12:10
Photoshop
Adobe's new Precision Flow AI tool in Photoshop's Firefly Workspace lets users dial an AI-generated edit up or down on a slider, but the video argues it only becomes genuinely useful in production when paired with a specific workaround: auto-aligning the AI result with the original photo and masking the original face back in over the AI-generated one.
Precision Flow is a new beta AI tool accessed via Photoshop's home screen > Firefly Workspace (left sidebar), alongside Magic Restyle and Edit with Markup.
The tool works from a text prompt (e.g. 'make her hair and clothes red') and then exposes a continuous slider to move between the original image and the fully-applied AI edit.
The built-in Adobe example (day-to-night van scene with lights turning on) works very well, but the presenter notes it's an illustrative-style, relatively simple image that Adobe appears to have fine-tuned specifically to showcase the tool.
To use a personal photo you must go to 'Edit New' > 'Upload' — described as 'a little bit hidden.'
Generation automatically downsizes the uploaded image to 1024 pixels before processing, costs 5 credits, and yields many slider-selectable variations rather than the fixed 3 variations traditional generative fill gives for the same number of credits.
The Edit Strength slider should, per the presenter's testing, be set near its minimum (around 0.1) rather than left default, because higher settings tend to over-edit the image.
The tool cites an unnamed 'partner model' powering the generation, which the presenter flags as unusual since Adobe normally discloses which model (Gemini, Flux, Firefly, etc.) is being used.
Because the image is downscaled automatically, restoring resolution requires a separate manual step: the Firefly Upscaler at 2x, costing 5 more credits (10 total for one edit).
From the Firefly Workspace you can download the result directly, open it in Firefly on the web, or 'Open in Editor' (which opens it in Photoshop) — the presenter criticizes the 'editor' label as confusing given you're already in Photoshop.
The core workflow hack: bring the original photo in as a second layer, rasterize any smart object layers, select both layers, and run Edit > Auto-Align Layers > Auto to precisely register the AI-edited and original images.
With layers aligned, use the Object Selection Tool to draw a loose box around the subject's face on the original-photo layer, then add a layer mask so the untouched original face shows through while the AI-generated hair/clothing remains visible elsewhere.
The presenter's stance shifts over the course of the video from skeptical ('this tool is not very useful') to convinced it is worth using, specifically once combined with the face-restoration masking technique.
Precision Flow — Adobe's new beta AI tool in Photoshop's Firefly Workspace that applies a prompted AI edit to an image and exposes a slider to control how much of that edit is visible. Apply: Open Firefly Workspace from the Photoshop home screen, select Precision Flow, upload a photo via 'Edit New > Upload,' type a descriptive prompt, then drag the slider to choose the desired edit intensity before hitting Apply.
Edit Strength slider — A parameter within Precision Flow's generate panel that controls how strongly the AI applies the prompted edit. Apply: Set it near the minimum (around 0.1) rather than the default, since the video's testing found higher values produce over-edited, unrealistic results.
Partner model (undisclosed) — The unnamed underlying AI model that powers Precision Flow's generation, which Photoshop does not identify unlike its usual disclosure of models such as Gemini or Flux. Apply: Cannot be directly selected or controlled; users should be aware that 5 credits are spent per generation without knowing which model produced the output.
Firefly Upscaler — Adobe's AI upscaling tool used to restore resolution lost when Precision Flow automatically downsizes an uploaded image to 1024 pixels. Apply: After applying a Precision Flow edit, go to Upscale, select 2x, and run it (5 additional credits) before bringing the image into the full Photoshop editor.
Firefly Workspace — A simplified AI-tools hub within Photoshop 2026, separate from the main editor, housing Precision Flow, Magic Restyle, Edit with Markup, and Fill/Remove/Expand. Apply: Access it from the Photoshop home screen's left sidebar to run generative AI edits, then use 'Open in Editor' to bring the result back into the standard Photoshop workspace for further compositing.
Auto-Align Layers hack — Use of Photoshop's Edit > Auto-Align Layers feature to precisely register an AI-edited image and its original source photo as separate layers of the same composite. Apply: Convert any smart object layers to rasterized layers (Layer > Smart Objects > Rasterize), select both the original and AI-edited layers, then run Edit > Auto-Align Layers > Auto to line them up for masking.
Object Selection Tool face-preservation hack — A technique using Photoshop's AI-assisted Object Selection Tool to isolate a subject's face on the original-photo layer so it can be masked back over an AI-generated version of the same image. Apply: With the aligned layers in place, use the Object Selection Tool to draw a loose box around the face on the original-photo layer, then add a layer mask from that selection so the true, non-AI face shows through while AI-generated elements (like hair or clothing) remain visible elsewhere.
Because Precision Flow returns a continuous slider of variations instead of three fixed outputs, it can deliver more selectable results per credit than traditional generative fill, even when not used purely as a 'strength' control.
The forced downscale-then-separately-upscale flow effectively doubles the credit cost of a single edit (5 credits to generate + 5 more to upscale = 10), a cost implication not disclosed until you're mid-workflow.
Auto-Align Layers is described as not perfectly exact even after running it ('still not in the exact same place if we're being honest'), meaning manual nudging is still needed for a clean overlay.
The presenter frames the tool's real value as not the AI edit itself but the ability to keep identity-critical regions (faces, hands) untouched by AI via the align-and-mask hack — without it, the tool is characterized as producing results that are 'not the highest resolution ever.'
Adobe's omission of the underlying 'partner model' name is noted as a departure from its usual practice of being transparent about which model (Gemini, Flux, etc.) powers a given feature.
«So, Adobe just released a new AI slider that allows you to decide how much or how little of an effect you want on your image. It's called Precision Flow.»
— 00:00
«I recommend putting that edit strength down all the way to the beginning, because some of this stuff is like way too edited.»
— 03:22
«Image downsized to 1024 pixels for this process.»
— 03:59
«Adobe, make that happen, right? We shouldn't have to pay twice.»
— 05:50
«I started this off like, "This tool is not very useful." And then, I'm like, "I actually kind of like it."»
— 05:25
«That's actually like a hack and I highly recommend doing that.»
— 08:33
«So, what you got to do if you're going to use this tool, go through all the steps we did and then bring your original image back in, make sure to select the faces or hands or anything that got weird with AI and then just pop that into a layer mask and then you got the original face with the AI adjustment.»
— 10:24
«I changed my perspective totally.»
— 11:26
Reception
Audience appreciates the educational content and tutorial quality, but expresses mixed feelings about the tool's practical value, pricing model, and actual necessity for most users.
As a hands-on feature test, the video does what it sets out to do: rather than a straight demo, it stress-tests Precision Flow against a real photograph, flags concrete downsides (forced downscaling, undisclosed model, extra upscale cost), and lands on a specific, reusable production workflow (auto-align plus face masking) as the payoff.
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