Adding filters to photographs is nothing new. In fact, it’s pretty routine these days. But there has been a wave of artificial intelligence (AI) powering photo and video apps. These tools remake your photos and videos into new images, with some artistic styles inspired by the works of famous artists. This AI alters the look of your photos through algorithms based on machine learning and neural networks, which can use object recognition to recreate an image completely, not just add an overlay to it. This list includes apps with AI that allow you to create works of art from your photos or enhance the originals.
Good to know: alternatively, check out our list of the best free photo-editing apps.
1. Prisma
Price: Free / starting at $8.34 per month
Prisma is a mobile app that creates new artwork based on the photos you upload, by applying various artistic styles. One of its highlights is classic presets inspired by the work of famous painters, such as Thota Valkuntam, Pablo Picasso, and Piet Mondrian.
The app uses convolutional neural networks (CNNs), designed to simulate the human brain, to first classify the content images and recognize specific image features. Having been trained on a massive dataset of artwork and styles, the network can selectively alter the various visual elements of the image, mimicking the style of a famous artist or particular artistic movement. The image produced by the app is a blend of the original photos in terms of pixel content and the style selected.
Prisma offers a wide range of artistic filters, even in the free version, which covers multiple styles (such as Sketch, Brushwork, Pop Art, and more). To apply one, browse the library, and select your favorite. The app also includes a photo editor, which lets you further customize the image, including exposure, contrast, saturation, and more.
2. Painnt
Price: Free / $2.19 per month
Platforms: Windows | Mac | Android | iOS
The Painnt app lets you choose from preset styles to create a photo with an artistic look. In addition, you can further customize your images via the built-in editor.
There are hundreds of different styles to choose from, and they are grouped into seven categories to make searching easier. Once you’ve applied the style, you can continue to tailor your images by modifying settings, like transparency, contrast, saturation, grain merge, and soft light. You can select a new aspect ratio, and download your output in medium quality for free.
Upgrading to a paid option offers options like 4K output, turning off ads, access to custom styles, and removing watermarks. While accessing Painnt’s full presets library requires you to open your wallet, the app offers several styles for free each day.
Tip: if you’re a Chromebook user and creative, check out these drawing apps for Chrome OS.
3. Picsart AI Photo Editor
Price: Free / $4.17 per month
Platforms: Web | Android | iOS
Picsart is among some of the most well-known photo-editing apps. In line with the recent AI trend, Picsart has enhanced its offerings with artificial intelligence-powered tools that allow you to turn your photos into artwork, among other things.
The art styles are hidden under the “Effects” tab, but do note that you won’t find the dedicated AI section on the Web version, just the apps. There are currently a few available, including a unique AI effect generator that produces individual results for each of your photos. If you want more options, there are plenty of other non-AI presets that are equally exciting.
Picsart also doubles as a standard photo editor, so you can experiment with the additional tools, such as adding borders or shapes or retouching the image to perfection. Naturally, Picsart also offers a paid version, which removes all the pesky ads and unlocks more features, such as exclusive effects.
4. PhotoDirector
Price: Free / starting at $3.74 per month
The PhotoDirector app works like a robot sketch artist, looking at your image and drawing a cartoon version. The app works best for selfies, although it offers some landscape presets.
To start your cartoon creation, press the “Edit” button in the app. Upload your selfie, and look for the “Style (AI)” button at the bottom. Select from the various presets, but you won’t be able to save the results, in some cases, without a subscription. The option to create an AI avatar is also available.
At the same time, the app offers an “AI Enhance” feature. Just press the relevant button from the app’s main menu, upload your image, and allow the app to do its magic. Like all the apps on the list, to take advantage of the app’s full features, you will need to pay for a subscription.
FYI: working with images in PowerPoint? Learn how to rotate, flip, and blur images in the presentation app.
5. GoArt by Fotor
Price: Free / $3.33 per month
Platforms: Web | Android | iOS
GoArt by Fotor is a tool that allows you to turn your photos into images based on famous artists’ styles and more. While it’s available as a mobile app, we recommend using its Web version, as it works much faster and is not riddled by so many ads. The app also tends to be quite slow.
There are quite a few options to pick from, grouped under various categories. Select your favorite, and wait a few seconds until the result is generated. Once the edited image pops up, you can tweak its intensity. There’s also a handy “Compare” button underneath the image to see the differences between the original and new artwork.
GoArt by Fotor lets you download the results at 604 x 720 resolution – for free, without signing up for an account, which you must do if you’re editing with the main Fotor editor. Edited images will get slammed with a large watermark, which can be removed if you upgrade to premium.
6. DeepArtEffects
Price: Free / $5 per month
Platforms: Windows | Mac | Linux | Android | iOS
DeepArtEffects is a photo editor software that offers an impressive collection of AI-powered filters. The program is super easy to use: upload your image, and start applying the art styles within seconds.
There are plenty of options, and some have even been inspired by famous artists. (They are marked with an “i” plastered on top of the filter thumbnail.) Once you apply the preset, you can tweak additional settings for your image, including brightness, hue, saturation, and more. You can even convert the image to greyscale.
Perhaps the app’s most interesting feature is hidden behind a paywall. DeepArtEffects allows you to create your art style. Just upload your own image(s), and allow their AI to recognize patterns and structure, which will render impressive results.
Tip: you don’t need Photoshop to make a transparent image. Learn how to do that.
7. LetsEnhance.io
Price: Free / starting at $9 per month.
Platform: Web
Unlike other programs, LetsEnhance won’t allow you to apply art styles to your photographs. Instead, it employs AI to “enhance” your images. For example, if you’ve uploaded a grainy image, it will clear out the noise for you.
The Web tool employs Super Resolution technology, based on deep convolutional neuronal networks, to recognize specific features in the uploaded images and adds (or removes) extra details based on its knowledge and standards.
To boost your images, upload them to the service (there’s even an option for digital art), then press the “Start processing” option. You can also opt to do a “Tone enhance” or apply “Light AI” for even better results. Upon signing up for an account, you’ll receive ten free credits to use as you wish for enhancements or image generation. Once these credits are drained, you must sign up for a paid plan.
8. Luminar Neo
Price: Free trial / starting at $8.64 per month
Luminar Neo is among the first photo-editing apps to fully embrace AI. The program utilizes machine-learning algorithms to offer a wide range of powerful editing tools that can enhance images, remove unwanted elements and apply various adjustments with remarkable precision and speed.
As you browse through the list of tools, you can spot those with an AI component easily, as they have been marked with an “AI” tag. Among its many options, Luminar Neo offers the AI Sky Enhancer and Accent AI, two interesting tools designed to enhance skies and overall image quality, respectively. Additionally, the Composition AI guides image composition, suggesting improvements based on established principles.
Even better, Luminar Neo can be used as a standalone application or a plugin for popular editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. The program comes with a free trial, but once it expires, you’ll need to pay for a subscription to continue using it.
Good to know: check out these tools for designing awesome social media graphics.
Making Your Photos Stand Out
AI-powered photo-editing apps are revolutionizing how we enhance and transform our images, offering many advantages over traditional editing methods. If you still prefer to do it the old-fashioned way, you may be interested in learning how to draw arrows in GIMP. And if your Photoshop is frequently crashing and freezing, our guide shows how to restore it to its full function.
Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
