Adobe Lightroom mobile can now open closed eyes in photos with a simple tap
Adobe has rolled out a new generative AI feature to the mobile version of Lightroom on iOS, iPadOS, and Android that addresses one of the most common frustrations in portrait photography - subjects blinking at the wrong moment. When the app identifies that a person, or multiple people, have their eyes closed in a frame, it automatically surfaces an Open Eyes Quick Action as an icon overlaid on the image, keeping the workflow as frictionless as possible.
The ability to correct closed eyes is not entirely new territory for Adobe. Photoshop Elements has offered a similar tool for close to a decade, but the underlying approach there is meaningfully different. That older implementation works by sourcing replacement eyes from a separate photo of the same subject, which requires the user to supply additional reference material. The Lightroom mobile version, by contrast, uses generative AI to synthesize open eyes directly, meaning no second image is needed.
This distinction matters in practice. Many users will want to fix a blink in a one-of-a-kind shot - a group photo, a candid moment - where no convenient reference image exists. A generative approach sidesteps that limitation entirely, though it also raises the usual questions around accuracy and realism that come with any AI-synthesized content. The quality of the result will depend on how well the model handles varied lighting conditions, angles, and eye shapes across different subjects.
The feature sits within Adobe's broader push to bring Quick Actions - small, task-specific AI tools - to its mobile Lightroom apps. For photographers who do a significant portion of their editing on a phone or tablet, additions like this narrow the gap between mobile and desktop capabilities without requiring a complex editing workflow. The Open Eyes tool is available now in the Lightroom mobile app across all three supported platforms.
