This AI art app is so good I'm ready to cancel my Photoshop subscription

Homescreen Heroes: Picsart boasts a set of AI tools for editing photos and videos

Features By Paul Hatton published 15 December 2024

The likes of Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Photo have been the best photo editors for a long time now. There have, however, been rumblings of change. A number of creators I know have moved away from Adobe products in favor of more affordable solutions, while others have begun embracing editing tools that are built around AI technology.

You may have heard of Topaz Labs Photo AI and Photoroom. They are relatively new kids on the block but with their focus on generative tools and mobile functionality, they’re seeing a huge rise in popularity. I know that Adobe is doing everything it can to reposition itself within the market but it better move fast to keep up with these upstarts.

Another option is Picsart, which I’ve been using recently. This mobile and web app accelerates creative projects and processes so you can edit photos and videos as well as generate new ones. It’s quick, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive compared to an Adobe subscription.

Homescreen heroes

This is part of a regular series of articles exploring the apps that we couldn't live without. Read them all here.

I began my Picsart journey by putting all the photo editing tools through their paces. What better place to start than the background removal tool? I, and countless creatives, have had decades of painstakingly cutting objects out using manual selection tools. It looks like those years of hard labor might now be over.

I loaded in a picture of a child with wispy hair. I did, after all, want to give Picsart a proper test. The child was also holding a couple of objects, which some background removal tools might find tricky to differentiate. After pressing the button and waiting a couple of seconds, I was amazed that Picsart had done a near-perfect job, even around the hair. Unbelievable.

Through an easy-to-use interface, I was then able to insert a plain colored background or a picture from their presets library. All fairly straightforward but then I opened up the AI background tool and this is where things jumped to an eerily scary level. Picsart inserted the child into a range of different scenes, all perfectly. One option even included her standing on a chair. Anyone would struggle to know she wasn’t originally photographed in that location.

Suitably impressed, I then headed into the AI enhancement tools. This is where images can be sharpened and defects removed. I gave Picsart a pretty decent image already and yet it still provided a higher level of clarity and even smoothed out blemishes on the person's skin. I particularly liked the ability to adjust the intensity of the enhancement.

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