Adobe's Experimental Camera App Can Now Critique Your Photos Using AI

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing photography, but most AI-powered tools have focused on editing after a photo has already been taken. Adobe is now exploring a different approach. Instead of simply fixing images, its experimental camera app, Project Indigo, aims to help users become better photographers by offering personalized critiques and practical shooting advice.

The latest update to Project Indigo introduces several AI-powered features, including photo evaluations, editing recommendations, advanced object removal, artificial depth of field, and creative style transfers. While many smartphone camera apps already use AI behind the scenes, Adobe's approach stands out by turning artificial intelligence into something more like a photography coach than just an editing assistant.

A Camera App That Offers Constructive Feedback

One of the most interesting additions is a feature that critiques your photographs after they're taken. Using large language models (LLMs), the app analyzes elements such as composition, lighting, colors, framing, and even the emotional impact of an image.

Rather than assigning a simple score or rating, the app provides written feedback similar to what you might receive from an experienced photographer reviewing your work. It explains what works well in the image while also pointing out areas that could be improved.

For beginners, this could become an educational tool instead of simply another AI gimmick. Learning photography often requires understanding why a photo succeeds or fails, and Project Indigo attempts to explain those reasons in plain language.

Of course, photography remains a highly subjective art. Users don't have to agree with every suggestion the AI makes, but having another perspective could help photographers notice details they might otherwise overlook.

Suggestions Before You Press the Shutter Again

Adobe has also introduced a feature that goes one step further by recommending how users could improve the shot if they decide to retake it.

Instead of merely editing an existing image, Project Indigo analyzes the scene and suggests adjustments to framing, exposure, camera position, or distracting objects that should be removed from the composition. During demonstrations, the app even recommended removing an unwanted object from the frame to create a cleaner image.

It also provides editing suggestions using Adobe Lightroom's controls, helping users understand which adjustments—such as brightness, contrast, or color balance—could improve the final photograph.

This combination of shooting advice and editing guidance transforms the app into something closer to a photography tutor than a traditional camera application.

Smarter Object Removal

AI-powered object removal has become common across many photo editing apps, including Apple Photos, Google Photos, and Adobe Photoshop. However, these tools usually require users to manually circle or paint over the objects they want removed, and the results can sometimes be inconsistent.

Project Indigo introduces a more intelligent system.

Instead of asking users to carefully select unwanted objects, the app automatically identifies common distractions such as people in the background, trash bins, utility poles, fences, vehicles, wires, and general clutter. Users simply choose what they want removed using built-in options or describe a custom object with text.

Early demonstrations suggest the feature performs impressively. Adobe showed examples where background people and objects were removed cleanly without leaving behind the distorted textures or strange visual artifacts that often plague AI editing tools.

For travel photography, street photography, and vacation snapshots, this could save users significant editing time.

Simulating Professional Camera Effects

Another addition is AI-generated depth of field, allowing users to create a blurred background even if the original image wasn't captured using portrait mode.

Professional photographers often rely on expensive cameras and fast lenses to achieve this effect naturally. Smartphones have attempted to replicate it through computational photography for years, but Adobe's AI aims to make the process even more flexible after the photo has already been taken.

While synthetic background blur isn't new, improvements in AI continue to make these effects look increasingly realistic, narrowing the gap between smartphone photography and dedicated cameras.

Bringing Back Artistic Style Transfers

Adobe is also experimenting with style transfer, allowing users to transform ordinary photographs into images that resemble watercolor paintings, pen-and-ink sketches, monochrome artwork, or dramatic backlit portraits.

Although the concept isn't new it became popular years ago through apps like Prisma the newer AI models produce cleaner and more refined results.

Whether these artistic filters become widely used remains uncertain. Many photographers still prefer natural-looking edits over heavily stylized images, but creative users may appreciate having more options available directly within the camera app.

Adobe Wants Simplicity Instead of Better Prompts

Project Indigo is led by Marc Levoy, who previously helped develop Google's acclaimed Pixel camera technology.

Levoy believes one of the biggest frustrations with modern generative AI is the reliance on text prompts. Users often spend considerable time trying different wording to achieve the desired result, making editing less intuitive than it should be.

Adobe's solution is to replace complicated prompts with dedicated buttons and predefined actions that produce more predictable outcomes. Instead of asking users to describe every adjustment in detail, the app presents simple options that generate consistent results.

Ironically, Project Indigo still includes an optional text-based editing feature for more advanced changes. While this offers additional flexibility, Adobe acknowledges that unrestricted prompt-based editing can easily lead to low-quality or unrealistic edits the kind of AI-generated "slop" that many technology companies are now trying to avoid.

Powered by Google's AI For Now

Many of the experimental features currently rely on Google's Gemini-based Nano Banana model, although Adobe says it remains open to using different AI systems in the future, including its own Firefly models.

At the moment, these capabilities are available only to a limited group of testers under the app's AI Playground section. Adobe has made it clear that these are experimental features, meaning there's no guarantee they will eventually appear in a public release.

Still, the company's willingness to test these ideas offers an interesting glimpse into where smartphone photography could be heading.

AI as a Photography Teacher

The photography industry has spent years integrating artificial intelligence into cameras, often without users even realizing it. AI already helps smartphones balance exposure, recognize faces, reduce image noise, and improve low-light photography automatically.

Adobe's latest experiment takes AI beyond image processing by focusing on education. Instead of simply fixing mistakes after they're made, Project Indigo attempts to explain why a photograph could be improved and encourages users to think more carefully about composition, lighting, and storytelling.That shift may ultimately prove more valuable than any editing feature.

While concerns remain about AI-generated content overwhelming creative platforms, tools that genuinely help people develop their skills represent a more constructive use of artificial intelligence. If Adobe continues refining Project Indigo, the app could become less about replacing photographers and more about helping them grow.

In an era where AI is often criticized for encouraging shortcuts, a camera app that teaches users how to take better photos may be one of the technology's most practical applications yet.