We all know the trademarks of a bad selfie: Unflattering angles, front-camera distortion, distracting backgrounds. Adobe is testing artificial intelligence tools to automatically correct these common issues and infuse selfies with more pleasing portraiture effects.
Adobe shared some of its research on selfie photography in the video below, and the potential results are compelling. That warped-face effect from the too-close front-facing camera? With a few taps, the typical selfie transforms into an image that appears to have been taken from a further distance, as would be seen in a more traditional portrait.
There's also an automatic masking tool, which could add bokeh and depth-of-field effects similar to the iPhone 7 Plus' Portrait Mode, blurring out distracting backgrounds for more emphasis on the subject, without the need for a dual-lens camera or other specific hardware.
In addition, Adobe hinted at the potential for automatic styling effects, similar to those seen recently in some of its other AI-driven photo retouching research, only selfie-specific.
Adobe has not confirmed if and when these tools will hit its lineup of smartphone apps, but if they are as easy and effective as this behind-the-scenes look suggests, they could be helping amateur photographers achieve more professional-looking results sometime in the not-so-distant future.
