Upscale cropped photos with AI in Photoshop

Rob de Winter compares tools that add sharpness and detail, then finishes with film grain.

Published August 20, 2026

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00:01

Introduction and meet Rob de Winter

[Photoshop displays a vertical photo of a stone chapel overlooking the sea.]

[Rob de Winter]: Sometimes you end up with a photo that doesn't have enough pixels to print.

[The view zooms in on a stone cross atop the roof.]

Generative Upscale can fix that.

It uses AI to add detail and sharpness, [The Generative Upscale dialog window appears on screen.] so the result looks much better than with regular upscaling.

[Cut to Rob de Winter in his studio.]

I'm Rob de Winter, Adobe instructor, designer and author from the Netherlands, and in this video I'll show you how to upscale a photo and edit it further in Photoshop.

[Cut back to the photo opened in Camera Raw.]

Here's a raw file that's already edited, opened, and cropped in Camera Raw.

You can do the same thing in Lightroom if that's your preferred workflow.

Now open your photo in Photoshop.

When you zoom in, you can see that there isn't much detail left, which means the photo isn't large enough to print at a good size, or resize the regular way.

That's where Generative Upscale comes in.

Go to Image and choose Generative Upscale.

You'll see a list of upscalers.

[The Generative Upscale dialog box opens showing options for Topaz Gigapixel, Firefly Upscaler, and Topaz Bloom.]

My favorite is Topaz Gigapixel, which preserves as much of the original photo as possible.

There's also Firefly Upscaler, which is commercially safe, works in a similar way, and is a good alternative.

And if you want the upscaler to be a bit more creative with detail, Topaz Bloom is an option, though that changes the photo more than Gigapixel does.

01:09

Upscale a photo without losing detail

Select Topaz Gigapixel and choose how much you want to scale up, either 2x or 4x, depending on the size of your image.

Click Upscale and Topaz Gigapixel processes the photo in the cloud.

When it's done, Photoshop opens the result in a new document.

The top layer is the Topaz Gigapixel version, and the layer below shows what the photo would've looked like with regular upscaling.

Toggle the top layer on and off to compare the two.

The difference in sharpness and detail is really clear.

Now that the photo is upscaled, [The view zooms out to show the full chapel image.] you can continue editing in Photoshop as you normally would.

01:45

Finish the photo with a grain effect

For example, you could add a grain adjustment layer to give the photo [A Grain adjustment panel opens, and the slider is moved to increase grain.] a bit of a film look.

Just add an adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers panel, adjust the amount and size to taste, and you're done.

[The view zooms in on the chapel wall to reveal the added texture.]

[Cut back to Rob in his studio.]

Generative Upscale is one of those tools that can really save a photo you didn't think was good enough to print.

I hope this has given you some new ideas for using Firefly and Photoshop in your workflow.

Now go and try it on your own images.

What you’ll learn

Upscale a photo without losing detail

Generative Upscale adds detail and sharpness to a photo that doesn't have enough resolution to print well. Topaz Gigapixel preserves the most detail from the original image compared to regular upscaling.

Compare upscaling models for different results

Firefly's upscaler offers a commercially safe alternative to Gigapixel, while Topaz Bloom takes more creative liberty with detail. Each option changes the original photo by a different degree.

Finish the photo with a grain effect

Once the photo is upscaled, you can keep editing as usual. Add a grain adjustment layer and adjust the amount and size for a film look.

Instruction by: Rob de Winter

Try these tutorials with Photoshop

Edit photos to create new images and graphics.

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Cookies are small text files stored by your web browser when you use websites. There are also other technologies that can be used for similar purposes like HTML5 Local Storage, web beacons, and embedded scripts. These technologies help us do things like remembering you and your preferences when you return to our sites, measure how you use the website, conduct market research, and gather information about the ads you see and interact with.

If enabled:

We can improve your experience by tailoring the site and the content to things we think might be of interest
We can better keep track of your preferences — like what language you prefer to use
We will better understand your likely interests so we can provide you more relevant Adobe ads and content on non-Adobe websites and in non-Adobe apps
It will help us improve the performance of our website and those of our partners who use the Adobe Experience Cloud

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View transcript

What you’ll learn

Upscale a photo without losing detail

Compare upscaling models for different results

Finish the photo with a grain effect

Try these tutorials with Photoshop