For quite some time now, Microsoft has been constantly improving its “boring” Photos app, the default media viewer on Windows 11. Now, with some AI-powered features, high-quality photo editing is also accessible to everyone.
It uses generative AI to retouch photos
The Erase feature in the Photos app helps remove distractions – unwanted people or objects in the background as well as imperfections or stains on the subject.
This feature uses AI to fill the removed area and processes the image to intelligently match the background. It uses advanced machine learning to predict how the pixels would look without the object.
Then, based on the surrounding environment, it generates content that looks natural and inconspicuous. This process is done locally on your device, and Microsoft assures that your data will never leave your device.
To manually apply the feature, set Auto Apply to Off, and then select the object or area you want to remove using the brush tool. Next, select where you want to apply it using Add mask and deselect the areas where you don’t want it applied using Remove mask. When you’re done, click Erase and Generative Erase will apply the effect to the selected area.
The Erase feature is a generative AI-fied evolution of the old Spot Fix tool – the former creates more intuitive and realistic results. It offers a straightforward way to make your photos look higher quality without using advanced photo editing software.
It helps modify the background
You can also easily add a professional touch to your images using the app’s myriad background editing capabilities.
The app initially offered a background blur feature that could improve your photos by separating the subject from the background. It applied an effect similar to using portrait mode in smartphone photography. However, the Photos app now lets you easily remove that isolated background or replace it with a different color.
It can make low-quality photos better
Super Resolution is a useful feature to improve and enlarge low-resolution and low-quality photos, in order to make older, distorted photos look better or to get larger prints.
Super Resolution uses AI to enlarge images up to 8x from the original image size. Essentially, it increases the number of pixels in the image, turning it from a low resolution to a high resolution.
This makes the image larger and suitable for printing or viewing on a large display. Super Resolution can also be used to enhance the quality of an image, making a photo look sharper and more defined. However, the results are hit or miss.
Recent improvements to the Photos app on Windows 11 and the integration of iCloud and OneDrive have turned it into a handy photo-editing tool. Most casual users don’t need a third-party app for basic photo editing. This is especially true now that Microsoft has included these AI-powered features in Windows for free.