Lensa AI Review: A Beginner-Friendly AI Photo Editing Tool

There’s no real shortage of AI image editing apps out there that promise to make photo editing simple and accessible for complete newbies.

Lensa AI could be considered standard fare in that regard, promising near-expert-level photo editing at the touch of a few buttons.

So let’s review Lensa AI and see how it stacks up.

Installation and How It Works

As with many AI apps, the developers of Lensa AI have focused on bringing just the mobile app portion to life.

In general, this is not that great in terms of accessibility, given that browser solutions typically get more features and visibility thanks to the ability to work on a bigger screen.

However, the app’s features and its availability on both iOS and Android make it one of the apps out there with the most potential.

Setup-wise, the app has a straightforward four-step process that lets you select what you plan to use it for, starting with whether you want to use the editor or the avatar generator (both will be available).

I’ve noticed that most of the process is purely for data collection, as the app’s AI seems to function the same regardless of what you choose.

Presumably, the app might change recommended styles and filters based on the social media apps you connect to it under your preferences.

That being said, actually using the app is straightforward, and this is among the most user-friendly apps I’ve seen in terms of menu cohesion.

There are no large menus of items and AI selectors to choose from, which reduces complexity. This is something I really liked.

The app is a simple editor first, with the optional avatar generation second.

Feature Review

For most people, Lensa AI works best as a quick, on-the-go photo editor. With that in mind, this feature review is structured around how an average user is likely to use the app from the moment they open it.

“All-in-One” AI Editor

If you start with a regular old portrait photo (or a picture of any kind, really), you will usually get prompted to go through the three-step AI retouching process.

This is by far one of the simplest versions of an AI editing suite I’ve seen.

The AI does take a bit of time to apply some of the most comprehensive changes, but for the majority of them, you can see both the preview and the side-by-side comparison from the original near-instantaneously.

Best of all, this is an entirely guided sequence that will get you a decent image most of the time.

First is the general “scene” retoucher, which plays with general image settings like brightness, contrast, and color composition, while allowing you a solid range of options.

But beyond that, the tool can also apply general makeup styles (and it automatically detects whether the subject is a male or female for portraits), as well as blurring the background slightly.

If you start with a higher-quality image, some of these might not do much since the AI quickly “sees” the quality and doesn’t have much to improve.

The next step is the face feature retoucher, which works with facial proportions and skin brushing. Each of the five sections has small yet noticeable changes that can start to add up.

The face retouch feature works on the face as a whole, and will, in general, brighten it up and remove most blemishes and wrinkles when turned to the maximum 10.

The “face matte” will even out the contrast on the face. It works well if you have oily skin or makeup, providing a cleaner look even in bad lighting conditions.

The “face flawless” feature works similarly to face retouch – but on a slightly smaller scale – to remove blemishes.

The “eye bags” feature perhaps makes the most noticeable change, as even putting it to a relatively low number removes under-eye shadow pretty seamlessly.

The skin tone adjustment might be a bit polarizing, on the other hand, as it drastically depends on the starting skin tone in the image (or whichever the AI detects).

For some of my testing, this ranged from a pinkish to an orange hue on a caucasian face. However, none of the extremes really felt like actual skin tones that would fit a person, so I’d recommend lower values if you do decide to change.

The final step is the lighting editing, which changes the exposure, brightness, contrast, and shadows.

The thing I liked most here is that every change is readily seen in the final result, and that the AI does a pretty seamless job.

After that, all you have to do is save the image, and it will be ready for export.

Notably, the AI doesn’t place a watermark on edited images, so you can use them as-is.

Advanced Editing

When you finish the prompted AI editing, you get access to the “advanced” suite, which holds a lot more options that you can tinker around with.

The entire bottom part of the menu is pretty self-explanatory, and nothing is locked from being used and applied.

Magic Eraser

Similar to most AI photo tools out there, Lensa AI has an AI-based eraser for intelligent filling.

The selection brush part works nicely, and the AI does select the object well based on a rough outline.

Do note that the tool’s “regenerate” feature doesn’t work nearly as well as the rest of its AI editing suite, especially for large objects.

For example, when I tried to remove the hand and arm from my model, the AI couldn’t really fill in the area properly. Sure, you could see the broad outline of the neck and the sweater, but the entire area was too blurry compared to the rest.

In some cases, I also got an “echo” of the object since the AI couldn’t deduce what was supposed to be in the background.

Once I relegated the AI to background features, it worked much better, removing objects like windows and doors without infringing on the actual subject.

Since the background is already blurred, the AI’s natural blurriness fits in quite nicely.

Face Shaping

Apart from general facial corrections, the suite also has a separate section for shaping the face.

It includes five different sliders: proportion, bigger eyes, smaller nose, smaller cheeks, and plump lips.

Facial proportion simply shrinks the face (in relation to the head) without touching the actual location of the scalp, which can look weird on natural-looking portraits.

The rest of the features are self-explanatory, and the range of available changes is actually quite nice. Even at the higher end of the sliding scale, none of the changes look odd or out of place for the subject.

Notably, the plump lips option will never result in anything near a duckface even when dialed up to 10 (provided you start with a sensible portrait and lip size), which is a win in my book.

Look Section

This is one of the least intuitive sections of the UI and, frankly, most of the changes here end up being extremely minor.

Even with a higher-quality image, the eyelash and eyebrow changes do pretty much nothing. The face contouring option might give you a slightly slimmer face, but not always.

The brighter lips editor does result in a slightly better look, especially if your model has minimal makeup to begin with.

The shadow and highlights sections quickly go wild and end up looking a bit unrealistic, so don’t go overboard.

This is also where you can change hair color. While the actual change is done correctly, I’d like to see more color options or even a color wheel.

Notably, some “actual” hair colors like blonde and red are entirely missing from the selection, which is a shame.

Backdrop/Background Change

For the background selector, the AI automatically tries to detect the background to be changed, and it generally does a good job.

As you can see, the tool isolates the hair from the background pretty well, with only a slight cut near some of the blurriest edges.

The selection of background is pretty decent, too. You can choose from stock and solid color options, but also from more “esoteric” backgrounds.

You can also manually adjust the background area in case the AI doesn’t get it quite right, with the same type of brush selector (with a notable exception where the brush selects the foreground object rather than the background).

Overall, this is quite a nice way to remove background items or add a bit of whimsy to studio photos.

Other Basic Edits

Apart from AI-based editing, the tool also has a bunch of standard retouching options you’ll see in app editors, like light, color correction, and focus details.

Notably, for all these edits, you can separately apply them to the subject, the backdrop, or both, adding a few tinkering tools when needed.

Rounding out the suite is your standard fare of special effects, borders, cropping, and a few custom frames, just to add a few more options.

Avatar Creation

Apart from editing images, the tool allows you to create virtual avatars, which can be used for social media profile photos or thumbnails.

To get started, the app requires you to add a few quality images, preferably from the front and at least one other angle. However, I used a single image and still got decent results.

Then, you have to choose the styles you want the AI to emulate.

This is one of the weirdest sections, frankly, as some styles have practically no connection to their name (or the result they give out), so your only option is to test them out.

One of the issues I ran into here is that the app might stutter or just stop working until you go back to the main “avatar creation” menu after selecting a style.

At base, the app provides four samples, which are generally similar. Handily, it also provides a guide for what is considered a “good” result that you can keep, and which should be reported for errors.

The app will occasionally throw you an image that doesn’t seem right, but most samples I got were pretty decent.

Perhaps most importantly, you do get the option to change the avatar later. After selecting the picture you like the most, you’re brought to the same editing suite as with photos.

Notably, changes here allow you to see just how granular the AI is at creating specific body parts. Hair can get a bit messy and look like dreadlocks often, but the rest of the details are done in much higher fidelity.

Finally, while the AI does put a watermark on the avatars, it’s placed on the very bottom, and the in-app editor has a crop function that can cut it out. In most cases, you won’t even notice it’s missing.

Overall, I like the avatar creator. While it takes a bit of time to get used to (and to filter out some nonsense styles), it’s a fun addition to play with from time to time or when you need a virtual avatar.

Pricing

One notable caveat with Lensa AI is that it’s not free.

You do get a seven-day trial, which comes with many useful features attached, but that’s pretty much it. After the trial period, the only option available from the app is a yearly subscription, which is a bit of a commitment.

The pricing will vary by your region (as it’s set through the app), but a yearly subscription usually runs for US$60.

When you first log in with your email after downloading the app, you do get a one-year discount (after the seven-day trial expires).

So the only way to make sure that this app is really for you is to use the trial as much as possible.

Who Is Lensa AI For and Is It Good?

Based on my testing, Lensa AI provides a nifty little editing suite for users who frequently use social media and need selfies or portraits that are slight upgrades over what they get from stock editors.

The ease of use and range of options are certainly there for the app, even if some of the features feel superfluous or incomplete.

The tool can also, in theory, work with product photography, as the basic editing suite is there, but you’d be missing many of the options.

Overall, I’d recommend trying it out. Given that you get a free seven-day trial (and can just cancel the subscription later), it’s a no-risk option.