This is what it looks like in comparison if I had done it myself

Key findings

• I experimented with manual retouching and AI tools to find out what works best.
• Some AI tools were more subtle, but many didn’t give me the results I was looking for.
• When using AI tools, it is recommended to do the core retouching manually beforehand.

To see if I can rely on AI to retouch my photos, I tested three tools. I also manually retouched my images using three different apps to see if human or AI retouching works better.

Retouch photos yourself

First, let’s look at how I manually retouched my images. It’s worth noting that all of these apps are available on mobile, but the same cannot be said for the AI ​​tools.

1. My smartphone’s editing app

The first thing I did was to retouch the image, using my iPhone’s built-in editing app. The image I edited was taken on a winter morning, and it was also a very grey day. My main goal was to add some vibrancy to the buildings, as in reality they looked much more colourful than the image suggests. This was the unedited version:

I also adjusted the shadows and added some contrast. I tried the automatic edits and while they were good, they weren’t really what I was looking for, so I avoided them. Other things I edited are brilliance, black point, vibrancy, and saturation. As you can see, the edited version is a big change from the original:

I also added a Vivid filter as a starting point, but I don’t think it’s 100% necessary for optimal results. Learning about the different iPhone camera filters and when to use them will help you decide if it’s a good idea to add them to your creations.

2. Canvas

Canva is another easy-to-use app that I sometimes use to create designs, although I also use it to edit photos. This time, I used some of Canva’s many free features to retouch my image, but before I talk more about that, here’s the original, unedited version:

This was actually a fairly simple edit and I mainly wanted to add a little more saturation to the image. But I also didn’t want to overdo it; the automatic adjustment seemed like Canva was adding too much and it looked more like a drawing.

I also tweaked the contrast and added a filter. While it’s probably not a portfolio piece, I was pretty happy with the end result here:

Unlike the first image, I didn’t want too much texture. The water was pretty calm when I was there in person, and I also didn’t want to add too much texture to the building you see in this image. I originally wanted to go for a more nostalgic look, but couldn’t really achieve that look in Canva.

If you want to enhance your images in Canva but would rather use AI, you can transform your images using Canva’s Magic Edit tool instead.

Download: Canva for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases possible)

3. Photoshop Express

Since I’ve edited street and architecture photos so far, I thought it would also be worthwhile to edit a portrait and see what I could achieve compared to AI. What I like about Photoshop Express is that you can specifically select a subject when editing a portrait, meaning the edits will only be applied to that part of the image.

Before I go into more detail, here is the original portrait:

I didn’t do much retouching in Photoshop Express. My main goal was to change the brightness a little and add some contrast to the image.

It was also important to me to highlight the fall colors in the background because, although my phone did a good job, I felt they could have been represented a little better. To do this, I chose the background carefully; saturating a person’s skin tone doesn’t always look good.

Here was the final edit:

As you can see, I also blurred the background slightly to draw more attention to the main subject. If you want to see how Photoshop Express compares to other Adobe tools, check out this review of several free Adobe apps.

Download: Photoshop Express for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases possible)

Using AI to retouch my photos

After manual retouching, I then used AI to retouch my images and compare them. I used the same images for these tools and you will see the results in the same order as everything is listed above.

1. ImgGen

ImgGen provides several AI tools online, but does not yet have a mobile app at the time of writing in August 2024. So, for this experiment, I sat down at my computer. I edited the same image that I had manually retouched in my smartphone’s camera app using ImgGen – the main difference being that this time I was using only AI.

Here is the result:

The tool removed a lot of texture, which is something I’ve talked about many times with AI retouchers and editors. Additionally, it didn’t add any color – that, combined with the fact that it’s now smoother, made the image more boring in my opinion.

If I were to use ImgGen’s AI retoucher again, I would probably make the changes to colors, shadows, textures, etc. manually. Then I would upload the edited image to remove excess sharpening, etc. I suggest you do the same.

2. iPhoto

For my next AI photo retouching test, I used the same image in Canva for iFoto. To do this, I used the app’s image enhancer as it was the closest thing to AI retouching. Using it is quite simple in this regard: all you have to do is upload your image and then the app will scan it and make changes. Here is the final result:

There isn’t much change compared to the original version, which I was actually happy about; in my opinion, some AI tools go too far with their edits. If I was just trying to smooth out my image, I would probably use this feature.

It’s worth mentioning, though, that I had trouble with iFoto recognizing my account, so you might experience similar issues.

3. Photor

Fotor is one of our favorite affordable AI photo editing apps, so I thought it would be worth trying out for this experiment. The Fotor app has an AI retoucher that you can use only on portraits, which is why I used it for the third image. Like the other AI tools on this list, you simply need to upload your image and click a button. It can sometimes take a while, so you may need to be patient.

Here is the final result:

Honestly, I didn’t notice much of a difference in retouching, but it was still good enough. I think this would probably work better if you were using more of a close-up portrait, so it might be worth trying if you want to edit your portraits more effectively with Fotor.

AI retouching tools definitely have their strengths. But by and large, I’d recommend using them in addition to manual edits. I’ve found that the best results come from editing the basics first and then adding my images to the AI ​​for the finishing touches. It’s also likely that these tools will get better over time as the technology they’re based on improves.