Adobe has announced the launch of "Project Indigo," a new iPhone camera app designed to revolutionize the current mobile photography experience with more natural imaging styles and professional photography controls. Led by Marc Levoy and Florian Kainz, former core members of the Google Pixel camera team, the app boasts a natural-looking image experience created by combining computational photography with AI.
Marc Levoy and Florian Kainz were key figures in popularizing the concept of computational photography at Google, giving the Pixel series of phones a competitive edge in image capture. After joining Adobe, they created a professional camera app featuring RAW/JPEG capture, up to 32-image overlays, and AI-powered features.
Reject excessive modification and present natural images closer to those of SLR cameras
Project Indigo doesn't follow the "zero-processing" approach popular in recent years. Instead, it maintains a certain degree of color saturation enhancement and detail sharpening while avoiding excessive algorithmic manipulation. Marc Levoy stated that based on conversations with professional photographers, most users prefer a "natural post-production" look closer to the imagery produced by a DSLR, rather than completely unprocessed native images. Therefore, Project Indigo adopts a gentle tonal processing approach, emphasizing the preservation of the on-location atmosphere and realistic lighting.
To achieve this texture, Project Indigo uses dynamic compositing technology, which deliberately reduces the exposure of each photo and then superimposes up to 32 images for fusion. This compositing strategy not only helps preserve high dynamic range but also further reduces overexposure and noise.
Full manual control and innovative AI features coexist
Project Indigo supports full manual control of shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus, satisfying the needs of advanced photographers who want to fine-tune parameters. Adobe has also incorporated its own AI-powered experimental features, such as Reflection Removal, which automatically removes reflections from photos, further expanding the creative possibilities of mobile photography.
It is available for free download and will be available on Android in the future
Project Indigo is now available as a free download from the App Store and supports iPhone 12 Pro and later models. Adobe has announced that an Android version will be released in the future to further expand its user base.
Adobe pointed out that the birth of "Project Indigo" is to create a "universal camera application", hoping that users will no longer rely on the single style provided by the native camera of the mobile phone, but will be given more autonomy to shoot images that are close to reality and creative.
As mobile photography increasingly leans towards visual enhancement and excessive algorithmic manipulation, Project Indigo can be seen as an attempt to return to the essence of photography. Whether such a third-party camera app can change user photography habits, or even challenge the dominance of native cameras, remains to be seen.
