Photoshop s stunning new tool instantly restores your old family photos TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Photoshop s stunning new tool instantly restores your old family photos By Mark Wilson published 14 June 2022 AI-powered 'Neural Filter' does the photo restoration for you (Image credit: Adobe) Audio player loading… Restoring old family photos can be an enjoyable time-sink, but an impressive new Photoshop tool has just arrived to speed up the task for those who'd rather do it with a single click. Photoshop's new Photo Restoration Neural Filter effectively automates a lot of the program's tools, like Content-Aware Fill, to help restore your old photos in a few seconds. 'Neural Filters' are the collective name for Adobe's AI-powered editing tools, which also include effects like Depth Blur (for artificially creating shallow depth-of-field effects) and Colorize, which colorizes black-and-white photos. But the new Photo Restoration tool looks particularly handy if you've recently digitized a bunch of dog-eared portrait photos. As you can see in the demo below, it can detect and fix scratches, while also working its magic on the contrast, noise and color in the image. All of these things are already possible in Photoshop, but the leap forward is the ability for the program to spot a photo's issues and automatically fix them for you. This opens up photo restoration to those who don't know Photoshop's often arcane menus. Because most of Photoshop's Neural Filters run locally on your computer, though, you'll need a relatively recent machine in order to use Photo Restoration and those other tricks. Adobe says you need either a Mac running macOS 10.15 Catalina (or later), or a Windows computer running Windows 10 (or later). Adobe hasn't said exactly when the Photo Restoration filter will be available to download, but we've asked it for an estimate, and we'll update this story when we hear back. When Photoshop updates are available the program usually prompts you to update your filters – so look out for a nudge soon. Analysis Robot Photoshop is learning fast Photoshop's Neural Filters only arrived in 2020, but these AI-powered tools have already grown significantly in both number and versatility. The new Photo Restoration tool, though, might be one of its most useful ones yet. It isn't the first program to tackle the growing demand for digitizing old snaps. Google's PhotoScan app lets Android and iOS smartphone users bring prints into their digital library, and applies automated fixes like removing glare. There are other cloud-based services around too, like VanceAI. But the power of the Photoshop brand, and its ubiquity, means its photo restoration tool has a good chance of being used more widely, particularly among beginners who aren't familiar with all of its tools and are looking for a one-click solution. The only downside is that you need the full version of Photoshop in order to use the feature – it's not available in Photoshop Elements. If you don't want the program to be too heavy-handed with your photo, there are adjustment sliders and check boxes for tools like Enhance Face and Scratch Reduction that enable you to customize the look. This is good news because, while the Photo Restoration demos are impressive, some may find the finished result a little too bold and artificial. Still, there's no doubt that the feature will improve with time, and it's just the start of a new 'robot' Photoshop for those who don't know their Curves from their Smart Objects. Mark WilsonCameras editorMark is the Cameras Editor at TechRadar. Having worked in tech journalism for a ludicrous 17 years, Mark is now attempting to break the world record for the number of camera bags hoarded by one person. He was previously Cameras Editor at Trusted Reviews, Acting editor on Stuff.tv, as well as Features editor and Reviews editor on Stuff magazine. As a freelancer, he's contributed to titles including The Sunday Times, FourFourTwo and Arena. And in a former life, he also won The Daily Telegraph's Young Sportswriter of the Year. But that was before he discovered the strange joys of getting up at 4am for a photo shoot in London's Square Mile. See more Cameras news TechRadar Newsletter Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1Micro-LED 4K TVs aren't trying to kill OLED, they're aiming at projectors2Google event recap: Pixel 7, 7 Pro, Pixel Watch and all the big announcements3You may not have to sell a body part to afford the Nvidia RTX 4090 after all4My days as a helpful meat shield are over, thanks to the Killer Klown horror game5Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro: the 7 most exciting new camera features1We finally know what 'Wi-Fi' stands for - and it's not what you think2Dreamforce 2022 live: All the announcements from this year's show3'Go small or go home': HTC teases a new Vive VR headset4She-Hulk episode 8 just confirmed Netflix's Daredevil TV show is canon in the MCU5Google's new AI lets you turn words into HD videos Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View (opens in new tab)