VSCO, a popular social platform for photographers and the maker of a namesake editing tool, is embracing AI. Now, AI editing is almost a taboo in the creative circles, even though the tools such as Google’s Gemini Nano Banana and OpenAI’s Sora have gone viral among the masses. VSCO wants to offer AI-powered editing controls that retain the pristine image while using techniques that have been “built for photographers by photographers.”
What’s new?
The latest from the company is VSCO AI Lab, which is now available within the VSCO Studio app for iPhones. The dedicated AI-powered hub will get a series of editing features in the near future, starting with a “remove” tool that is now rolling out. Users can either go with the lasso or brush to remove unwanted elements from their pictures, somewhat like the Magic Eraser feature available in the Google Photos app.
Here’s the big difference though. When a picture is retouched using AI, the original color chemistry and resolution remain untouched. “Remove keeps the creative intent and quality of the original photo intact, offering photographers a more simplified workflow to produce higher quality work,” the company promises. VSCO recently launched a camera app called Capture and I’ve extensively used it on my phone.
On the technical side, VSCO AI Lab relies on the Black Forest Lab’s FLUX.1 Kontext model working in tandem with an in-house pipeline. The overarching idea is to ensure that edited pictures still retain their natural profile, and don’t look artificial or visibly synthetic with aggressive smoothing or unwanted color adjustments.
How does it work?
VSCO’s AI-powered Remove can detect the highlighted areas in the same fashion that the lasso tool in Photoshop or mobile editing apps works. However, when the AI jumps into action, it makes sure that the tweaks are resolution-safe and don’t disturb the overall composition of the image.
Users can either go with the lasso tool, or pick between the tap-to-click and brush tools for erasing undesired elements from their photos. The standout element is that VSCO AI Lab will let users edit RAW photos. Additionally, when a picture is fed to the editing pipeline, a non-destructive copy of the original image is retained.
In the coming months, VSCO AI Lab will add an upscaling feature that will enhance the image resolution and sharpen it, without changing the color accuracy. In general, the AI upscalers available in tools such as Canva often struggle with sharpening, producing pictures that are higher in resolution, but add a lot of fuzzy elements, especially with text.
“ AI Lab will serve as a space to experiment with next-generation AI tools built by and for photographers,” VSCO said in a statement. As far as access goes, VSCO Pro subscribers will get access to unlimited AI edits, alongside access to an expansive set of professional-grade touch-up tools.
