Prismatic Software Editorial Team
Adobe released Photoshop 28.0 on November 10, its latest major version for Windows 10+ and macOS 15.0+, headlined by Relight, a tool that lets a photographer add up to three light sources to an already-shot image and adjust their color, intensity, and softness after the fact (CG Channel). The Remove tool also picked up an option to clear shadows, reflections, and other context clues along with the object itself, rather than leaving a correctly-removed subject surrounded by lighting evidence that it was ever there (Basic Tutorials).
Every one of these tools runs on Adobe's generative credit system rather than shipping as a flat-rate feature, which puts a hard, visible cost on every AI-assisted edit a photographer makes. That's a pricing model most desktop software vendors don't have to think about until they bolt on their first cloud-inference feature, and it's exactly the kind of metering, quota, and fallback-UX problem that tends to go sideways without someone who's built it before, which is where a team that does generative AI integration work for a living earns its keep, long before the credit balance ever runs out mid-edit.
Relight: three new light sources, 30 credits each
Relight works by first detecting the light sources already present in a photo, then letting the user adjust them or add up to three new ones directly on the canvas, changing direction, intensity, warmth, and softness without a re-shoot (CG Channel). Results land on a separate layer, so the original pixels stay untouched if the relit version doesn't work out (Basic Tutorials). Each generation costs 30 generative credits, and reporting on the beta period noted real limits: the tool only reads the active layer, it can subtly shift facial features on portraits, and fine detail like hair comes back softer at full zoom than in the source file.
None of that makes Relight a gimmick — being able to warm up a flat window-lit portrait or add a rim light after the shoot is a genuinely useful save. It does mean treating the output as a strong starting layer to blend and mask against, not a one-click final result, which is the same caution that applies to AI object removal and every other generative tool Photoshop has shipped so far.
Remove now clears the evidence, not just the object
The enhanced Remove tool's "remove related elements" option extends past deleting the selected object to also erase its shadow, reflection, and other contextual effects like smoke or footprints, at a cost of 10 generative credits per use (CG Channel). It's a narrow-sounding addition that fixes a problem anyone who's used generative removal tools has run into: the object disappears cleanly, but its shadow stays behind on the ground, or its reflection lingers in a window, and the fix suddenly needs a second manual pass.
Generative Restyle, which lets a user describe a stylistic variant by prompt and apply it as an adjustable-intensity layer, also shipped in 28.0 at 80 credits per generation, alongside an updated Firefly Upscaler priced at 10 to 20 credits depending on output resolution.
The feature that didn't actually ship
Generative Recompose did not ship in Photoshop 28.0, despite being listed in some early release coverage as part of the update. The tool, previewed at Adobe MAX for reflowing an image into a new aspect ratio by repositioning the subject and extending the background, remains beta-exclusive; reporting on the actual release confirms it was not included in the standard 28.0 build (Basic Tutorials).
It's a small discrepancy, but it's a useful reminder for anyone who plans product messaging or support documentation around a vendor's AI roadmap: a feature demoed on stage and a feature shipped in the build users actually download are not the same claim, and the gap between the two is exactly where support tickets and mismatched release notes come from.
The bottom line
Photoshop 28.0's real news is less about any single tool and more about Adobe formalizing a pattern: every new AI feature now carries its own credit price tag, visible to the user at the moment they click it. Relight and the Remove upgrade are solid, usable additions worth the credits they cost. Generative Recompose's no-show is the smaller story, but it's the one worth remembering the next time a beta preview gets reported as a shipping feature.
