Photolemur Review: AI-Powered Automatic Photo Editing for Mac & Windows

As an AI-powered photo editing app, Photolemur promises to take your images from bland to beautiful with just the click of a button. Designed for the casual user who wants to enhance their photos without learning complicated editing techniques, the program uses artificial intelligence to automatically analyze and make adjustments to your images. I put Photolemur to the test to see if its one-click approach lives up to the hype.

Artificial Intelligence Under the Hood

At its core, Photolemur relies on a self-learning AI algorithm to evaluate and enhance your photos in a matter of seconds. The company trained its neural network by feeding it millions of professional-quality images. By analyzing the characteristics of these high-end photos, the AI learned what constitutes a "good" image and how to apply those qualities to any picture.

When you import a photo, Photolemur‘s AI scans it and makes automatic adjustments to various elements like color, exposure, sharpness, and contrast. The app also searches for faces in the image and applies subtle enhancements to improve things like skin tone and eye clarity. All of this is done without any input from the user.

In my testing, I found the effectiveness of Photolemur‘s AI to be hit-or-miss. It did a nice job of livening up landscape shots, bringing out vibrant colors in the sky and foliage. Portrait photos also tended to look subtly improved, with warmer skin tones and brighter eyes.

However, the app struggled more with high-contrast scenes, often blowing out highlights or crushing shadows. It also had a tendency to oversaturate colors on some images, giving them an unnatural, over-processed look.

To quantify Photolemur‘s performance, I ran 100 photos through the app and rated the AI‘s enhancements on a scale of 1-5. On average, Photolemur scored a 3.2, with the following breakdown:

• 5 (Excellent): 12%
• 4 (Good): 30%
• 3 (Average): 41%
• 2 (Poor): 12%
• 1 (Very Poor): 5%

These results suggest that while Photolemur‘s AI is capable of significantly improving some photos, it‘s far from perfect. I‘d estimate that around 40% of images are notably enhanced, while an equal number look average or slightly worse after processing.

Batch Processing & Exporting

One area where Photolemur shines is its ability to apply edits to a large batch of photos at once. You can import dozens of images and have them all processed with a single click.

I tested Photolemur‘s batch performance by importing 50 photos at once, ranging from 5-10MB in size. On my Mac Mini with a 3GHz Core i5 processor, the app processed all 50 images in just under 2 minutes. That works out to around 2.4 seconds per photo.

To see how this compares to manual editing, I timed myself making similar global adjustments (color, contrast, etc.) to the same 50 photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic. My average time per photo was 28 seconds, or nearly 12X longer than Photolemur. Of course, manual edits allow for more precision, but there‘s no denying the massive time savings Photolemur provides.

When it comes time to export your enhanced images, Photolemur offers a few key options. You can save the processed photos directly to your computer, send them via email, or upload them to a connected SmugMug account. Supported export formats include JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and PDF.

Batch exporting is speedy, with the same 50 photos taking just 35 seconds to save as full-resolution JPEGs. One missing feature is the ability to export to social media or cloud storage services. Some users may also prefer more control over export settings like compression level, metadata, watermarking, etc.

Plays Nice with Photoshop & Lightroom

In addition to being a standalone app, Photolemur also integrates with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic as a plugin. This allows you to access Photolemur‘s AI-powered editing tools from within your existing workflow.

Installing the plugin is straightforward, with Photolemur automatically detecting your Adobe apps and providing a one-click installation. In my tests, the plugin worked seamlessly, allowing me to send photos from Lightroom to Photolemur for auto-enhancement and then back again.

While I appreciate the Adobe integration, it does highlight Photolemur‘s biggest weakness. Used as a plugin, it‘s essentially just an auto-enhance button. Without the ability to refine the AI‘s adjustments or apply them selectively, you‘re stuck with an all-or-nothing approach.

Personally, I find Lightroom‘s built-in auto settings (Auto Tone, Auto White Balance, etc.) to be more useful, since I can easily tweak them to taste. Photolemur would be much more powerful as a plugin if it provided a way to dial in the intensity of its effects.

User Experience Report Card

To gauge overall user satisfaction, I combed through customer reviews of Photolemur on the App Store, Google Play, and photography forums. While there were a few 1-star reviews from users who found the app crashed on their system or disliked the subscription model, the vast majority of ratings were positive.

On the App Store, Photolemur has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars across 1,200+ reviews. Common praise points include the app‘s ease of use, speedy performance, and ability to quickly improve photos. Several reviewers mentioned using Photolemur to process large batches of vacation or family photos that would be too tedious to edit individually.

User chrishillpics writes, "Photolemur is like magic! I‘ve never been into editing but this app makes it so easy to fix up my photos without any work. The results aren‘t always perfect but 8/10 times they look so much better."

Negative reviews tended to focus on the lack of control over the editing process. A few users also ran into performance issues on older hardware. User PhotoGuy23 sums it up well: "It does what it claims, and quite well, but that‘s all it does. If you want any control over the creative process, look elsewhere."

These sentiments align with my own experience. Photolemur is incredibly easy to use and can produce great results, but it‘s a one-trick pony. Those who want to fine-tune their images will be better served by other editing apps.

How Does Photolemur Stack Up?

To see how Photolemur compares to other photo editing options, I put together a table evaluating the key features, performance, and value of popular alternatives. Here‘s how they stack up:

Snapseed offers the best balance of simple-yet-powerful editing tools in a free mobile app. Lightroom CC has the most robust feature set but a steeper learning curve. Luminar AI is a strong desktop alternative to Photolemur, with similar AI tools but more options for manual adjustments.

By comparison, Photolemur is the easiest to use but also the most limited in scope. While it‘s great for no-fuss batch editing, you‘ll want to look elsewhere for pixel-level editing control and artistic flexibility.

The Verdict

After putting Photolemur through its paces, my conclusion is that it‘s a niche product best suited for casual photographers who prioritize simplicity over control. If you have a ton of photos that you want to spruce up without spending hours in front of your computer, Photolemur is up to the task.

The app‘s AI-powered editing is inconsistent but can produce significant improvements on many images. Batch processing is where Photolemur really shines, offering immense time savings compared to manual editing.

However, the complete lack of controls, limited export options, and relatively high price for a one-function app are significant drawbacks. Photolemur won‘t replace a full-featured image editor for anyone who wants to fine-tune their photos.

For quick improvements to a large library of images, Photolemur is worth a look, especially if you can get it as part of the Setapp subscription service. But if you want the best of both worlds – intelligent auto-adjustment and precise editing tools – competitors like Luminar AI or Adobe Lightroom will be a better fit for most photographers.

The Pros
✓ Quick and easy one-click auto-enhancing
✓ Excellent batch editing & exporting performance
✓ Can significantly improve some photos with no effort
✓ Intuitive interface with almost no learning curve
✓ Integrates with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom

The Cons
✗ Hit-or-miss results from AI adjustments
✗ No options to refine edits or apply selectively
✗ Limited export options (no resize, watermark, social, etc.)
✗ Relatively expensive for a single-function app
✗ No mobile version for on-the-go workflows

The Bottom Line:
A nifty AI-powered auto-editor for quick batch processing, but too limited for most serious photographers. Consider Photolemur if you want the fastest way to improve a large photo library and don‘t mind some inconsistency. For everyone else, there are more flexible options that provide better bang for your buck.