Many creators have already switched from Adobe Premiere to DaVinci Resolve, and now the developer, Blackmagic Design, goes after Lightroom and Photoshop. The Australian firm simply unveiled DaVinci Resolve 21 in beta on the NAB 2026 broadcast conference with a model new web page known as Picture designed to allow you to do issues like crop and color-correct nonetheless photographs. On the identical time, the brand new model introduces video AI instruments that may age a topic or reshape their facial options.
DaVinci Resolve has at all times allow you to edit photographs as clips on a video timeline, however now it is tremendously simplified with the Picture web page. You possibly can import and handle images, together with RAW information, straight into the brand new web page. Then, you alter them utilizing the node-based Shade web page that provides related and arguably much more highly effective instruments than Adobe’s Lightroom.
Simply as with video, the Shade web page contains main colour correction, curves, qualifiers and energy home windows (together with noise discount, sharpening and extra). Nonetheless, Resolve’s node-based workflow actually shines for picture modifying. You possibly can add nodes in sequence or parallel to construct advanced grades, then save them to use to different photographs or a complete picture album. You can even reframe and crop photographs at their authentic supply decision and facet ratio, with out affecting the unique picture high quality.
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The LightBox view helps you to see a complete album with grades utilized. “Choose any picture and grade it dwell whereas seeing the outcomes replace throughout the entire assortment in actual time. Filter by graded, ungraded, star score, flag and clip colour,” Blackmagic Design explains in a press launch. Albums, in the meantime, allow you to construct collections such as you do in Lightroom. These additionally seem as timelines within the Shade, Minimize and Edit pages for straightforward entry.
For professional photographers, the Shade web page contains digicam controls that allow you to tether a Sony or Canon digicam to Resolve for dwell picture seize, whereas adjusting settings like ISO, publicity and white steadiness. It can save you seize presets to “lock in a constant look earlier than clients shoot,” in line with Blackmagic.
Different Resolve instruments additionally work with the Picture web page, just like the AI Magic Masks that permits you to make one click on picks of an object or individual. It is also attainable to do superior VFX on nonetheless photographs utilizing Resolve’s Fusion web page, or add OpenFX or FusionFX filters straight on the Picture web page. Lastly, you may collaborate with others utilizing Blackmagic Cloud, thought that does require a paid subscription.
I briefly examined the colour instrument and, as somebody who’s admittedly acquainted with DaVinci Resolve, I discovered it simple to know. It is easy to import and arrange photographs (simpler than Lightroom in my view) and is as highly effective as Lightroom’s Develop web page for many changes, although I actually missed the latter’s “Readability” instrument. The node primarily based workflow is highly effective, and Resolve makes it simpler to use changes to a number of photographs. Once you’re able to export, that is performed by way of a particular photo-only model of the “Export” web page and is comparatively intuitive as nicely. Whether or not or not I will cancel my Photoshop/Lightroom subscription stays to be seen, nevertheless.
Blackmagic Design
On high of the Picture web page, Blackmagic Design launched numerous new instruments for video and VFX as nicely. Among the many most attention-grabbing ones are a sequence of AI instruments for facial changes. The AI Face Age Transformer instruments helps you to analyze a face, enter the topic’s age and alter the age offset slider so as to add issues like wrinkles and facial fullness. You can even change the best way a topic seems to be by way of the AI Face Reshaper instrument that permits you to alter the eyes, nostril, mouth, eyebrows and total face form. Plus, you get an AI Blemish Removing function that reduces the looks of superficial pores and skin imperfections like pimples, discoloration and huge pores, whereas retaining the pores and skin’s pure texture.
One other instrument that may little question get used loads is AI UltraSharpen that may upscale video “to make beforehand unusable footage sharp in greater resolutions,” in line with the corporate. It can be used to enhance slight focus errors. In the meantime, the AI Movement Deblur fixes barely blurred photographs, making it significantly helpful for sluggish movement and freeze body pictures.
Different key new upgrades, to call just some, embody the power to edit Fusion results from inside the Minimize and Edit pages, the addition of the Krokodove library of compositing instruments and new immersive VR instruments for supply to platforms like Meta Quest and YouTube VR. A lot of the new options can be found in Blackmagic Design’s free model of DaVinci Resolve, although a few instruments (AI Magic Masks and Movie Look Creator) are solely out there with the paid, $295 DaVinci Resolve Studio model. An entire listing of recent options is right here and you may obtain the free and paid variations right here.
