How The New Adobe Express Will Jumpstart Your Creativity

Dave and I are both passionate about photography, but with three kids in tow, capturing the perfect travel photos takes a little creative work. You either get the shot and edit later, or miss the moment. Moments like this dreamy rainbow shot with Lumi are not to be missed!

My go-to hack for creating the perfect photo? Adobe Lightroom. It’s literally in my back pocket to make sure I can capture all those fun, adorable moments with the kids while on the go. With the Lightroom app, I can live in the moment knowing I have everything I need to edit photos of my favorite memories quickly and easily later on. For this rainbow shot, I was able to remove the sign in the background so the focus is on Lumi and her rainbow.

Adobe Lightroom is like a professional photo editor right on my phone with everything from remove tools cropping features, one-tap presets or filters for pictures, videos, and reels.

Powered by Adobe Firefly AI technology, Lightroom recently introduced a brand-new feature, Generative Remove, which makes it so easy to remove a photo bomber in the background, beach debris from my travel photos, stains on the kids' clothing, and the inevitable toy clutter in the background. Thanks to AI, it’s smart enough to replicate the background when you remove people, toys, and even busy patterns – no smudges, distortions, or dark spots! And it’s as quick and simple as cropping a photo or adding a preset.

Here’s a great example: Using Lightroom’s new Generative Remove feature I was able to remove my son, who wasn’t planning to be in the shot, from the background and then brighten the photo in Adobe Lightroom in literally minutes. It’s now one of my favorite photos – a framer for sure!

I used the Generative Remove feature to remove my fellow tourists in the background and the debris in the foreground here too. Now it's the perfect shot!

Adobe Lightroom’s Lens Blur tool has all these new presets to add a blur effect in a single click for things like portrait backgrounds, food photography, city lights, street photography, and more. I used it here in the background.

And for those everyday moments, make your little one the center of attention by removing distractions. For example, my leg got caught in the shot when we finally saw that big smile, so I removed it later using Lightroom.

After a fun day with the kids, I love to revisit those memories and search for the highlights recorded in my phone, clean them up with my magic wand – the Adobe Lightroom app – and share them with friends and family. It’s my time to be creative and a perfect ending to my wild adventures with my mini squad.

Learn more about the new Generative Remove and Lens Blur features at Adobe Lightroom.

B+C: Why did you choose to focus on music as the basis for this dating app?

RVN: In the words of Bad Bunny, "When you do things with love and passion, everything is easier.” When I was about five or six years old, I started listening to my parents’ records which introduced me to a variety of genres including folk, rock, jazz and more.

Once I started buying my own music, I became interested in the various influences tying different genres, songs and artists to each other. When I went to my first concert at 15, it was palpable being in the audience, feeling the connectedness of the experience and how happy everyone was sharing in it.

Fast forward to 2016, after watching my family and friends struggle on other dating apps and knowing that music compatibility was an important criteria for them and many of us, I decided to create Vinylly. We launched in 2019 and have focused on creating a differentiated product and a positive user experience.

B+C: I'm obsessed with the idea of matching up someone's music taste with a cocktail. What are some of the qualifications for that "perfect cocktail"? How is it personalized?

RVN: Just like music is subjective, so is creating the perfect cocktail! So, we focused on creating pairings, where we let users have complete bartending control, when they get to pick any two genres to mix together. These genre choices mirror the ones they are selecting as favorites on their profile.

When a user chooses the two genres, it could be that these are their top two favorite genres or maybe this is their favorite genre and their potential match’s favorite genre. The cocktails we created with AI aim to capture the fusion of these two genres.

B+C: A dating app is already a tech-forward version of dating. What made you decide to incorporate AI as well?

RVN: We have always aimed to have a user experience that felt genuine and fun. Sharing a drink with someone on a first date is pretty typical, but sharing a drink in an app, and having it center around music, seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Vinylly to pioneer.

We are building more with AI, where we will use it to leverage the trend data we have in our app, to give users the best chance of finding their +1.

B+C: Can you share any popular recipes?

RVN: Yes! The “Neon Banger” which is mixing EDM and Hip-Hop.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz vodka
• 1 oz white rum
• 1 oz silver tequila
• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz triple sec
• 1 oz Blue Curacao
• 2 oz sweet and sour mix
• 1 oz grenadine
• 1 oz simple syrup
• 0.5 oz lime juice
• 2 oz lemon-lime soda
• Optional: Cotton candy for garnish

Instructions:

1. Fill a shaker with ice.
2. Pour in vodka, white rum, silver tequila, gin, triple sec, Blue Curacao, sweet and sour mix, grenadine, simple syrup, and lime juice.
3. Shake well to combine all ingredients.
4. Fill a glass with ice and pour the mixture over the ice.
5. Top with lemon-lime soda for extra fizz.
6. For a fun touch, garnish with a colorful piece of cotton candy.

1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

How many times is too many to mention Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros? Wait, don't answer that question. Instead, let's focus on how genius this body of work is. It's our introduction to Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail, Xander Riorson, dragons, and evil schemes.

If you haven't read this book yet, make sure to start NOW because Onyx Storm releases next month!!! It's the third book in the Empyrean series and it's guaranteed to be a great read.

2. Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma

Morally gray characters? Check. Intoxicating vampires? Check. Secrets that alter reality? Also, check. Immortal Dark has everything you'd expect in a romantasy except you'll find yourself questioning what you've learned about protagonists and antagonists because even the 'good' people are compelled to commit terrible things.

3. Deep Is The Fen by Lili Wilkinson

Deep Is The Fen scratched an itch I didn't know I had with it's tale of how dark magic and lies can harm everyone. Merry's convinced stopping her best friend Teddy from joining the Toadmen is her only mission, but she'll soon discover there's an ancient evil that's been calling the shots and isn't ready to give up its throne.

4. The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim

If you want to laugh and cry, The God and the Gumiho is one of the romantasy books you should read. It trails Kim Hani, a powerful Gumiho, and Seoka, a god full of tricks and bitterness, as they reluctantly work together to stop an evil demon from destroying the city they now reside in. It's the perfect enemies-to-lovers troupe that breaks your heart in the end.

5. The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde

It starts off with a semi-botched robbery that leads to a world of magic, except skilled thief Kierse doesn't realize it until she's in the alleged monster's lair. In fact, he'd already sensed her presence long before she knew she was being watched. By then, it's too late and she finds herself immersed in an ancient feud that's about to reach its breaking point.

6. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Feyre might be High Fae now, but her troubles are far from over in A Court of Mist and Fury. For one, she's linked Mr. High Lord of the Night Court although she's supposed to be marrying Tamlin. The issue is that she's not 100% sure if that's the right choice even though she initially lived with the latter after the events of A Court of Thorns and Roses. She'll have to decide where she truly wants to be, but not before making yet another bargain that'll affect more people.

7. Zodiac Rising by Katie Zao

What's not to love about an exclusive boarding school that harbors magical secrets? That's another question I'm not excited to answer because Zodiac Rising shaped up to be an intriguing read that also gives readers a history lesson. Since the loss of the 12 zodiacs, their Descendants they've been living in the shadows to protect their identities.

However, evil appears again when one of the most notable students at the boarding school loses their life. Now, four unlikely students will have to become uneasy allies in order to save the world as they know it.

8. Curse of Shadows and Thornsby LJ Andrews

9. Forged in Blood by Sadie Kincaid

Orphaned Ophelia Hart's passion for reading and making sure no one has to suffer the uneasy fate she has pushes her in the direction of becoming a social worker. She has no idea how that's going to happen, but she's determined to find a way to help other children.

When she's suddenly gifted with the chance to go to Montridge University, she gleefully accepts the offer. It sounds like a dream come true until she meets three of the Ruby Dragon Society's members who want to make her life miserable. They're also vampires which adds to their sinister nature.

She's never believed in fantasy before, but Ophelia changes her tune when the inevitable keeps happening. Also, she's pretty special too and it seems that Professor Alexandros Drakos knew it before she did.

10. Court of Vines and Vipersby Emberly Ash