Adobe Firefly Review – Yay or Nay? - Fritz ai (2024)

While we all love generative AI, there are certain ethical concerns around it. Some people argue that since it’s trained on human images without compensating the creators, it is somewhat like stealing other people’s work. If you support this argument, you’ll be happy to learn about Adobe Firefly, an ethical image generator.

Adobe says that Firefly has been trained only on Adobe Stock images and images where the content was in the public domain or the copyright had expired. That’s one thing that sets Firefly apart from the rest.

But that’s not the only difference. Firefly is a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud. When you subscribe to the suite, you get the entire package – Photoshop, Express, Illustrator, Acrobat – you know, the whole set.

So if you’re a Creative Cloud user, it makes more sense to use Firefly for art generation instead of other tools like Dall-E, especially since Firefly is integrated into Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator apps as well.

I’ve used Adobe Firefly as I’ve used Midjourney, Dall-E, and other generative tools. Today I’ll review Adobe Firefly – from its ease of use to quick results and everything in between.

What is Adobe Firefly?

Adobe Firefly is a collection of image generation and editing tools. If you have already tried AI-based image generation, there will be no major learning curve here. You can simply open Firefly and just give a prompt.

But Firefly is more than that. It can expand images and remove and replace parts of them with a brush. You can even paint in the generated images. This feature is called Generative Fill and is pretty exciting.

If you’re using Adobe Creative Cloud, you’ll notice that some Firefly features are also present in other tools such as Illustrator and Photoshop. For example, in Illustrator, you can generate vector art by giving text prompts. And in Photoshop, you can get Firefly powered Generative Fill.

By itself, Firefly might be somewhat similar to other AI image generation tools. But packed inside the Adobe suite, it is a powerful tool that can save a lot of time and make things easier for you as a designer.

How I Tested Adobe Firefly

For this Adobe Firefly review, I tested the web interface along with the integration abilities of Adobe Firefly. I’m a Creative Cloud user and checked if it integrates with other tools. I found that apps like Photoshop and Illustrator had Firefly AI capabilities built into them.

However, for this review, I used the web interface of Adobe Firefly and tried generating and editing different images. I generated some photorealistic images and some artistic ones. I also tried editing some features of the generated images using Generative fill.

Since I have also used other AI image generation tools, I couldn’t help but compare Firefly with them. While it’s an amazing tool with some powerful features, I felt that the art generated by tools such as Dall-E is somewhat superior to Firefly. However, there’s only a small gap between the two tools. And if you use Midjourney for image creation, you’ll find that Firefly’s interface is much cleaner.

What’s the Buzz Around Copyright Issues?

Since most AI tools are trained on other people’s artwork, copyright is a grey area and there is no legal consensus on how to handle ownership and usage rights.

While many people don’t care about it (since there’s no legal consensus on it), if you want to be future-proof and on the right side of the copyright laws, Adobe Firefly will be a good option.

As I mentioned earlier, Adobe tools were trained on images that were in the public domain and openly licensed, along with images from Adobe Stock. Adobe is working on compensating the contributors of stock images, although the amount they get can be another topic of discussion.

And it’s not just the training material, Adobe Firefly doesn’t generate images that could result in copyright violations. For example, I tested Firefly by asking it to generate images of a box of Kellogg’s and it returned generic cereal pics.

I’m not saying this would affect everyone, but if you’re someone who cares about copyrights, Adobe Firefly would be a better choice.

Give Adobe Firefly a Try

How to Use Adobe Firefly

Using Adobe Firefly is super easy. I’ll show you how to generate an image and then how you can use Generative Fill. Generating images is pretty basic but you might like the Generative Fill feature. Let’s begin.

Step 1. Register on Adobe

If you already have an account, skip this step. But if you haven’t, visit the Firefly website and click on Sign In in the top right corner.

Step 2. Enter your prompt

You’ll see the prompt box right on the homepage. Enter your prompt in it and click on Generate.

I entered, “a dragon curled up around a treasure chest in a dark cave with glimmering gold and jewels.” Here are the results I got for my prompt:

Let’s check the settings panel of Adobe Firefly.

Here you can see options to select the image model. By default, it uses the Firefly image 3 model. The other option is Firefly Image 2 but I prefer Firefly 3.

You can also select the aspect ratio. It’s Square by default. The Content type setting will determine whether you want photorealistic images or artistic ones. As with other AI image generation tools, it also lets you upload your own image as a reference point for image generation.

That’s that – pretty simple. Now let’s discuss Generative Fill.

Step 1. Find the Generative Fill option

Visit the Adobe Firefly homepage. Scroll down the see the Generative Fill option. Click on Generate.

Step 2. Upload an image.

Click on Upload Image and select a photo you want to edit.

Here’s how it will look once you upload your image.

Let’s say I want to remove that jar of honey from the image and replace it with something else – maybe a jar of pickles.

Click on Remove from the left panel and adjust the brush size from the toolbar below.

As you click and drag the brush over the jar of honey, it will be removed from the image.

Now click on Insert from the left panel. Type what you want to be inserted here. In my example, I chose a jar of pickles.

Now click on Generate.

It will show you some options. Select the one you like the most and click on Keep.

Here is the result:

The jar of honey is now replaced by a jar of pickles. And it could’ve been anything – a bowl of cereal, a large mouse, an alien, or anything that you want.

That’s like Photoshop but with just a few clicks without all the layers and other mumbo jumbo.

Let’s try one more thing: image expansion.

Before I continue to the next section of this Adobe Firefly review, I’ll take a different image for this example and upload it.

From the left panel, select Expand and then select the aspect ratio for your image. I’ll select Square for this example.

Now give a prompt for your image. I entered, “snow field with pine trees covered in snow”

Now click on Generate and it will show you some image suggestions as earlier. Select the option you like and click on Keep.

Here is what I got.

There are vertical lines where the pine trees are inserted. Other than that, the image is good enough to use. If you don’t like any of the generated images, you can generate more. But for now, I’ll stick to this one.

Pricing

Adobe offers a whole bundle of tools but if you want to buy just Firefly, it will cost you $4.99/month. You can also generate images for free but they will be watermarked. With the premium plan, you can remove the watermark from generated images.

This plan works only for standalone Firefly. If you want to use Firefly in Photoshop, Illustrator, and other tools, you’ll need to bundle it with other applications and each one of them has its own price. You can buy the entire Creative Cloud suite for $59.99/month

This subscription comes with a 14-day return policy on the annual plan, which means you can cancel within 14 days of ordering and get your money back.

The plans I discussed above are individual ones. There are separate plans for businesses and if you want to buy Creative Cloud for your team, it will cost you $89.99/month for all apps.

User Experience

I normally check user reviews on Trustpilot but I couldn’t find an Adobe Firefly review there. So I checked Gartner.

It had only 19 ratings and a 4.0 star score.

Some users were happy with the output, others complained that the generated images were not exactly what they expected. I agree that the results are not the same quality as you’d get from Midjourney. But it does produce decent output.

Some specific issues you might face are with brands and celebrities. As I mentioned earlier, it won’t generate images of branded products. Also, it won’t generate the faces of celebrities. If you want to use image generation for fun and memes, you might not like Firefly.

Is Adobe Firefly Worth It?

It depends. If you need generic images for personal use, many other tools can give you that for free. For example, Meta AI can generate free images, and it’s available on Meta platforms such as Messenger and WhatsApp. Firefly also generates free images but they come with a watermark.

When it comes to Generative Fill, yes, Firefly is worth it. If you want to replace some parts of your image or expand your image, Firefly is a good option. And of course, if you’re an existing Adobe user, Firefly is a must-have. It can make Photoshop so much easier and quicker.

If you use multiple Adobe apps, Firefly won’t even cost extra – just buy the entire Creative Cloud suite and Firefly will be included in that.

Adobe Firefly Alternatives

Adobe Firefly has several powerful alternatives – tools that can generate images more accurately than those generated by Firefly. Let’s discuss some options available in the market.

Midjourney

Of all the AI image generators I’ve used, Midjourney has shown the most potential. Accurate outputs, fine detailing, and five fingers in each hand. It runs on Discord, which means you’ll need to use the Discord app or web interface if you want to use it.

Apart from creating photorealistic images, it can mimic several different types of art styles. And it’s not just a tool but an entire community. If I have to rank tools based on their capabilities to generate accurate results, Midjourney would be at the top.

It also has options similar to Generative Fill that let you expand an image. However, it doesn’t offer a free trial – not even with watermarks. So you’ll need to buy a plan if you want to generate images with it.

Dall-E 3

Dall-E produces amazing images, pretty close to Midjourney in accuracy. And since it’s a product by OpenAI, it integrates with ChatGPT. With a paid subscription, you can give prompts right from your ChatGPT window and it will generate images for you.

While Dall-E 2 offered amazing quality, Dall-E 3 has improved clarity, realism, and details. Apart from that, Dall-E 3 can now embed text within images. In earlier models, it would sometimes mess up any text displayed in images.

Is Dall-E 3 better than Firefly? It does generate more accurate images but Firefly has no copyright concerns, making it better for businesses.

Stable Diffusion

The latest model of Stable Diffusion is Stable Diffusion 3 Medium. I tried it in early preview mode and found that it can process complicated prompts and generate accurate results.

A few months ago, it was recommended to use simple prompts because the AI engine gets confused. Not anymore. Stable Diffusion 3 Medium can take big and complex prompts and generate highly precise images.

And yes, it can generate text in images in a natural way. The latest model of Stable Diffusion can predict and reduce noise. This results in clearer and more accurate images.

Compared to Adobe Firefly, Stable Diffusion definitely produces more precise results. However, when we talk about copyrights and legal issues related to them, Firefly seems to be a better choice.

Conclusion

Adobe Firefly can be a good AI image generation tool for you, depending on what your needs are. If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud user, Firefly will be an indispensable tool. However, for an individual user who wants to generate images, Firefly might seem somewhat restricting. It won’t generate images of celebrities or branded products.

But if you want to generate images for commercial purposes, Firefly might be the best option for you since it is trained on copyright-free images. While AI-generated images aren’t legally regulated now, in the future, they might be protected by copyright laws. To ensure your content stays future-proof, you can use Firefly.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does Firefly integrate with other Adobe products?

Yes, Firefly seamlessly integrates with other Adobe tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, and Express.

Can I use Adobe Firefly to generate or edit video content?

No, Adobe Firefly doesn’t currently offer video generation or editing.

Will Adobe compensate the contributors of images?

Yes, Adobe promises to compensate contributors for their images used to train Firefly. This will make sure the use of Firefly is ethical.