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Of all the features that Adobe Photoshop has introduced in the recent years, the one that’s making quite a splash is Generative Fill. It’s one of Photoshop’s new features that utilizes AI for astonishing effects, and this particular tool works almost like magic. It enables easy expansion of an image and filling in areas that weren’t in the original data, along with effortlessly removing unwanted elements like stripping out distracting backgrounds or unnecessary text.

Contents

• How to download PhotoShop Generative Fill
• What does the generative fill toolbar do?
• Use AI to expand your images
• Add new objects to a scene
• Remove elements in a quick and easy way
• Which Photoshop version has generative fill?

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The Generative Fill tool is a game-changer for photo editing, and one of the best things about this feature is that even casual users can use it without being experts. In fact, it allows them to perform the kind of editing that would have required a skilled professional before, and although its capabilities aren’t limitless, there are countless fun and useful ways to make the most of this tool, which we’ll showcase below.

Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

15 minutes

What You Need

• Desktop PC or laptop with Adobe Photoshop beta

How to download PhotoShop Generative Fill

The Generative Fill feature and its associated functions are all hidden within Photoshop’s beta branch, so you’ll need to download that first to get started.

Step 1: If you don’t currently have an Adobe account and a PhotoShop subscription, you can take advantage of the free trial.
If you do have an account, open the Creative Cloud app and select Beta apps from the left-hand menu.

Step 2: Look for “Photoshop (Beta)” and click the Install button.

Step 3: Once the beta is installed, select Open to launch the app.

Step 4: When the beta launches, a pop-up will inform you about the new Generative Fill feature. If you want Photoshop to assist you in learning how to use generative fill, select the Try now button to download the necessary assets.
Follow the on-screen instructions for a quick breakdown of what the new AI feature can do and how to use it. Alternatively, we have some sections below that explain how to use it in more specific scenarios.

What does the generative fill toolbar do?

The Photoshop generative fill toolbar offers several options you can use to enhance or expand your images. The main icons include the following:

• Select subject: This makes use of the power of AI to intelligently determine the most important element in the scene – the “subject”. It then automatically selects it for you, helping you to remove the background, make copies of your subject, or enhance that object specifically.
• Remove background: With this quick tool, Photoshop can effortlessly remove the background from an image.
• Transform image: This allows you to flip your image horizontally or vertically, depending on its native orientation.
• Add an adjustment layer: These are preset filters that can be used to tweak how an image looks.
• Taskbar appearance: Allows you to change how the generative fill toolbar appears.
• Properties panel: This shows or hides the properties panel for the image you’re working on, as well as any of its generative layers.

These buttons can do a lot on their own, and it’s worth experimenting to discover the various uses you can find for them. However, there are also more specific ways to use generative fill, often with even greater effect.

Use AI to expand your images

If you wish your image was larger, to have a different aspect ratio, or simply to include more content, the generative fill command is extremely handy. Simply select any picture, choose where you want the tool to generate new content, and click the button. You can even provide a text prompt to help explain what you want to see.

Step 1: Open an image that you want to expand. Then, use the crop tool or go to Image > Canvas size to increase the physical dimensions of the image, leaving a black or white background behind the new space.

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Step 2: Use the selection tool – the second from the top in the toolbar – to select the black areas that you want to fill, as well as any areas that you want Photoshop to sample from to create the new content.

Step 3: Select Generative fill.

Step 4: If you want something specific to fill those spaces – other than more of the same – enter it in the text box; otherwise, leave it blank and click the Generate button.

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Step 5: Wait for the process to complete and you should have a newly expanded image that closely resembles the original.

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Add new objects to a scene

Adding people or objects to scenes and achieving the correct lighting, reflections, color tone, and proportions used to be a real headache and was often best left to professionals. But not anymore. With generative fill, you can bring all kinds of elements into a scene with just a few clicks and taps of your mouse and keyboard.

Step 1: Select a portion of the image where you want to add new elements.

Step 2: Select Generative fill, then type whatever it is you want to appear in the box. In this case, we’re using the same Windows XP backdrop, but we want to add a sinkhole to its rolling hills, so I input “Sinkhole in the grass.”

Step 3: Once done, you can click the left/right arrows next to the “1/3” to try out one of the three versions of your prompt that generative fill created to find your favorite.

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Step 4: For fun, let’s add something else. A “Big tree on the hill.”

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Step 5: This one isn’t perfect, but it still looks good. You might need to redo the fills a few times to get the feel of what you want by adjusting your text prompt.

Remove elements the quick and easy way

Would you rather remove something problematic from a scene? You can also use generative fill for that.

Step 1: Open an image that you want to remove an element from, and use your preferred selection tool to select an area roughly around the object you want to replace. Then select Generative fill followed by Generate. This will tell Photoshop to replace what’s there with a generated background that matches the pixels around it. If you want it to put something there instead, add it to the text prompt before hitting Generate.

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Step 2: The object should then be removed from the image. It can handle complex tasks as well. Take a look at this image, where the bench has been removed, but the ground and the slatted fence are maintained, even if there’s a slightly odd texture to them. The lighting reflection in the water beyond is slightly different, but it’s hard to tell at first glance that this is a Photoshopped image.

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Which Photoshop version has generative fill?

To utilize generative fill, you’ll need Adobe Photoshop version 25 or above. If you need to check which version of Photoshop you are running, you can go to the menu bar and select Help, then select System Info. This will display information about your software, including the version of Photoshop that you are using.

The possibilities for this tool are virtually endless in the right hands. Have some fun and explore to see what you can come up with. Wondering what else AI can do these days? Have a conversation with ChatGPT. You’ll be surprised by how realistic it is.