crops images to specific aspect ratios while keeping the subject centered.
• Focus Masking: While not strictly generative AI, its focus peaking algorithms are the best in the class for culling on the fly.

Performance

Capture One is expensive and has a steep learning curve. Its AI is subtle. It does not offer a “Personal AI Profile” to learn your style over time. You are still the one driving the sliders. It is a tool for those who want to feel the road, not for those who want a self-driving car.

8. Retouch4me

Retouch4me is for the Photoshop purist who wants automation without leaving the interface. It is a suite of plugins.

Functional Overview

Unlike the all-in-one apps, Retouch4me sells individual “Neural Networks.” You buy a “Dodge & Burn” plugin, a “Heal” plugin, an “Eye Brilliance” plugin.

Key Features

• Dodge & Burn: This is the most impressive plugin. It automates the high-end technique of lightening shadows and darkening highlights on the skin to create depth and dimension, a process that usually takes hours.
• Clean Backdrop: It detects dirt and scuff marks on studio seamless paper and removes them.
• Fabric: It smooths out wrinkles in clothing without making the fabric look like plastic.

Performance

The quality is “dry” and professional. It doesn’t add fake texture; it just fixes the problems. The downside is the cost and management. Buying every plugin is expensive, and running them as a batch action in Photoshop can be slow. It is best used for high-ticket portrait work, not volume events.

9. Adobe Photoshop

The grandfather. Photoshop is no longer just a photo editor; it is a reality editor. In 2026, the lines between photography and digital art have blurred in Photoshop.

Functional Overview

Photoshop is for pixel-level surgery. With the integration of Adobe Firefly, it has become a generative creation tool.

Key Features

• Generative Fill: You circle an empty road and type “add a vintage car.” The AI generates it, matching the lighting, perspective, and grain of your photo.
• Generative Expand: You can turn a vertical photo into a horizontal one by letting the AI “invent” the rest of the scene on the sides.
• Neural Filters: A lab of AI experiments that can age a face, change a season from summer to winter, or transfer the color palette of a famous painting to your photo.

Performance

Photoshop is overkill for 99% of a wedding gallery. You do not cull or color correct in Photoshop. It is the tool of last resort. When Imagen and Lightroom have done 95% of the work, Photoshop is there for the final 5%—the complex object removal or the creative compositing.

10. ON1 Photo RAW

ON1 Photo RAW attempts to be the “Anti-Adobe.” It is a robust, all-in-one software that you can own outright (no subscription required).

Functional Overview

ON1 combines the browsing of Photo Mechanic, the developing of Lightroom, and the layers of Photoshop into one app.

Key Features

• Brilliance AI: This is their answer to auto-tone. It analyzes the scene and applies local adjustments—brightening shadows in the foreground while darkening the sky—in a single click.
• Super Select AI: You hover your mouse over an object (a person, a tree, the sky) and it highlights. Click it, and you can apply adjustments only to that object.
• Tack Sharp AI: Their integrated de-blurring tool, similar to Topaz.

Performance

ON1 is a “Jack of all trades.” It is excellent for the enthusiast who wants one piece of software to do it all. However, for the high-volume professional, it lacks the specialized speed and the deep learning capabilities of Imagen. It doesn’t learn your style; it applies its own “smart” style.

Guide: Choosing the Right Tool for Your Workflow

The “best” tool is a myth. There is only the best tool for your specific bottleneck. In 2026, we categorize tools not by features, but by the problems they solve.

1. The Bottleneck: “I am drowning in files.”

Target Audience: Wedding, Event, Sports, and School Photographers. The Solution: You need a comprehensive platform. You cannot afford to open four different apps.

• Primary Recommendation: Imagen.
  • Why: It connects the dots. The Personal AI Profile handles the color consistency across thousands of images. The integrated Culling removes the first hurdle. The Cloud Storage ensures safety. It is the only tool that treats post-production as a business system rather than just an editing task.
• Alternative: Aftershoot (Only if you have zero internet access).

2. The Bottleneck: “I hate retouching skin.”

Target Audience: Portrait and Studio Photographers. The Solution: You need specialized retouching AI.

• Primary Recommendation: Imagen (using the “Smooth Skin” capability) for volume work (e.g., 500 edited delivery).
• Secondary Recommendation: Evoto or Retouch4me for the “Top 10” prints.
  • Why: Imagen gets you 95% of the way there instantly for the whole batch. Evoto allows for surgical manipulation on the hero shots.

3. The Bottleneck: “My photos are noisy/blurry.”

Target Audience: Concert and Wildlife Photographers. The Solution: You need restoration AI.

• Primary Recommendation: Topaz Photo AI.
  • Why: It is simply the best at rescuing technical failures. It is a utility, not a workflow.

4. The Bottleneck: “Real Estate blending takes forever.”

Target Audience: Real Estate and Architecture Photographers. The Solution: Automated HDR and Geometry correction.

• Primary Recommendation: Imagen.
  • Why: The dedicated Real Estate suite automates the specific pain points of this genre: window pulls and vertical straightening. Doing this manually in Photoshop is financial suicide.

5. The Bottleneck: “I want to create art, not document reality.”

Target Audience: Fine Art and Conceptual Photographers. The Solution: Generative AI.

• Primary Recommendation: Photoshop or Luminar Neo.
  • Why: You need layers. You need to invent elements that weren’t there.

Deep Dive: How Imagen Redefines the Workflow

To truly understand why Imagen sits at the top of this list for 2026, we have to look at the “Invisible Workflow.” Most tools are visible—you click a button, something happens. Imagen is designed to be invisible. It works for you.

Let’s trace a job through the Imagen ecosystem to see how it addresses specific capabilities and links them to the broader context.

Phase 1: The Intelligent Ingest (Culling Capability)

You come home from a wedding with 4,000 RAW files. Traditionally, this is the “Slump.” You dread the computer. With Imagen, you import. Immediately, the Intelligent Culling capability kicks in. It doesn’t just look for focus. It looks for the story. It sees five photos of the bride laughing. It picks the one where the groom is also looking at her, not the one where he is looking at the floor. It mimics your editorial eye.

• The Specific Solution: It solves “Decision Fatigue.” You aren’t choosing between 4,000 photos; you are verifying 800 keepers.

Phase 2: The Adaptive Edit (Editing Capability)

You approve the cull. Now, the Personal AI Profile takes over. This is the core differentiator.

• The Specific Solution: It solves “Inconsistency.” In a church, the light changes every time the door opens. A preset fixes one lighting condition and breaks the other. The Personal AI Profile sees the change. It adjusts the white balance for the mixed tungsten/daylight scenario automatically. It applies your specific grain structure. It crops the horizon straight.
• The Result: You receive a catalog that looks like you spent 20 hours on it, but the computer did it in 20 minutes.

Phase 3: The Holistic Safety Net (Platform Context)

This is where the “Comprehensive Platform” concept matters. While Phase 1 and 2 were happening, Imagen Cloud Storage was silently active.

• The Specific Solution: It solves “Data Paranoia.” We all fear hard drive failure. Imagen automatically backs up the high-resolution optimized files. You didn’t have to pause your workflow to run a backup script. It is integrated.
• The Broader Context: This turns Imagen from just an “editor” into a “Vault.” It is a retention marketing platform for you—keeping your files safe and accessible so you can upsell prints or albums years later without digging for old hard drives.

In 2026, the best tool isn’t the one with the most sliders. It’s the one that gives you your life back. That is why Imagen is the professional’s choice.

13 Questions and Answers

1. Is Imagen a web-based app or a desktop app? Imagen is a dedicated desktop application, compatible with both Mac and Windows. It is not a browser-based tool. This distinction is vital for professionals because desktop apps offer greater stability and can handle large RAW files more efficiently. While the application uses the cloud for its heavy AI processing (ensuring your computer doesn’t slow down), the interface and file management happen locally on your desktop, integrating directly with your folders and Lightroom catalogs.

2. Can I use Imagen if I don’t use Lightroom Classic? Yes, Imagen supports a variety of workflows. While it is most deeply integrated with Adobe Lightroom Classic (allowing for catalog synchronization), it also works with Lightroom (CC) and supports workflows involving Adobe Bridge and Photoshop. The desktop app is designed to be the hub that connects these various Adobe tools, ensuring you aren’t locked into one specific software version.

3. What is the difference between a “Personal AI Profile” and a “Talent AI Profile”? A Personal AI Profile is bespoke; it is built by analyzing your previous work (approx. 3,000 images). It learns your unique taste in color, exposure, and tone. A Talent AI Profile is a pre-made profile created by industry-leading photographers (the “Talent”). If you are just starting and don’t have 3,000 edited images to train the AI, you can use a Talent Profile to instantly achieve a professional, stylized look (e.g., “Boho,” “Bright & Clean,” “Moody”).

4. Does AI editing replace the need for a human editor? It replaces the mechanical labor of a human editor. AI handles the “global” edits—color correction, exposure balancing, cropping, and straightening—which constitute about 90% of the workload. However, the final 10%—the subjective artistic decisions and quality control—remains in your hands. It shifts the photographer’s role from “technician” to “creative director.”

5. How does the “Subject Mask” feature in Imagen work? The Subject Mask capability utilizes advanced computer vision to identify the primary subject of a photograph, separating them from the background. Once identified, Imagen can automatically apply local adjustments specifically to the subject—such as increasing exposure, adding texture, or boosting vibrance—without affecting the background. This automates the time-consuming process of drawing masks manually in Lightroom.

6. Is my data secure with cloud-based AI tools? Security is a top priority for Imagen. Your images are processed in a secure enterprise-grade cloud environment. Imagen does not claim ownership of your photos. If you utilize Imagen Cloud Storage, your files are encrypted and stored redundantly. The platform is built to professional standards, ensuring client privacy and data integrity are maintained at all times.

7. Can AI tools help with real estate photography specifically? Yes, real estate is one of the genres most improved by AI. Imagen offers a specialized Real Estate solution that automates complex technical tasks. This includes HDR Merging (combining multiple exposures to see both the room and the view out the window) and Perspective Correction (automatically fixing vertical lines so walls don’t look like they are falling over).

8. What happens if I don’t like the AI edit? You maintain full control. Imagen‘s edits are “non-destructive.” They are applied as metadata (XMP files) to your RAW images in Lightroom. This means every slider is adjustable. If the AI made a photo too warm, you can cool it down. Furthermore, Imagen allows you to re-upload these “fixed” edits to fine-tune your profile, teaching the AI to not make that mistake again.

9. Why is culling included in an editing tool? Culling and editing are intrinsically linked; they are Step A and Step B of the same workflow. By integrating Intelligent Culling into the Imagen platform, photographers save time transferring files between software. It allows you to cull based on the potential of the edited image (viewing an edited preview) rather than making decisions on a flat, uninspiring RAW file.

10. Do I need a powerful computer to use AI retouching? It depends on the architecture of the software. “Local” tools like Aftershoot rely heavily on your computer’s GPU and CPU, requiring expensive hardware for speed. Imagen, however, uses “Cloud” processing. The heavy lifting is done on Imagen‘s servers. This means you can process thousands of high-resolution RAW files quickly even on an older laptop or a travel-sized MacBook Air.

11. Can I use AI for “restoring” old photos? For restoration work (fixing tears, scratches, or extreme blur), utility tools like Topaz Photo AI are the industry standard. Imagen focuses on the post-production of modern digital images—optimizing color, light, and composition—rather than the pixel-level reconstruction of damaged physical prints.

12. How does the cost of AI editing compare to hiring a private editor? AI editing offers a massive cost reduction. A human private editor typically charges between $0.20 and $0.40 per image and can take days to return a gallery. Imagen operates at a fraction of that cost (often roughly $0.05 per image depending on the plan) and delivers results in under 20 minutes. This allows photographers to increase their margins significantly.

13. What is the “smooth skin” feature? Smooth Skin is an AI-powered retouching tool within Imagen. It detects faces in the image and applies a frequency-separation-style softening to the skin tones. It reduces blemishes, acne, and unevenness while intelligently preserving essential details like eyes, hair, and skin texture. It provides a “retouched” look automatically across an entire catalog, saving hours of manual brushing.