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What is Adobe Stock AI Studio and how can it reshape creative workflows
Adobe Stock AI Studio is an interesting take on an age-old problem I suspect just about every creator has faced (I know I have): finding the right asset for a project.
So, if you're anything like me, you've probably scrolled sometimes for hours trying to find the perfect stock image or video. And you'll see plenty that are either sort of but not quite right, or absolutely not right at all. You end up settling on something that more or less conveys the intent, even if it doesn't totally capture your vision.
It's this arena that the AI Studio comes into play.
Built directly into the Adobe Stock website, this suite of AI-powered tools lets you edit content to make the licensed asset line up with your concept. I was keen to see how it actually supports designers, photographers, and videographers in reshaping creative workflows.
Adobe Stock AI Studio: What is it?
The idea behind using AI on Adobe Stock is a simple one: what if you just can’t find that perfect image you need for your project? Many come close, but none hit that mythical jackpot. The only alternative, then, would be to get the kit to shoot the content yourself.
This service makes full use of Adobe’s Firefly algorithms to grant you the power to modify and edit existing content to turn an ok photo, into one that’s exactly what you were after, all within the browser-based platform.
The AI Studio portal on the Adobe Stock site gives you a flavor of what you can do, such as altering the photo’s color palette, changing its mood - which includes creating a matching facial expression for anyone in the shot - and even animating a still image. Of course, if none of these options are what you’re after, there’s always the Type to Edit prompt.
So far, so good. If you’ve dabbled with AI before, you'll be in familiar territory. And the big twist here is, you can experiment using AI credits before you finally license the asset.
Adobe Stock AI Studio: How to use it
Stock AI Studio is baked right into Adobe Stock, which means you don’t have to go anywhere else, or bookmark a new URL, to find your ideal generated asset.
You could click on that icon in the page’s menubar, then choose ‘AI Studio Home’ to begin your generated AI altering journey, but that’s not even necessary.
After all, the library depth here is already vast, so you might find the perfect image without having to alter it. If not, start searching.
Adobe Stock will offer you page after page of results. Mouse over an image to see a few options top right of the thumbnail, including saving the photo to your library, downloading a preview of it, or click the ‘Edit’ button.
It's worth noting that vector artwork cannot be edited by Stock AI Studio, which I had expected, and neither can ‘Premium’ photos, which are licensed as is.
Once you’ve clicked on that ‘Edit’ button, the interface changes, revealing a sidebar to the left with multiple options open to you.
Adobe Stock AI Studio: Image editing
If you've toyed with Firefly's AI tools before, many of the options on Adobe Stock AI Studio will be familiar to you.
There's Expand Image, which creates more of the image beyond its original borders, based on what’s already there. The sizes on offer are based on four basic aspect ratios: Landscape, Portrait, Widescreen and Square.
This has impressed me in other Adobe apps, and it's the same offering here. It's a brilliant way of getting a suitable image to fill the frame of, say, your website without cropping, cutting, or manually editing to get the shot just right.
You also have the option of positioning the original shot inside the new canvas, to one of the frame’s edge or in the middle. When you’re ready, hit ‘Generate’ and away the algorithm goes. It’ll take a few seconds for you to see the results. I found I could repeat the process a few times to make the image ever bigger for some, but not for all.
Naturally, you can Remove Background - it's an essential for any workflow, and I use it daily. But I was also taken by Change Background. This tool first removes the original background, then replaces it with an AI-generated one.
You’re also offered a Type to Edit field for you to fill with exactly what you want to see. Hit ‘Generate’ and Firefly will get to work for you. To my mind, this is a significant speeding up of the creative workflow by combining to multiple tasks into one.
The suite's Change Color feels like a very original AI tool, replacing a photo’s look with a palette of complementary colors. This is probably one of the most useful AI tools for creatives looking to move away from finding the right shot and making it your own. Specifically, there’s even an option to create your own palette to retain brand-consistency or match your initial vision.
Finally, there's Mood. This is similar to changing colors, with the image's color palette altered depending on your chosen mood. You have single-word options to select, such as ‘Radiant’, ‘Tender’, or ‘Uneasy’. Alternatively, you can use the Type to Edit field.
Once the new image is generated, the original’s light, colors and saturation are all modified. The AI will also identify faces and alter the expressions to reflect your chosen mood.
One useful part of the interface was a list of thumbnails at the bottom, which represent the various AI alterations you’ve already made to that image, which you can go back to at will until your next session.
Adobe Stock AI Studio: Video editing
One of the most impressive tools on offer is Animate Image. You might already know Firefly is able to perform some impressive feat, such as turning any photo into a few seconds of live video, so I was expecting to see that feature appear in Adobe Stock AI Studio.
This feature comes with a prompt field that’s already filled in, but you’re free to rewrite it to your preference. Animations are capped at 5 seconds at 24fps, in either 720p or 1080p, making them ideal for social media feeds and websites without needing to edit.
Results were amazing in my experience. I got it to animate a herd of bison walking in the snow towards the photographer, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that video was genuine. We’re definitely not far away from when a fake video will be indistinguishable from a real one - if we’re not already there.
That bridges the gap between image and video. And there are two main tools for further video edits.
Change Color does the same here as it does with still images, with an identical interface, and the same results varying depending on your chosen palette and the asset's original colors. Again, it strips away that need to find the 'perfect' shot by letting you create your own.
What I found myself really impressed with was Audio Match. This lets creatives generate appropriate music for videos - and you’re not short of options, from selecting between vibes like calm, playful, or warm, or choosing specific styles, like jazz, synth wave, or classical. If you could extend audio beyond a single clip to encompass an entire scene, it would be even better.
But the process is quick and deeply impressive. It serves up a wide canvas to experiment in. The generation of this music took the longest for me - even longer than animating an image or changing the color of a video, but nothing compared to the old method of finding and editing existing stock audio. The result was just so good, and they made a perfect companion to the clip without the usual frustrations.
Adobe Stock AI Studio: Credits
Adobe Stock AI Studio shows interesting potential: only licensing an image once you’re happy with the alterations you’ve made. However, that works best with an Adobe Stock subscription.
If you're using a Creative Pro subscription, be aware its bundled AI credits will be used for any AI modifications you make in AI Studio across images and videos. In this case, most AI edits cost around 10 credits. But check the action cost to make sure, as they can vary.
Adobe Stock AI Studio: Changing workflows
I wouldn't consider these editing tools as replacements for Photoshop, and many creatives will want to export the image to Adobe's popular photo editing tool for further refinements. But for those who don't want to keep switching between software, it's ideal.
Workflow efficiency is the name of the game here. The platform's AI tools make stock assets more useful and relevant to individual projects - without needing to license it before you get precisely what you want.
