Adobe has released the May 2021 update to Photoshop. The update comes with a slew of bug fixes and a brand-new Neural Filter.
Adobe Photoshop Now Has a Portrait Mode
While it is possible to manually blur pictures with the subject in focus, the process is quite cumbersome. To address this, Photoshop now includes a new Neural Filter called Depth Blur. The filter automatically detects and blurs the background of images, similar to the portrait mode feature in smartphones.
The filter can be accessed under the Filters > Neural Filters menu. Being a new feature, it is labeled as Beta and can make mistakes while blurring images. Thankfully, it comes with various adjustment sliders that can be used to perfect the image. Additionally, users can manually select a focal point, around which all the adjustments are made.
Like other Neural Filters, the Depth Blur effect uses cloud computing. This means that adjustments are not immediately visible on the image, and it may take time for a preview to show up. On the plus side, using machine learning and cloud computing the filter is likely to improve as more users use it.
In addition to the Depth Blur filter, the Adobe website also highlights other changes in the May 2021 release of Photoshop.
One of them is the "Save a Copy" feature that "automatically creates a copy of your work and allows you to export and share in your desired file format." It will do so without overwriting the original file, while preserving the integrity of your data in the process. This will help tackle the file type limitations of the Save as feature.
Adobe Photoshop Will Run Natively on 64-bit Windows 10 ARM Devices
Another major update to Photoshop is that it now supports ARM devices running Windows.
The release notes mention the minimum system requirements to run Photoshop on ARM Windows 10 devices.
To run Photoshop, ARM devices need to have 64-bit Windows 10 20H1 installed. Coming to hardware, Photoshop needs at least 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended) and 4GB of Graphics Memory.
Although there are some features that are lacking in the ARM release of Photoshop, Adobe has assured users that they will be added in subsequent releases. The Shake Reduction and Oil Paint filters are absent. Additionally, Photoshop for ARM devices doesn't allow importing, exporting, and playback of embedded video layers.
Despite not being as feature ridden as its counterpart, it's a good decision by Adobe to provide native Photoshop support to ARM devices.