This release of Photoshop (v21.1) includes improvements to the Content Aware Fill workspace, Lens Blur, Performance, and Dark Mode on Mac OS.
Content Aware Fill Workspace Improvements — Two major enhancements have been made to the Content Aware Fill workspace designed to give you greater control and speed your workflow. First, you now have the ability to iteratively fill multiple areas of an image without having to leave the Content Aware Fill workspace. Second, is the ability to sample data from all visible layers (instead of just the targeted layer) to determine the new fill. Watch the video below to see these new features in action.
Lens Blur improvements — Significant enhancements were made to the Lens Blur filter in this release including increasing it’s performance by moving the filter to the GPU and fine tuning the algorithm to create blurrier edges on objects in front of the focal plane as well as more realistic and colorful bokeh effects in specular highlights. Note: In addition, Lens Blur now handles CMYK and Lab color modes correctly.
Since most people have never used alpha channels and the Lens Blur filter, I’ve recorded a video demonstrating how to use alpha channels to simulate lens blur in Photoshop.
Performance Improvements — You’ll notice smoother panning and zooming in your documents as well as improvements in many other mouse and stylus movements while painting and dragging in the image preview.
Support for Mac OS Dark Mode — While you can still control Photoshop’s Color Theme (Preferences > Interface), when the Mac OS is set to Dark Mode, pop-up dialogs boxes will also appear dark.
Export As Location — When using Export As, you can now designate a location by selecting Preferences > Export and choosing between “Export assets to the location of the current document” or “Export assets to the last location specified”.
