Photoshop Basics: How to Use the New Upscale Tool

The Upscale Tool Rebuilds Detail Instead of Stretching Pixels

Enlarging an image used to mean choosing which flavour of blur you preferred. Bicubic Smoother, Preserve Details, whichever — every method was interpolating between pixels that were already there, so a 4x enlargement of a pixelated scan gave you a larger pixelated scan.

Generative Upscale in Photoshop 2026 works differently. It uses an AI model to reconstruct detail that isn’t in the file, which is why it can take an old low-resolution photograph to four times its size and have it hold up. The catch is that which model you pick matters enormously, especially with faces.

What the Models Do Differently

Topaz Gigapixel Is the Realistic One

It reconstructs plausible detail while keeping the character of the original. For photographs of real things — and particularly for old family pictures — this is the one to reach for.

Firefly Upscaler Is the Standard Option

Solid, unremarkable results. Fine when the source isn’t badly degraded and you just need more pixels.

Topaz Bloom Changes Faces

It’s the most aggressive at inventing detail, which on a portrait means it can noticeably alter how somebody looks. Avoid it on people; it’s not a subtle difference.

See the Problem First

1. Open the Low-Resolution Image

   Old scan, phone screenshot, a photo pulled off a website years ago — anything where the pixel count is the limitation.

2. View It at 100 Per Cent

   Cmd/Ctrl + 1. This is the honest view. Judging an upscale from a fit-to-screen preview tells you nothing, because at 30 per cent almost anything looks acceptable. Look at the pixelation now so you have something to compare against later.

Run the Upscale

3. Image > Generative Upscale

   It lives in the Image menu, not in Image Size where you might expect it. That’s worth knowing, because plenty of people never find it.

4. Choose the Model

   From the dropdown in the dialog. Topaz Gigapixel for anything realistic, Firefly Upscaler for a standard result, and not Topaz Bloom if there’s a person in the frame.

5. Set the Magnification

   4x is where the difference becomes dramatic on a genuinely low-resolution source. Smaller factors are available and are the right choice when the original is only slightly short of what you need.

6. Click Upscale and Wait

   Processing takes a moment while the model reconstructs detail. Photoshop creates a new file rather than modifying the one you opened, so the original is safe regardless of the outcome.

Compare and Save

7. Fit to Screen, Then Go Back to 100 Per Cent

   Cmd/Ctrl + 0 for the overall impression, then Cmd/Ctrl + 1 again to inspect properly. The second view is the one that tells you whether the model invented anything odd.

8. Toggle the Layer Visibility

   Switching the upscaled layer on and off is the fastest before-and-after. Pay particular attention to eyes, teeth, text and fine repeating patterns — those are where AI reconstruction goes wrong first.

9. Save the High-Resolution Version

   Cmd/Ctrl + S. Keep the original file too; if you later want a different model’s interpretation you’ll want the untouched source.

Where It Falls Down

Bloom on Portraits

It will give you a sharper picture of a slightly different person. For anyone you actually know, that’s a bad trade.

Judging From a Zoomed-Out View

Everything looks fixed at fit-to-screen. The artefacts live at 100 per cent, which is also where the image will be printed or cropped from.

Expecting Text to Survive

Small lettering in a low-resolution source often comes back as convincing-looking nonsense. Check any signage or writing carefully.

Upscaling Before Cleaning Up

Dust, scratches and compression artefacts get reconstructed as if they were detail. Clearing them first — our free guide to the updated Remove Tool covers the fast way — gives the model a cleaner starting point.

More Free Photoshop 2026 Tutorials

If you’re working through the new 2026 features, these free tutorials cover more of them:

• Photoshop 2026: New Adjustment Layers Explained
• Discover the Latest Update for the Remove Tool
• How to Use the Clarity & Dehaze Tool
• How to Use Contrast and Clarity in Photoshop

Reconstruction Is Not Recovery

It’s worth being precise about what this tool does. It isn’t recovering detail that was lost — that information is gone. It’s generating detail that is statistically plausible given what remains.

For a family photograph you want printed larger, that’s a genuine gift. For anything where accuracy is the point — documentation, evidence, product photography where the customer will receive the actual object — a plausible invention is not the same as a fact, and it’s worth saying so when you hand the file over.

Try It on an Old Photo

Open the file, Cmd/Ctrl + 1 to see the pixelation honestly, Image > Generative Upscale, pick Topaz Gigapixel, set 4x, run it, then toggle the layer at 100 per cent before saving. Download the free sample image and PSD and work through the exact example — then dig out a genuinely old family scan, which is where this tool is most worth the processing time. To go further across Photoshop, our PRO Photoshop Learning Path runs to 11 courses.