The September 2026 update to Photoshop and Camera Raw packs in a wide range of additions — from autofocus point display and a new glow effect to generative expand on raw files and color wheel grading inside masks. Some of these features arrived quietly and may have slipped by unnoticed.
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Practical Tips
Here are the key techniques covered across the update, selected for immediate practical use.
- Right-click any raw photo in Camera Raw and select Show Autofocus Points to confirm exactly where the camera locked focus — useful for culling shots that look sharp at a glance but aren't.
- Use the new Glow effect in Camera Raw (under Effects) with three distinct styles — Diffusion, Bloom, and Halation — to add cinematic highlight treatment non-destructively by stacking multiple Camera Raw smart filters.
- Apply Generative Expand directly to a raw DNG file in Camera Raw's crop tool to extend the frame while preserving all white balance and tonal settings — something that isn't possible in Photoshop alone.
- Use the Vector Scope with the Skin Tone Indicator in Camera Raw to check and correct skin tones precisely: mask the skin, sample it with the Point Color eyedropper, then adjust Hue, Saturation, and Variance until the tone lands on the indicator line.
- Enable color wheel grading inside masks by going to the Masking section and scrolling down to the Color Grading wheels — allowing separate highlight, midtone, and shadow grading for individual masked areas like backgrounds or subjects.
Related Articles and Tutorials
These tutorials cover earlier and related updates worth reviewing alongside this one.
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