Frequently Asked Questions

PHAiTO was created by the team at Image Salon, a professional photo editing company based in Montreal, Canada. The AI was trained in close collaboration with Image Salon's experienced editors on over 1 million professional edits across 350+ cameras. Learn more on the about PHAiTO page.

The PHAiTO blog covers AI editing workflows, Looks guides, photographer tips, and tool comparisons. Start with our AI editing examples to see results across all styles, or read our AI wedding editing guide for a deep dive into high-volume workflows.

PHAiTO follows a simple 5-step workflow that fits into your existing Lightroom process:

Open PHAiTO and upload your RAW files directly — no export or format conversion required.

Choose your workflow — Cull only, Edit only, or both (full workflow).

Set your intent — For culling, set your tightness and add a creative prompt if desired. For editing, choose your Look or personalized style.

Send & process — PHAiTO processes your images and notifies you when results are ready. Available 24/7.

Download & review — Open results in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic. Cull results appear as stars, flags, or labels. Edits show up as develop settings ready to review, adjust, and sync.

Our video tutorials have a full Lightroom walkthrough if you prefer to see it in action.

Smart Previews are not required for PHAiTO to process your images, but including them will significantly speed up your order's turnaround time.

To build Smart Previews:

Open your Lightroom catalog and go to the Library Module.

Select all images you want to send to PHAiTO.

In the top menu, go to: Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews.

Wait for the progress bar to complete, then close your catalog.

Pro tip: Check "Build Smart Previews" in the File Handling panel during import so they're always ready to go. Our video tutorials include a dedicated Smart Previews walkthrough.

Note to Nellie: Link to this video on this FAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYHW9n65h0g

PHAiTO does both. You can choose from three workflows:

Cull only — AI selects your best images based on sharpness, composition, emotion, variety, and sequence

Edit only — AI applies consistent colour correction across your session

Cull + Edit — Full workflow from selection through to colour-corrected delivery

You choose what you need and only pay for what you use. See the pricing page for full details.

Prompt Culling lets you give the AI creative direction when culling — not just technical filters. You can add prompts like:

"Focus on intimate moments and details"

"Prioritize wide shots and full scenes"

"Safer picks, less experimental"

This means your shortlist feels curated, not just filtered.

PHAiTO evaluates images the way an experienced editor would — looking beyond technical specs to consider sharpness (relative to the scene), eyes open and expression quality, composition and framing, variety across the session, emotional weight and connection, and sequence and pacing across a gallery. With Prompt Culling, you can shape these priorities with your own creative direction.

Make sure you're running the latest version of PHAiTO (v3.21). In January 2026, PHAiTO launched a completely new app (version 2.0). Download the latest version directly from your client dashboard. Still stuck? Reach out to our support team.

If your edits appear unchanged after download, Lightroom may be having trouble regenerating its preview files. Fix it in four steps:

Close Lightroom Classic.

Locate the "Previews.lrdata" file associated with your catalog. (Tip: right-click the catalog name in Lightroom's top menu bar before closing to find its location.)

Delete the "Previews.lrdata" file.

Re-open the catalog — previews will regenerate automatically with your PHAiTO edits applied.

More troubleshooting help is available in our video tutorials.

PHAiTO offers two ways to pay — whichever fits your workflow:

Pay-As-You-Go

AI Editing: $0.07 per image

Add-ons: $0.01 per image

No contracts, no minimums

Minimum order: $1.50

Subscription Plans

Personal: $39/mo (annual) or $49/mo (monthly) — ~1,500 images/month

Studio: $79/mo (annual) or $99/mo (monthly) — ~3,000 images/month

Studio+: $159/mo (annual) or $199/mo (monthly) — ~7,500 images/month

Enterprise: Custom pricing — 100K+ images/month

All subscription plans include every editing tool, your custom profiles, and credit rollover during your active term. Full details on the pricing page.

Both options are available. Pay-as-you-go is $0.07 per image with no commitment — ideal if your volume varies or you want to try before subscribing. Subscription plans offer better value for photographers who edit consistently. See the pricing page to compare.

PHAiTO accepts all major credit cards (processed via Stripe) and PayPal. After your free trial, you'll be prompted to add payment details.

Yes. Credits roll over during your active subscription term. Annual plan subscribers receive their full year's allocation upfront.

Top-up credit packs are available to any subscriber. Buy extra capacity anytime without changing your plan — packs start at 500 credits for $29. Credits expire after 3 months. Full details on the pricing page.

You can upgrade anytime — your credit difference is prorated. Downgrades take effect at your next billing cycle.

Yes. PHAiTO is built with seasonal workflows in mind. Reach out to our support team to pause.

Culling is a separate product and not included in editing plans. It's available as a standalone subscription ($29/mo annual or $39/mo monthly) or at preferred pricing when combined with Studio or Studio+ editing plans. Full details on the pricing page.

PHAiTO is committed to client satisfaction and will issue a full refund if the edits are unusable. Because every account includes a free 1,000-image trial to evaluate the service before committing, refund requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. To request a refund, contact our support team.

PHAiTO processes images quickly and delivers results 24/7. Estimated times for 1,000 images:

Times are estimates and vary based on selected add-ons and queue volume during peak periods.

PHAiTO is an AI-powered photo culling and editing service that integrates directly with Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic. It helps professional photographers cull with intention and edit with consistent colour — delivering a strong starting point for every session so you spend less time behind the screen and more time shooting. Start with a free trial — no credit card required.

PHAiTO offers a free 1,000-image trial with no credit card required and no commitment. You can test any Look or workflow across multiple orders within your 1,000-image limit. The trial is valid for 30 days. After that, subscription plans start at $29 per month, or available on pay-as-you-go at $0.07 per image. Create a free account to get started.

After creating a free account, you'll get access to your client dashboard where you can access a download link. Install the app on your Mac or PC, connect it to your Lightroom Classic catalog, and you're ready to place your first order. Make sure you're running version 2.0.20 — the latest release. If PHAiTO isn't working, an outdated version is the most common cause.

PHAiTO is a downloadable desktop app available for both Mac and PC. It's not browser-based — you install it on your computer and it connects directly to your Lightroom Classic catalog. Your RAW files never need to be exported or converted, and your edited results land back in Lightroom automatically without any manual importing.

Yes — PHAiTO was built with volume in mind. It processes approximately 1,000 images in 20 minutes, returning a full gallery of colour-corrected images as Lightroom Develop settings, ready for your review and delivery. No more late nights after a full weekend of shooting. The Cull + Edit workflow means you can go from raw files to a client-ready shortlist in two simple steps. Read more about AI wedding editing on our blog.

Yes. Portrait photographers consistently cite skin tone accuracy and mixed lighting as their biggest editing challenges — both are core priorities in how PHAiTO's AI was trained. Looks like Editorial, Cinematic, Classic, and Film Dark & Moody are all strong choices for portrait work, each handling skin tones and lighting differently depending on your aesthetic. PHAiTO gives you a polished, consistent starting point across every frame in a session.

Read more about AI editing for portrait photographers on our blog.

Yes. PHAiTO offers two Looks built specifically for property photography: HOME I and HOME II. Both deliver accurate colour correction, clean white balance, and balanced exposure for interiors and exteriors — keeping spaces bright, true-to-life, and inviting. HOME II adds bolder contrast and more dimension for high-end residential and commercial work.

Read more about AI real estate editing on our blog.

PHAiTO integrates with Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic V12.0 or higher. Lightroom CC is not currently supported.

PHAiTO supports all major RAW formats from 350+ camera models, including Canon (.CR2, .CR3), Nikon (.NEF), Sony (.ARW), Fujifilm (.RAF), Panasonic, Olympus, and more.

JPEG files are also supported — select the JPG Look profiles when submitting an order.

Almost certainly yes. PHAiTO supports RAW files from 350+ camera models across all major brands: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus, and more. JPEG files are also supported. If you shoot RAW with a professional or prosumer camera, PHAiTO is built for your workflow.

PHAiTO is compatible with both Mac and PC:

Mac: macOS X 10.14 or higher

PC: Windows 7 or Windows 10

PHAiTO returns XMP sidecar files that integrate directly into your Lightroom catalog. Cull results appear as stars, flags, or labels. Editing adjustments show up as develop settings in the Develop module, ready to review, adjust, and sync across similar images.

This is a minor catalog warning — your edits and data are safe. Simply press "Continue" to proceed. If you've applied AI masks to other images in the catalog, you may need to recalculate them:

Mac: Press Cmd + Opt + U

Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + U

To avoid this in the future, keep images intended for PHAiTO in a separate Lightroom catalog.

Core Styles:

Classic — Balanced. Clean. True-to-life. A timeless foundation for weddings, couples, family, lifestyle, and brand.

Film - Light & Airy — Soft. Romantic. Gentle. Luminous pastels and smooth contrast. Best for weddings, portraits, headshots, maternity, and fine-art lifestyle.

Film - Dark & Moody — Deep. Dramatic. Intimate. Shadow-forward with rich texture. Best for portraiture, boudoir, fine art, moody weddings, and landscapes.

Punchy — Bold. Playful. Vibrant. Elevated vibrance with snappy contrast. Ideal for lifestyle, travel, adventure, brand, and content creators.

Cinematic — Velvety. Real. Dramatic. Film-inspired depth and atmosphere. Best for lifestyle, portraits, landscapes, documentary, and brand.

Lush — Sumptuous. Bold. Controlled. Richer colour and refined contrast with luxurious skin tones. Great for weddings, portraits, lifestyle, and brand.

Editorial — Refined. Versatile. Elegant. True-to-life colour with strong mixed-lighting handling. Ideal for weddings, portraits, studio, newborn, brand, and lifestyle.

Niche & Technical Styles:

Classic Black & White — Refined. Timeless. Honest. Elegant monochrome with flattering tonality. Works across weddings, portraits, documentary, street, fine art, and landscapes.

Home - Bright & Colourful — Inviting. Modern. Balanced. A bolder, more dimensional real estate finish with higher contrast and refined texture.

Home - Clean & Minimal — Inviting. Clean. Balanced. Built for real estate and architecture with accurate colour and clean exposure.

JPG — Neutral. Clean. Instant. Optimized for fast, consistent correction on JPEG workflows.

Browse all PHAiTO Looks with sample galleries.

PHAiTO currently offers 12 professionally crafted editing Looks across every major photography genre, with more added regularly. Explore all editing styles with before and after sample galleries.

PHAiTO applies two types of adjustments:

Variable adjustments (calculated per image): Exposure, White Balance, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks

Fixed adjustments (applied consistently): Clarity, Texture, Dehaze, Sharpening, Noise Reduction, Tone Curve, HSL, Lens Correction

Note: Localized adjustments such as Radial or Gradient filters are not currently supported.

When editing, PHAiTO focuses on accurate and consistent skin tones, mixed lighting correction (balancing flash, ambient, and natural light), natural colour true to the scene, and gallery-wide consistency. PHAiTO has been trained on 1M+ professional edits across 350+ cameras and real shooting conditions — not just perfect studio scenarios. See editing examples from real sessions across all Looks.

PHAiTO's Looks are AI-powered, not one-click filters. Each Look adapts to your specific lighting conditions, camera, and scene while maintaining its signature aesthetic — delivering consistent skin tones, balanced mixed lighting, and cohesive results across an entire session. PHAiTO has been trained on 1M+ professional edits across 350+ cameras.

Yes. PHAiTO was built in direct collaboration with the expert editors at Image Salon, a high-end professional retouching company, and trained on 1M+ real-world edits across 350+ cameras. The AI delivers a strong, professional starting point ready for client review, with full Lightroom editing access for any final adjustments before delivery. Browse our PHAiTO Looks to see before and after results.

Yes. PHAiTO's personalization feature lets you upload your own preset, answer a short visual survey, and get a tailored Look in about 60 seconds. PHAiTO then adapts that style to each scene. The more you use it and upload corrections, the more closely it learns your preferences. For an even tighter style match, upload 1,500+ images to accelerate the learning.

For a fully tailored human approach, our sister studio Image Salon offers profile-based editing with an assigned editor.

Weddings: Classic, Editorial, Film - Light & Airy, Lush

Portraits: Editorial, Classic, Cinematic, Film - Dark & Moody, Classic Black & White

Real Estate / Architecture: HOME I, HOME II

Lifestyle & Brand: Punchy, Cinematic, Lush, Classic

Fine Art: Film Dark & Moody, Classic Black & White

Events / Content Creators: JPG, Punchy

View before and after galleries for every Look to find the right match.

Yes. PHAiTO delivers results as develop settings in Lightroom — a strong starting point, not a locked file. Review, adjust, sync across similar images, or apply your own finishing touches exactly as you normally would. Our video tutorials cover efficient post-delivery adjustments.

Not after delivery — but you can make adjustments directly in Lightroom at any time. If you'd like a different Look applied, re-submit as a new order. Your free trial lets you test multiple Looks on your own work before committing.

Not recommended — PHAiTO will erase any pre-existing cropping or straightening on submission. Straightening & cropping can be added to your order. See the pricing page for full add-on details.

PHAiTO offers optional enhancements such as Straightening, Cropping, AI Masks, and AI Skin Smoothing. Add-ons are included in every subscription plan, and $0.01 per image for pay-as-you-go users. Full details on the pricing page.