Do I have to tell a client I used Generative Fill on their photo?
My conclusion so far: yes, tell them, in plain words and before delivery. Not because I have found a rule that forces every photographer to, but because Adobe's own labeling page says the file will carry a record of it anyway, and I would rather the client hear it from me than find it in an inspector.
Cite
Creatisimo, "Do I have to tell a client I used Generative Fill on their photo?", https://creatisimo.net/topic/do-i-have-to-tell-a-client-i-used-generative-fill-on-their-photo/, accessed 2026-10-25.Some context. I am a portrait photographer and I retouch in Photoshop and Lightroom. Last month a client asked me to remove a stray power cable behind a headshot and extend the background by a few inches for a banner crop. Both are things I used to do with clone stamp and content-aware fill. This time I used Generative Fill for the background extension because it was faster and cleaner.
My worry is the one a lot of photographers have: clients hear "AI" and assume the whole portrait was generated, or that I am cutting corners. Skin cleanup, dodge and burn, and frequency separation are all edits that people now confuse with AI work, and I do not want a normal retouch to be mistaken for something it is not.
What I have read: Adobe's content labeling FAQ says that when qualifying generative AI tools are used to create or modify content in Adobe apps, C2PA metadata is attached automatically, and under the new laws it cannot be switched off for qualifying content. It also says this applies to generative AI tools, not traditional AI-powered features. So the background extension would be recorded, and the cable removal depends on which tool I used.
What I am still unsure about:
- Is a line in the invoice enough, or should I send a before and after?
- Where is the threshold? Spot healing probably does not need a conversation. A generated background arguably does.
- Does the client's contract or the venue's rules matter more than my own policy?
I would like a plain policy I can paste into my booking terms.
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