Photoshop is the image editor most photographers, retouchers, and designers learn first. It works on pixels in layers, with masks, selections, adjustment layers, and blend modes that let you change one part of an image without touching the rest. Photo retouching, product shots, poster layouts, and web graphics all fit into that same layer-based workflow, which is why files and techniques carry from one studio to the next.
The AI features sit inside that workflow instead of replacing it. Generative Fill takes a selection and a short text prompt and creates new content that matches the lighting and perspective around it. Generative Expand extends the canvas past the original edges, and the Remove tool erases distractions like power lines or stray people. Select Subject and Neural Filters handle selections, portrait adjustments, and colorization with less manual work. Generated content arrives on its own layer, so you can mask it, blend it, or throw it away.
Photoshop is sold as part of Adobe Creative Cloud, either on its own or in a bundle with apps like Illustrator and Premiere Pro, and there is no permanent free tier. It runs on Windows and macOS, with versions for iPad and the web that cover a smaller set of tools. Generative features use credits tied to your plan. Free alternatives such as GIMP, Photopea, and the Affinity apps cover a lot of the same ground, but Photoshop remains the format that clients and agencies expect to receive.