How to create free AI images with Adobe Firefly

Adobe is the company that totally dominates the graphics market. The image editing program Adobe Photoshop has become so commonplace that many people say they “pop” when editing a photograph. Similarly, the programs Premiere and Indesign have become essential tools for video and layout respectively.

At first, users had to do all the work themselves, but pretty soon the programs were filled with tools that automated the job. So, it’s hardly surprising that Adobe is investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI)–and one of the new services is Firefly.

Firefly is a so-called generative service that creates new images based on text commands. Once you enter your command, the image appears on the screen and you can decide whether it should be a photograph or a work of art. You can also change the light, colors, proportions, style, and similar things. In other words, this is the same approach used in Dall-E 2 from the company Open AI, a “sister service” to Chat GPT. Even professional tools like Midjourney work in the same way.

Free or not

The free version of Firefly allows you to create a number of images at no cost. How many is determined by something called credits. You get a number of credits when you sign up and the rate at which they are used depends on what you do.

If you choose to pay, you’ll get more credits, and you’ll also avoid the Adobe watermark. As a free user, your images will have a red Firefly logo at the bottom.

However, these terms are subject to change. Firefly is a new service and Adobe is clear that it is under development. In the long term, we can of course expect to see more AI tools in Adobe’s other services.

How do I get started?

Browse to firefly.adobe.com and click on Get Firefly for free. You can immediately read more information about the service and see how it works, but to use it you need to create an account. You can do this by clicking on Log in. The easiest way to sign in is to use your Google, Facebook or Apple account, but you can also choose to Create an account to register with an email address of your choice. Either way, just follow the instructions.

What is the tour?

The first time you open the service, you will see how it works. Click on Next or select Skip the tour.

How do I create an image?

Using Firefly is easy. Once you have logged in to firefly.adobe.com, you will be taken to a page with an empty text field. Type your command here and press Generate-button. This will open a window that looks like our image on the right.

Can I do other things?

What we describe in this article is called text to image, but you can also use Firefly on existing images. You can remove objects that you don’t want and add objects that weren’t there in the first place. You can also create text effects. The tools for this are located on the Firefly home page and can be accessed by clicking on Generative fill, Text effects or something else.

Does it cost money?

Firefly is free to use, but the images you save will have a watermark with the Adobe icon on it and the image is relatively low resolution. There is also a limit to the number of images you can create, which is measured in credits. To use the service professionally, you need to pay, which you do by tapping on the Upgrade-button.