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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Photoshop beta introduces powerful AI Harmonize feature.
- Composites look natural, though flaws still exist on close inspection.
- Feature feels both a time saver and a time thief.
Adobe is promoting their new Photoshop Harmonize feature as a next-generation compositing tool, but really it’s part of a conspiracy to steal your time away. I don’t mean to be hyperbolic, but it’s true. As you’ll see, I just can’t stop myself.
I need to warn you. Walk away now. Otherwise, prepare to lose all your time. This is about as bad as it was when we first discovered kitten and puppy videos on the internet, or that time when we figured out that we could get ChatGPT to rewrite stuff (like the Declaration of Independence) in pirate speak.
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To access the Harmonize feature, you’ll have to install the Photoshop beta. To do this, open your Creative Cloud app. Choose the Apps tab from the side (shown at 1), then the Beta tab at the top (shown at 2), and then click Install for the Photoshop beta (shown at 3).
As my first demo, I grabbed a copy of the new Echo Dot Max (which is, I need to point out, a contradiction in terms).
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I pasted it onto a snapshot of my kitchen counter.
After using the Remove Background feature on the Contextual Taskbar, we had an image where the lighting on the Echo Dot Max was nothing like the lighting in the counter photo.
But then I hit the Harmonize button. I really think Adobe should make that button play the sound of a choir of angels every time it’s used. Seriously, I can quit anytime. Sure I can. Here’s what happened after my first hit–I mean, click.
It’s really good. As with Photoshop’s other generative fill features, you can select from a variety of versions, and hit Generate again to see other alternatives.
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That’s it. That’s how that feature works. Go away now. We’re done here. Nothing more to see. I need to go Harmonize more images.
I’m OK. Really.
This tool is a great time saver for anyone compositing images…unless you just can’t stop yourself from using it. Dopamine, anyone?
To be fair, there are still some artifacts. If you are fussy and you zoom in real close, you can see that there is some minor fringing on some pictures, and some resolution loss. But really, who cares? This will get even better over time.
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To demonstrate…yeah, that’s the ticket. I’m demonstrating. Can you believe this is my job? I get paid to do this. Where was I? Oh, yeah. To demonstrate, I’m going to first show the two images I’m compositing side by side. Then I’ll remove the background on one using Photoshop’s Remove Background feature, and composite it with Harmonize on the other.
Obviously, point-of-view angle is important for the full effect. But even with slight point-of-view issues, the composite tool generally produces very good results.
1. Dodge on a build plate
I started off using a picture of my car and seeing if I could composite it onto one of my 3D printers. Here are the original images.
And here is the composite using Harmonize. As you can see, the harsh outside shadows were cleaned up and softened, but the image is clearly a composite. We can, and will, do better.
2. Yoda on a desk
Next up was the first of my product placement tests. The Baby Yoda shown here was printed as part of one of my 3D printer review projects. The desk is in one of the many random hotel rooms I’ve stayed at over the years. Here are the original images.
Note particularly the cool lighting of my Fab Lab shelf, and the warm lighting of the hotel room. Also notice the reflections on the desk, and how the composite tracked with those reflections and generated shadows appropriately. This is starting to get good.
3. That farm again
Some of you may remember when Photoshop’s Generative Fill came out, and I got a little carried away transforming a farm into a fairly twisted science fiction scene. Good times. Good times.
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I decided to revisit that farm photo, and this time composite a picture of me from one of my drone walk and talks.
This time, look at my arms and notice how the shadows have changed in the composite.
4. Gorn again
Then, I had the idea to see how well Harmonize would harmonize some effects shots. In this case, I used an image of the Vasquez Rocks I found on Wikimedia. Here are the two starter images.
I also used Photoshop’s Contextual Taskbar Remove button to remove the dude in the background. And then, unable to resist the inner geek that’s strong in this one, I Harmonized. Note how my original shadows were harmonized into the new shadows of the composite. The longer shadows were good. The shadows around my shoes aren’t quite as perfect.
If you know, you know. What? I couldn’t resist. Could you?
5. Kitschy harmonies
So far, I’ve been tinkering with this tool as if it were a toy (hint: it is). But what if you wanted to do a serious composite? Since you’ve seen how the sunny outdoor shots of me at the park composited into a very high-contrast farm scene, and another sunny scene at the famous rocks, I decided to run one more.
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This time, I used the kitchen nook from that same hotel suite. Here are the before shots.
And here’s the resulting image.
As you can see, the color and shadows changed considerably. This is a fairly believable composite. Doing this by hand would take hours. It took maybe two seconds with the Harmonize button.
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Keep in mind that the Harmonize button doesn’t scale or position the overlay image. If I appear slightly out of scale in these images, keep in mind that the hotel fridge unit is smaller than a normal one, and I probably didn’t scale myself to the proper height because of that. Harmonize just adjusted the light and shadows.
6. Product placement
Here’s another serious use of the Harmonize tool. On the left, I took a photo of a camera, which was shot under cold LED lights in my workshop, and composited it onto a table. I removed the background in the left shot, but it looks just like what it is: a product plastered over a background. But on the right, that’s not bad. It’s warmer and more realistic looking. Amazon sellers are going to love this feature.
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7. Fantastic dronage
Can you fly a tiny drone inside the shell of a 3D printer? Neither can I. But Photoshop can. On the left is a shot of my DJI Neo drone outside. On the right is a 3D printer I had to disassemble and repair.
The changes on the resulting picture are subtle. But the AI did recognize that the drone is supposed to be flying, and created shadows accordingly.
8. Defending the neighborhood
Finally, I decided to try compositing a scene. I took a photo I had of a neighborhood here in Oregon, a 3D print of a dragon, and the WALL-E fake LEGO model I built when I was testing Temu products back in the day. This picture shows the two original photos.
Next, on the left you can see how the two models look when their background is removed. They look exactly like what they are: a model of a dragon and a robot pasted over a photo of a street. But then, I hit Harmonize twice, once for the dragon and once for the robot. How cool is that image on the right?
Now, sure, the dragon isn’t painted. It’s clearly a model. But it looks more like a large statue placed in situ. And WALL-E? WALL-E looks like he belongs there.
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OK, that’s probably enough. I’ve reached the point where I’m worried my editor will scold me if I include more examples. But, wow.
I’d like to teach the world to sing
Is Harmonize perfect? No. But it’s very, very good. There is no doubt this is another huge leap forward for Photoshop’s toolkit. It’s certainly one that I will use over and over.
What I’d love to see is something like this for video. Now that’d be somethin’, huh?
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What about you? Have you tried Adobe’s new Harmonize feature in Photoshop yet? Do you think AI-driven compositing tools like this save time, or do they risk taking too much creative control away from the artist? Have you run into any artifacts or imperfections when using it? If so, how much do those matter to you? And would you want to see a video version of Harmonize for your own projects? Let us know in the comments below.
You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter, and follow me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, on Bluesky at @DavidGewirtz.com, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
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