Layered Editing Tools

Select Subject
Easily isolate subjects in your image with an AI-powered engine.

Background Removal
Quickly remove unwanted backgrounds in photos. The Background Removal Tool is great for creating composite collages with minimal effort.

Blur Background
Keep your subject in focus and automatically blur the background of your photo with a click.

Black & White Background
Instantly turn the background of your photo Black and White.

High-Dynamic Range (HDR)
Merge a series of images with different exposures to produce a single image with detail throughout the highlights and shadows.

Focus Stacking
Combine a series of images with different focal lengths to create an image with a greater depth of field.

Layer Masks
Build composite images using layer masks. Apply a layer mask to parts of an image so the layers under it show through. Copy and paste your masks on other layers, including adjustment layers.

Adjustment Layers
Use adjustment layers to change exposure, levels, curves, white balance, split tone, and more.

Layer Blend Modes & Opacity
Choose from 25 layer Blend Modes, like Overlay and Multiply, and adjust the opacity of that layer to affect your final image.

Layer Effects
Add inner glow, shadows, a bevel, an outline, or blur between your image and text layers.

Watermark Tool
Put your individual stamp on your work using the Watermark tool.

Text Tool
Add text horizontally, along a curved path or shape, or within a frame. Customize font, size, color, style, justification, opacity, and much more.

Smart Erase
Brush over unwanted objects with the Smart Erase tool and watch them disappear instantly. The Smart Erase tool fills in the area naturally.

Refine Selection
Use Refine Selection to shift or soften edges which can maximize the effect of tools like Smart Erase.

Align & Blend Layers
Auto-align or auto-blend layers of images taken in a burst to achieve one optimal version of the subject.

Multi-Select Layers
Pull groups of images into the Layers pane and select one, some, or many.

Rulers & Guides
Customizable rulers and guidelines make placing layers, text, and objects foolproof. Snap layers to guidelines. Lay as many guidelines as you like. Control the unit of measure, color, and visibility.

Geometry
Snap objects, text, and images to the top, bottom, sides, or corners of your canvas while moving. Display a grid for precision situating.

Canvas Resize
Resize the canvas to expand around your layered content or add solid backgrounds for limitless photo manipulations.

Pixel Targeting
Select pixels by targeting specific brightness ranges and colors within your image — even skin tones.

Frequency Separation
Separate your image into high frequency and low frequency layers to remove imperfections while retaining detail.

Dodge & Burn
Use the Dodge and Burn tool to lighten or darken areas in your photo without affecting other areas. The tool is often used to lighten underexposed areas or darken overexposed areas.

Auto & Manual Levels
Precisely adjust the contrast and light levels in your images manually or let Gemstone do it automatically.

Liquify
Retouch images by moving pixels, not changing them, for limitless photo manipulations.

Distortion Correction
Correct barrel, pincushion, and fisheye distortion in your photos.

Flip
Mirror your images either vertically or horizontally.

Rotate
Rotate your images at preset or custom angles.

Tilt-Shift
Use the Tilt-Shift effect to create emphasis on specific subjects in your photos, or make your photos look like miniature landscapes.

Special Effects
Instantly transform your photo with special effects that can turn images into a pencil drawing, collage, Bob Ross-style painting, and many more unique looks.

Blur
Apply different types of blur to your entire image or only parts of your image using the brush and gradient tools.
Photo Editing

Exposure
Automatically or manually adjust your image’s exposure, contrast, and fill light. Target specific areas of your image using the Edit Brush or Gradient tools to limit where the exposure adjustment occurs.

Contrast
Adjust contrast in specific tones and target precise brightness ranges to bring out contrast details in highlights or shadows.

Saturation & Vibrance
Adjust your image’s color saturation. Use the Vibrance tool to adjust saturation without affecting skin tones.

Clarity
Add subtle definition to the details in your image. Use Clarity to enhance the contrast of midtones in your images, without overpowering the shadows and highlights.

Color EQ
Use the Color EQ (hue, saturation, contrast, and brightness) tool to adjust overall colors in your image or each color individually. The advanced tools can subtly fine-tune and enhance colors, or completely change individual colors in your images.

Advanced Black & White adjustments
In Black & White mode, increase or decrease the contrast of each individual color, and specify the brightness range that the contrast adjustment will target.

Dehaze
Restore contrast, detail, and lost color to your images. This tool is especially useful for images that have been captured through a haze.

White Balance
Choose from a variety of Presets, Auto, or Custom settings to be applied over the entire image or adjust the Temperature and Tint of a selection using the brush or linear/radial gradient application tools.

Light EQ™
Adjust areas in your image that are too dark or too light, without affecting other areas of the photo. You can also simultaneously brighten dark areas that are too dark, and darken areas that are too bright.

Color Wheel
Select a range of colors using the Color Wheel and completely change the Hue, Saturation, Brightness, and Contrast. Perfect your color selection even further by adjusting the selected color saturation range.

Tone Wheels
User-friendly tone wheels make split-toning highlights, midtones, and shadows easy.

Curves
Change the tonal range of your image using the Curves tool. Select the RGB color channel to adjust the entire range of the image, or select a specific color. You can also delete points on the Tone Curve, giving you full control.

Soft Focus
Achieve the results of a diffusion lens filter by using the Soft Focus tool to reduce harsh lines and intensify colors.

Effects
Apply over 20 different Photo Filter Effects, a Color Overlay, or a Gradient Map to your image. Adjust the blend mode and opacity of the effect for even more artistry.

Add Grain Tool
Give your images an old, film grain look with the Grain tool.

Cross Process
Give your photos a retro look using the Cross Process Effect. You can adjust the strength of the effect to achieve a distinct look.

Color LUTs
Use built-in Color LUTs to seamlessly color grade your images, or import and apply LUTs as non-destructive filters.

Split Tone
Split Tone allows you to tint shadows and highlights with non-destructive edits.

Post-Crop Vignette
Add a vignette and adjust the size, color, and opacity to perfectly complement the mood of your photo.

Output Color Space Settings
Use common color space settings to control the finished product.

Detail
Use the Detail Brush to cumulatively highlight important details in your photo, and remove the emphasis off others.

Sharpen
Sharpen your photos by enhancing medium and high contrast edges.

Noise Reduction
Reduce noisy artifacts in your images and adjust using Luminance and Tone sliders for greater results.

Skin Tune
Use the Skin Tune tool to even tone and restore glow in your subjects, as well as brighten and smooth.

Chromatic Aberration
Heal colored fringes on the borders of high contrast areas with the Chromatic Aberration tool.

Lens Correction
Automatically correct barrel and pincushion distortion by applying the fix calibrated for the distortion inherent to the lens you used.

Rotate & Straighten
Rotate your images at preset angles or adjust the horizontal angle of your image using the Straighten tool. You can save your settings as a preset for future use.

Perspective Correction
Easily adjust the perspective of your photo so large or far-away objects are the correct size.

Crop Tool
Use the Crop tool to remove unwanted parts of your images, or to reduce the image canvas to a particular size.

Vignette Correction
Remove unwanted vignettes created by your camera lens.

Heal
Remove image flaws using the Healing Brush on complicated textures like skin or fur.

Clone
Remove image flaws using the Cloning Brush for strong, simple textures or uniform colors.

Blended Clone Tool
Use the Blended Clone tool to copy pixels from a source area to a target area. ACDSee analyzes the pixels in the target area and blends them with the copied pixels for the most seamless repair yet.

Red Eye Reduction
Automatically remove red eyes from the faces in your photos.

Editing Presets
Choose from a variety of ready-to-use editing Presets to give your image an attractive, distinct and professional look.

Histogram
Easily view a graphical representation of the distribution of light in your image.

Zoom
Zoom in or out of your image and pan around it for even more precise editing.
Performance & Efficiency

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Gemstone contains a number of AI-driven features to simplify complex editing.

Multi-Document Interface (MDI)
Have multiple documents open at the same time and use universal tool settings across document tabs. View or edit files in split views or child views.

Intuitive Home Screen
Initial screen for starting new projects from templates, or for continuing previously opened projects.

RAW File Support
Take full editing control of your images with ACDSee RAW, a non-destructive RAW photo editor built right into Gemstone. ACDSee RAW supports RAW image files from over 600 camera models, as well as many other image file formats.

GSD File Support
Preserve your layers by saving your work as a GSD file.

History & Snapshots
Keep track of your editing history. Take Snapshots of your edited image along the way. Go back to a previous step or Snapshot at any time throughout your editing process.

Settings Presets
Simplify your photo editing process by saving frequently used editing settings as Presets.

Templates
Choose from popular social media, print, and web specs or create your own templates for maximum efficiency.

Resize
Resize images to any dimension, following pixels or percentages, along either edge, or as a print size.

Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts
Whip through your editing process with customizable hot keys available for every stage of your workflow.

GPU Acceleration
Gemstone’s GPU-accelerated layers engine and adjustment layers, as well as quality performance for speedy filter application, will get you finished faster.

Appearance
Customize your workspace for enhanced efficiency. You can tear off, move, stack, dock, and hide panes and toolbars so everything is right where you want it.

Compatibility
Enjoy comprehensive support for all of the most popular image formats. Gemstone also provides comprehensive color management.

Photoshop Plug-ins
Import and apply Photoshop plug-ins for further creative freedom.
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System Requirements
To activate your software, to validate your subscriptions, or to access online services, you will need a valid email address and an internet connection.
Intel® or AMD® processor with 64-bit support
Intel i5 or better processor recommended
4 GB RAM (8 GB RAM or more recommended)
512 MB Video RAM (VRAM)
DirectX 10 compatible graphics adapter
1024 x 768 display resolution (1920 x 1080 recommended)
2 GB of available hard disk space
Microsoft® Windows® 7 (SP1), Windows® 8, Windows® 8.1, Windows® 10 (64-bit editions only) & Windows® 11
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 9+
Microsoft® DirectX® 10 or higher
Builds
Install additional RAW file support here.
Product Documentation
Helpful Links
Video Tutorials
Migration from Photoshop & Lightroom
RAW File Support
Supported File Formats
ACDSee Plug-ins
ACDSee Product Comparison
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