Imagen Review: Faster Post-Production with AI

What if there was software that could learn how you edit in Lightroom and apply your style automatically across an entire shoot?

When we first reviewed Imagen (formerly ImagenAI), it was generating serious buzz among wedding photographers as one of the first AI tools promising exactly that.

Back then, professional wedding and portrait photographer Jackie Portolese tested Imagen during a particularly busy wedding season and quickly became a fan.

Since then, Imagen has evolved considerably, adding new features, refining its AI, and expanding its role within the photography post-production workflow.

As co-authors, we’ve updated Jackie’s review to reflect the latest Imagen developments while keeping the original hands-on experience intact.

Below, you’ll find both the original impressions and the most recent updates to help you decide whether Imagen is still worth using today.

Imagen Review: Quick Summary

Editor’s note (2026): Imagen has since expanded its capabilities to include features like AI culling, faster profile setup, and more advanced automated adjustments, further reducing time spent in Lightroom.

What is Imagen and How Does it Work?

Imagen is an artificial intelligence-powered photo editing desktop app designed for Adobe Lightroom workflows.

It learns your personal editing style (learn more about Imagen’s AI Profiles here) and applies it quickly and consistently across an entire Lightroom catalog.

By consistency, we mean it smooths out your editing style across an entire shoot regardless of variations in lighting, scene, or color toning.

For example, if your shoot begins in a darker room and ends outdoors in fantastic light, Imagen balances exposure and color across the entire gallery so everything appears as consistent as possible, usually requiring only minor fine-tuning afterward.

More recent versions have expanded Imagen’s editing capabilities to include more advanced automated adjustments, improved masking, and smarter lighting corrections.

In practice, this means fewer manual tweaks once the edited catalog is returned to Lightroom, although it still works best as a starting point rather than a complete replacement for manual editing.

If you want to teach Imagen your personal style, you’ll need a large set of edited images in Lightroom catalogs to create a Creator Profile.

Originally this required around 5,000 edited photos, but Imagen has since introduced faster setup options that allow new users to get started with fewer images while still improving accuracy over time.

If you don’t have a large catalog of edited images, Imagen also offers several editing profiles created by professional photographers that produce impressive results even without personal training.

Imagen is particularly useful for photographers who batch edit large volumes of images. For example, weddings, corporate events, and other high-volume work where consistency and turnaround time matter most.

When we first reviewed Imagen, it was already generating significant excitement across the photography industry. Judging by the continued growth of AI editing tools and the ongoing discussion within photography communities, that momentum hasn’t slowed.

AI is increasingly being used to help photographers work more efficiently, with editing tools like Luminar Neo and Photoshop, and culling software such as Narrative Select.

Imagen attempts to position itself at the center of this shift by combining personal style learning with large-scale workflow automation.

Let’s take a closer look at how Imagen can help photographers edit thousands of images with just a few clicks.

8 Useful Imagen Features

1. Teach (Creating your “Creator profile”)

Your first step to using Imagen as a creator is training it how you edit in Lightroom with the “Teach” function.

With just a few simple clicks, you can teach Imagen your editing style by selecting and uploading your Lightroom catalog (or catalogs) amounting to at least 5,000 images.

This is called your “Creator Profile,” and you can always refine it by continuing to upload your final edits.

When we first tested Imagen, creating a personal profile required a large Lightroom catalog. The platform has since introduced faster profile creation options that allow you to get started with fewer images or by building on existing presets.

Full profiles trained on large catalogs still deliver the best results, but the barrier to entry is lower than it used to be.

We recommend uploading catalogs that accurately reflect your current editing style and avoiding older content where possible, since past edits can influence the results.

In our recent testing, we also noticed that edits may reflect older style preferences if earlier catalogs are included in training.

2. Edit

Once we’ve taught Imagen our editing style, we can use the “Edit” function to upload an entire catalog for editing.

Amazingly, it only takes about 30 minutes for Imagen to adjust a catalog of ~500 images, and just seconds to download it back into your catalog folder.

Once finished, all you need to do is open the catalog back up in Lightroom and your images are ready for any fine-tuning that may be necessary.

Below is Imagen’s edit alongside a final edit, which required only a minor color grading adjustment and a small shadow correction.

As wedding photographers who shoot in multiple settings throughout a single day, we were impressed by Imagen’s consistency from start to finish.

Here’s an example comparing a window-lit hotel scene at the beginning of the day to an outdoor portrait taken just after sunset.

Editing capabilities have also expanded since the initial review. Imagen now performs more advanced adjustments automatically, including improved masking, localized lighting corrections, and more consistent skin rendering.

This generally results in fewer manual tweaks after importing the edited catalog back into Lightroom, although some fine-tuning is still required.

3. Talent Profiles

If you don’t have 5,000 edited images’ worth of Lightroom catalogs to upload, you can choose from several Talent Profiles created by professional photographers, like Rachel Nielsen’s “Timeless Color” and Yervant Zanazanian’s “Simply Sublime.”

Edited using Rachel Nielsen’s “Timeless Color.”

Once the profiles have been added to your account, simply select them from the dropdown and Imagen will handle the rest.

You can then globally adjust the gallery to apply your own style on top of what the Talent Profile provides.

Yotam, the CEO of Imagen, explains how to do this in this video.

There’s also the opportunity to purchase additional profiles from the newly updated Imagen Profile Shop, which at present includes over 50 styles from talented photographers around the world.

4. Subject Masking

One of Imagen’s most useful additions in recent versions is the subject mask tool.

The ability to draw attention to the subject of a photograph once required manual brush work or vignettes in Lightroom, but it can now be done automatically.

Masking has become increasingly accurate and plays a larger role in how Imagen shapes lighting and subject emphasis.

See our guide for more info on the Imagen subject mask tool.

5. Cull to Exact Number

One of Imagen’s newer workflow tools is “Cull to an exact number,” an AI-powered feature that automatically reduces a large set of images to a specific number or percentage of final selects.

Instead of manually reviewing thousands of photos, we simply tell Imagen how many images we want to deliver (or what percentage of the gallery to keep), and the AI selects the strongest shots.

It helpfully evaluates factors like sharpness, expressions, composition, and variety to make its decisions.

This is particularly useful for high-volume work like weddings, events, and commercial sessions where fast and consistent culling is essential.

It helps speed up delivery timelines while still allowing full control, letting us review and adjust selections before finalizing them.

For photographers who spend hours narrowing down galleries, this feature alone can significantly reduce post-production time.

6. Non-Destructive Denoise

Imagen’s noise reduction has also evolved into a fully non-destructive, Lightroom-native adjustment.

Previously, AI denoise was treated more like a final step. Now, noise reduction is applied in a way that allows us to adjust or refine the results later without permanently altering the image.

This gives much greater flexibility when working in Lightroom, since settings can be tweaked after the AI has done its work.

The result is cleaner images, a simpler workflow, and more creative control during editing, especially when working with low-light or high-ISO shots.

7. Object Removal

Imagen has introduced a new Object Removal tool designed to automatically detect and remove distracting elements from photos in bulk.

The feature is particularly aimed at event and wedding photographers who regularly deal with distractions like exit signs, background clutter, or unwanted objects in the frame.

Instead of fixing these manually image by image, Imagen can apply corrections across large galleries with minimal input.

This marks Imagen’s first step into automated AI retouching and helps reduce another time-consuming part of post-production.

The only issue I found when testing is that there’s no fine control over the object removal within the Imagen software. Instead, you’re left to review and make precise adjustments in Lightroom.

8. Social Spotlight

Imagen is also expanding beyond editing and culling with Social Spotlight, a tool designed to help photographers manage social media directly from their editing workflow.

The feature selects strong images from completed projects, suggests captions based on past writing style, and allows posts to be scheduled or published directly to Instagram.

The goal is to reduce the need for switching between multiple apps and to simplify the process of sharing work online.

This moves Imagen into business and marketing workflow territory rather than pure editing and should appeal to photographers who want a more streamlined post-production and delivery process.

Overall Performance: How Long Does Imagen take?

Imagen can take time to learn your style, especially if multiple catalogs need to be uploaded.

However, it makes up for this with fast processing speeds. Edited catalogs are often ready within 30 minutes.

The user experience can still feel somewhat clunky. We encountered some difficulty accessing Talent Profiles and needed to contact support for assistance, although support was responsive and helpful.

The interface and workflow appear to still be evolving, and we expect improvements over time.

Pricing: How Much Does Imagen Cost?

At around 6 cents per image, Imagen offers strong value compared to manual editing services.

However, a human editor would typically complete the entire gallery, whereas Imagen still requires final adjustments.

While it may not eliminate all editing time, it can significantly reduce time spent in Lightroom. At roughly $25 per wedding, the time savings can easily justify the cost.

If you don’t use Imagen in a given month, a $7 subscription fee is required to maintain your Creator Profile.

Given the complexity of the system, this ongoing cost is understandable.

Overall, the service represents strong value for photographers handling high volumes of images.

(1,500 images equates to roughly two entire weddings, making it a low-risk way to test the workflow.)

One important consideration is how quickly AI editing tools continue to evolve. Lightroom now includes strong AI masking and automatic adjustments, and several tools offer AI-based culling or editing assistance.

Imagen’s main advantage remains its ability to learn a photographer’s personal style and apply it consistently across large galleries, which is clearly a major benefit for high-volume workflows.

Imagen Coupon Code

We’re giving away 1,500 Imagen edits for FREE if you sign up through the Shotkit link. Imagen also provides 500 free edits for every friend you refer.

Click the “Refer a friend” icon in the top right corner of your Imagen window to access your referral link.

Imagen Review | Conclusion

Imagen has the potential to change how many photographers approach post-processing.

From its consistency and speed to its competitive pricing, it provides a practical way to reduce editing workload and deliver galleries faster.

Imagen continues to evolve quickly, adding workflow automation and more advanced editing features since the original review.

While it won’t replace careful manual editing, it has become an increasingly powerful starting point for photographers who want to spend less time in Lightroom.

We’re curious to hear your thoughts. Would you use AI editing software? Do you think it will change the industry for the better, or do you see challenges ahead?

Let us know in the comments below.