Photoshop and Lightroom just got a slew of incredibly useful updates

Tedious bottlenecks are the last thing you want getting in the way of your creative flow. If your work has ever been slowed down by fiddly layer management, awkward object repositioning, or endlessly scrolling through thousands of photos to find the right shot, you’re about to be set free.

Adobe has released a series of updates to Photoshop and Lightroom, and they're designed to do exactly that: save you time on the boring stuff and give you more time to create. Whether you’re working in collaboration with others or alone, these updates will make life much easier for you.

Rotate Object is now available in Photoshop

Do you remember the pain of repositioning an object at a new angle? That just became a thing of the past. Rotate Object is now fully available in Photoshop, turning what used to be a multi-step headache into a fast, non-destructive workflow. You can now rotate in real time and without rebuilding your work from scratch.

In practice, this is a game-changer for product designers and social media creatives who are constantly iterating on compositions. Imagine you're building a campaign visual and need to test a product shot at five different angles. Before, that meant multiple separate rebuild sessions, but now it can be done in seconds. For brand designers working on mood boards or ad concepts, the ability to freely explore angles without commitment or lengthy re-edits means more ideas can get tested, and the final output is even better.

Layer Cleanup arrives in Photoshop

First previewed at Adobe MAX last October, Layer Cleanup has officially arrived. It intelligently declutters your layer panel by renaming unnamed layers and removing empty ones automatically. The time you spent managing these layers is saved, and you can spend the time creating.

If you’ve ever shared someone else’s Photoshop file, or revisited your own project after a few weeks away, you’ll recognise the muddle of oddly-named layers and mysterious empty groups. These can eat up your precious time before you've made a single edit. Layer Cleanup takes away that problem, which is particularly valuable for agency teams collaborating on large files, or freelancers juggling multiple client projects who need to work on different projects quickly and cleanly.

Firefly Boards integrates with Photoshop and Lightroom

Firefly Boards now connects with both Photoshop and Lightroom, putting ideation and execution in the same space.This gives you a smooth path from early concept through to final output without workflow interruptions or switching between tools and losing your train of thought.

Imagine you’re conceiving a new visual identity for your social channel. You can now mood board, concept, and produce within a connected ecosystem, taking an idea from rough visual reference all the way to a finished thumbnail or brand asset without workflow interruptions.This is particularly valuable for a small team or individual creators.

Improved Search in Lightroom

Finding a specific photo in a library of thousands can be a test and a time suck. Lightroom's upgraded search lets you describe what you're looking for in plain language and throws up the images you need.

This is especially useful for photographers and content creators who are managing high volume work. For example, wedding photographers sifting through 1,500 pictures from one event, or social media managers searching specific assets from a shared library. You won’t need to remember exactly when or where a shot was taken – as long as you can describe it you can find it.

New Film-Inspired Presets and major performance upgrades

For photographers aiming for a nostalgic aesthetic, Lightroom's new film-inspired presets deliver rich looks with greater creative control. Whether you're going for the washed-out warmth of expired 35mm or the punchy contrast of a classic slide film, these presets give you a strong creative starting point that you can take further to match your personal style. This is ideal for photographers building a consistent visual brand on Instagram or Vsco.

If you're working through a big shoot, you'll notice the difference straight away: Assisted Culling is now faster, and interactive slider performance has improved by up to 5x.

These updates are available now. Explore the latest innovations in Photoshop and Lightroom.