PhotoArtAgent: Intelligent Photo Retouching with Language Model-Based Artist Agents

TL;DR

PhotoArtAgent is an AI system that combines vision-language models and natural language reasoning to emulate professional artistic retouching, providing transparent, iterative, and user-controllable photo enhancement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel AI agent that plans, executes, and explains artistic photo retouching using vision-language models and API-driven adjustments.

Findings

Outperforms existing automated tools in user studies

Achieves results comparable to professional artists

Provides transparent, explainable retouching process

Abstract

Photo retouching is integral to photographic art, extending far beyond simple technical fixes to heighten emotional expression and narrative depth. While artists leverage expertise to create unique visual effects through deliberate adjustments, non-professional users often rely on automated tools that produce visually pleasing results but lack interpretative depth and interactive transparency. In this paper, we introduce PhotoArtAgent, an intelligent system that combines Vision-Language Models (VLMs) with advanced natural language reasoning to emulate the creative process of a professional artist. The agent performs explicit artistic analysis, plans retouching strategies, and outputs precise parameters to Lightroom through an API. It then evaluates the resulting images and iteratively refines them until the desired artistic vision is achieved. Throughout this process, PhotoArtAgent provides transparent, text-based explanations of its creative rationale, fostering meaningful interaction and user control. Experimental results show that PhotoArtAgent not only surpasses existing automated tools in user studies but also achieves results comparable to those of professional human artists.