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On-device Select subject in Photoshop, improved ai selections without the cloud

Colin Smith

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Excellent auto selections in Photoshop, right on your device

Five months ago, Adobe made some huge improvements to their auto selections in Photoshop. Select subject and remove background got a new algorithm, but only for cloud-based processing. This means your photo is (invisibly, behind the scenes) uploaded to the Adobe cloud and processed (this has been around a long time, but the algorithm was new). Many people dont want to have their images transferred to the cloud, or they have slow or no internet. Today there is good news. Currently only in Photoshop Beta, the on device algorithm received a much wanted update.

Let’s test it out and see how good it is. Watch the video for more detailed comparisons.

We will begin with the current Mainline Photoshop to see the difference.

Let’s use this picture of a woman and a bicycle. Spokes are very difficult to select normally.

starting image of woman and bicycle

Choose the Object Selection tool.

where is The object Selection tool in Photoshop

In the options bar, change the setting next to Select Subject. Choose Device, to test the old on-device model. This will keep all the processing on your computer and not pass anything to the cloud.

Click on Select Subject. 

On device select subject in Photoshop software

As you can see, the selection didn’t even select the bicycle. The selection it made is poor, with jaggy edges and chunks missing.  We won’t use Cloud, because we already know it works well and the cloud option is exactly the same as in the Beta.

Note: Initially, I dragged the Object selection tool to also select the bike, just for comparison. But I decided not to include that in this test because it uses a slightly different algorithm and might have caused confusion.

results of old select subject in photoshop

Open the same image into Photoshop public beta. Choose device.

on cloud processing for select subject in Adobe Photoshop software

Notice the result is vasty better.

the result of removing the background from a bicycle in photoshop new on device algorithm selections

Let’s change the setting to Cloud for comparison.

Choose Select Subject

cloud option,  select subject in photoshop

And we also get a great result.

result of cutting out a person in photoshop

Compare On device to Cloud with Photoshop select Subject

Comparing the two side by side, it looks like the new Device settings rivals that of the cloud setting.

the difference between on device and on cloud for select subject in photoshop

Examining different parts of the image, it still looks great, The Device version is on the left in these examples.

the difference between on device and on cloud for select subject on face in photoshop

We can safely say for this type of image, the on device processing is just as good as the cloud processing.

the difference between on device and on cloud for select subject in photoshop bicycle

Selecting people in Photoshop

Let’s try a different type of image to test the capabilities further.

the subject is a young woman in a beautiful golden evening dress in a ballroom

The on device version is on the left.

the difference between on device and on cloud for select subject in photoshop

Closer up, you can see the results are very similar.

comparing details between on device and on cloud for select subject in photoshop

Let’s try a lower contrast photo, with strong back lighting.

subject is a young asian woman using a laptop. Its a low contrast image with bright back lighting from windows

If we examine the results, we can see the back of the chair is a little better on the cloud version, on the left.

the difference between on device and on cloud for select subject in photoshop on hard edges

As you can see, the results are very similar.

the difference between on device and on cloud for select subject in photoshop on hair

My verdict. I think the Cloud processing is slightly better, but not by much and not in every case. Adobe has done a great job of improving on device processing of select subject and remove background. At this point I feel like I can confidently use the on device processing for making initial selections in Photoshop.

Also bear in mind, this is just the first step of a cut out. Usually, we will go into select and mask and refine the edges of the selection before use.

Great to see you here at the CAFE

Colin


PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips.. (I've been posting some fun Instagram and Facebook Stories lately)
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