How to enhance a photo with AI at Max Spielmann

We all have that one photo. The one we absolutely love.

You want to print it, frame it for the wall or turn it into a canvas. But, there’s something not quite right about it. Maybe it’s slightly blurry, the background is doing too much, Mum’s eyes are closed, or it's just... not quite there.

The good news is you don't have to spend hours fiddling with editing apps at home, or accept a print that's not quite as good as it could be. Our photo kiosks have a built-in AI photo editing tool called Magic Enhance and it can transform your photo in seconds.

Here's everything you need to know about using it, so you can finally print that photo you love!

Magic Enhance is an AI-powered editing tool built into our photo printing kiosks. You'll find these kiosks inside Max Spielmann shops across the UK, as well as at our self-service printing machines inside supermarkets and shopping centres.

Once you're at the iSnaps kiosk, either connect your phone via Wi-Fi or a cable, or bring photos on a USB stick or memory card. Upload the photo you want to print, then press the Magic Enhance button in the top right corner of the screen.

From there, you can preview every edit before you commit to anything. Not happy with the result? Just revert to the original. The Magic Enhance tool costs just £2 and will save you hours of manual editing! You're not buying anything until you're satisfied, so there's no risk in having a play around.

1. Connect wirelessly via Wi-Fi: follow the on-screen instructions to link your phone
2. Plug in via a cable: if you'd rather use a wired connection, that works too
3. USB stick or memory card: for images taken on a camera

If you're visiting a Max Spielmann store (rather than a standalone kiosk in a supermarket), one of our colleagues will be happy to help you through the whole process.

Let's get into the good stuff - what can Magic Enhance actually do?

Magic Enhance can rescue the photos that nearly didn't make it and take a photo from "almost there" to print ready.

We’ll start with improving the quality of your photos. These features of Magic Enhance deserve awards for bringing photos back to life!

• Super resolution
• Colour restore
• Object removal
• Adjust lighting
• Image extender

First of all, if you’re wondering what resolution means, here’s a definition:

Resolution is the detail of a photo, measured in pixels. The higher the number of pixels, the higher the detail, sharpness and resolution. If an image is low-resolution, it will appear blurry or low-quality.

So, if you've got a photo that was taken years ago on a phone camera that simply wouldn't make the cut in today's standards, or one that's been shared and resaved so many times it's lost quality (happens to the best of us), super resolution is the fix.

The AI analyses the image and fills in missing detail, sharpening it up so it's ready to print without going blurry.

That 2008 birthday photo taken on a flip phone? Give it a go.

Old photos fade, but colour restore uses AI to rebuild the original tones, giving photos a vibrancy they might not have had in years.

It’s especially great for family archive photos from the 80’s that have a slightly washed-out, orange tint, or the photos that have been sitting, fading away in the sunlight for years (they deserve a new life).

Sometimes you can’t control what’s happening in the photo, but with this tool, you can.

There's always something. A stranger wandering through the background. A bin. A car. An ex! Object removal lets you clean up your photo without needing to be a Photoshop expert.

Just select whatever it is that you don’t like and AI fills the gap so well that you wouldn’t even know there was something there! If only we could do this in real life…

A photo taken at night that came out too dark or a washed out portrait? This is where you sort it.

Magic Enhance offers 18 lighting options, including backlight, soft, sunset, spotlight, neon and more. There’s a style for every photo; it’s so much more than just a brightness slider (no shade…).

This one's my favourite, let me tell you why.

Different photos have different aspect ratios, depending on what device took the photo or whether you’ve cropped it and lost the original.

We’ve all cropped a photo to fit a frame, only to sacrifice half a person in the process!

I’m sure you can recall a time when you wanted to post a photo to your Instagram story and had to zoom in so it filled the screen. Well, imagine you didn't have to zoom in, AI could just add to the photo!

Image extender uses AI to add to the image rather than crop it. The AI essentially guesses what would be there, which works particularly well on landscapes, skies and simple backgrounds. It analyses the photo and generates new content, beyond the edges, seamlessly! So you can change the aspect ratio without sacrificing anything.

Options include automatic, 1:1, 2:3, 3:2, 3:4, 4:3, 4:5, 5:4, 9:16, and 16:9.

If you feel like the background of your photo is letting it down, this tool is what you need!

Blur background is the one most people reach for first. It creates a shallow depth-of-field effect, great for portraits where you want the subject to really pop. It’s the kind of thing you'd usually need a DSLR and the right lens for.

If you want something even more dramatic, you can replace the background with a solid colour or even add a different background image entirely.

There are so many creative possibilities and fun things you can do with your image. Editing the background can also be great if you’re building a gallery wall of framed photos and prints, as photos are less likely to clash when they have simpler backgrounds.

For gallery wall inspo, check out our photo wall ideas blog post after you’ve read this one!

For when you want to turn your photo into something… a bit different, Magic Enhance also has some fun, creative tools! Not every photo enhancement has to be about fixing it; why not turn it into a whole new style?

Starting strong: cartoons and caricatures! You can turn a portrait into a cartoon, or have your features exaggerated and become a caricature.

Both work well as personalised gifts or kids' room decor, particularly when framed.

Yes, there's a specific pet function (obviously).

If you've got a great photo of your dog or cat and want to print it as wall art without it looking like every other framed pet photo, the pet cartoon option gives it a completely different feel.

This one's genuinely impressive for wall art. You can transform a photo into one of six artistic styles:

- Pencil
- Charcoal
- Chalk
- Crayons
- Watercolours
- Oils

These styles pair brilliantly with our photo prints in larger sizes, making wonderful gifts ready to frame.

A few things worth knowing before you head into your nearest Max Spielmann shop:

You can apply multiple edits to the same photo, so you could improve the resolution, fix the lighting and apply a watercolour style all in one go.

For the best results, read our guide on printing photos from your phone so your images are ready before you even get to the kiosk.

If you're printing older family photos or anything that's faded significantly over the years, consider our photo restoration service as well. Magic Enhance is brilliant for a quick fix, but our in-store restoration team are the best for seriously damaged or very old prints.

Magic Enhance is available at our kiosks in Max Spielmann stores across the UK, as well as at our self-service machines in supermarkets and shopping centres. Use our store finder to find your nearest one.

Remember: if you'd like some support from a friendly colleague, head to your nearest shop and someone will be happy to talk you through the process and help.