But Elias wanted to fix the harsh shadows on the face. In the old days, he’d have to paint a brush mask manually, hoping his hand was steady enough not to paint over the nose or hair.
While AI Denoise stole the show, Lightroom Classic 12.3 included crucial updates to the Masking engine, which was completely rebuilt in version 11.
Adobe Lightroom Classic 12.3 (released April 2023) is a major update that introduced significant AI-powered tools, most notably a new denoising engine that fundamentally changed how users handle high-ISO images. Adobe Lightroom Classic 12.3
The marquee feature of Lightroom Classic 12.3 is (or "Denoise AI"). For years, third-party plugins dominated the noise reduction market, but Adobe’s native implementation brought this power directly into the develop module. How it Works
: Support for opening photos as Smart Object Layers in Photoshop was streamlined. Device and Lens Support But Elias wanted to fix the harsh shadows on the face
Lightroom’s localized adjustment engine receives massive usability upgrades in version 12.3, specifically targeting the speed of portrait retouching and precise color selections. Advanced Clothing and Facial Hair Masks
To understand the legacy of 12.3, we must look forward. Version 12.4 (released August 2023) built on its foundation by adding and Lens Blur (AI depth mapping). Without the GPU optimizations and mask architecture of 12.3, those features would have been unusable. Adobe Lightroom Classic 12
It handles high ISO images exceptionally well, often outperforming or matching specialized third-party noise reduction plugins like Topaz Labs or ON1.
Navigate to the Develop Module and select a high-ISO image. Note that AI Denoise currently works exclusively on proprietary Raw files and Bayer/X-Trans mosaics (not JPEGs or TIFFs).