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58

P: Reflection Removal feedback (CR & LrClassic)

Adobe Employee ,
Nov 05, 2024 Nov 05, 2024

This post applies to Adobe Camera Raw plug-in.  

 

Adobe Camera Raw team is sharing an early look of our new Reflection Removal feature, which removes reflections caused by plate glass surfaces from photos. 

 

Note: 

  • The feature currently only works on raw photos. Support for JPEGs & HEICs is added in the April 24 Update.
  • There is a known issue on some Windows machines where the feature may produce a corrupt image. We are working on a fix for the upcoming release. 

 

Check out HelpX for more detailed usage information. For more technical information on the underlying technology, please refer to this Blog post. 

 

Getting started with the Reflection Removal feature: 

  • Make sure you have the “New AI Features and Settings Panel” Technology Preview enabled in the Camera Raw plug-in Preferences dialog (requires restarting the host application to activate). 
  • Go to the Remove panel [B] , and in the “Distraction Removal” section, click on the “Reflections” checkbox. 
  • Optionally adjust the slider after the ML model is done computing. 
  • Use the rest of the Camera Raw tools just like you would otherwise. 

When using the slider, the key values to note are: 

  • 0 – the input photo
  • 100 – de-reflected (window reflections removed) photo 
  • -100 – reflection photo (what the window was reflecting towards the camera) 

 

Please try the feature and share feedback in this community forum. It would help to include details like how you access Camera Raw (via Adobe Bridge or Photoshop), your computer system details, and as much information about what you like or do not like about the resulting photo quality. Our team will continually monitor this thread to track issues to improve the future experience. 

 

When to use Reflection Removal

The feature is designed to deal with large-area reflections when shooting through windows. Many other types of reflections occur in nature and are captured in photographs, but this feature may not recognize and handle those. We plan to work on expanding the supported reflection types in the future. 

 

Example use-cases for the feature include: 

  • Looking through windows inside-out (e.g., from the car, airplane, room windows, etc.) 
  • Looking through windows outside-in (e.g., shop windows) 
  • Museums (e.g., paintings behind glass, glass case exhibits, etc.) 

 

How best to use Reflection Removal

For best results, try the new feature following these suggestions: 

  • Apply Reflection Removal before applying any other edits to the photo, except for Enhance features such as Denoise
    • The changes made to the photo may be quite profound and render any changes you already made inappropriate.
    • If you plan to use both Enhance (Denoise, Super Resolution, or Raw Details) and Reflection Removal on a photo, it is better to apply Enhance first.
  • Play with the feature slider and adjust the removal strength as appropriate.
  • If you applied Adobe Adaptive (beta) profile prior to running the Reflection Removal feature, please update it or you may see traces of removed reflections still present in the photo (Adobe Camera Raw will remind you to do this).

 

Boris Ajdin: Product Manager, Emerging Products Group 


Update (01-16-2025)

 

To improve the performance and results of this feature, it is important that examples of images that are failing to properly remove the reflections are forwarded to the team via your report.  A large variety of file formats are allowed as attachments in these forum posts. The best option is to attach your image's raw file directly to your feedback post. Note that there is a 50 MB limit on an attachment's file size. If your raw file is too large to attach, the best option is to share the file via a file-sharing service (Dropbox or similar) and then share the link in your feedback post. Thank you for continuing to provide feedback on this Tech Preview!

If you have already shared your raw file with us - thank you!

 

~Rikk

Posted by:

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
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correct answers 16 Correct answers

New Here , May 13, 2025 May 13, 2025

I think I figured it out - it was a reflection in a window in the background that  couldn't be removed. When I did a test shot through a window, it worked well. 

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Contributor , Jun 28, 2025 Jun 28, 2025

Are you sure you're using the 'best' setting and not 'preview'? Preview will certainly show you a blurry pic. But on certain images, reflection removal removes too much, and you get a muddle. Adjusting the intensity slider can help. 

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Community Expert , Jul 07, 2025 Jul 07, 2025

Removing eyeglass reflections is a goal Adobe mentioned in their blog post from last December (Removing window reflections in Adobe Camera Raw), so at least we know they’re interested in working on it. 

 

Adobe-remove-reflections-blog-post-eyeglasses.png

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Community Expert , Jul 07, 2025 Jul 07, 2025

Those results are consistent with a lot of the reports in this thread…it works fine on recent computers (for Macs, that means Apple Silicon M1 through M4 work great), but there seems to be a problem with the graphics drivers for the GPU in some Intel Macs, and this feature relies heavily on the GPU. Because Mac graphics drivers are supplied by Apple, it might need a macOS update to get fixed. But we never know exactly what Apple will fix in the next macOS update, so no guarantees.

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Contributor , Jul 20, 2025 Jul 20, 2025

Did you by any chance just use the 'preview' mode instead of the best mode? A lot of people have been making that error, and the preview mode is intentionally low res.

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Explorer , Aug 02, 2025 Aug 02, 2025

Seems Quality is on "preview". Try setting it on "best".

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Explorer , Aug 12, 2025 Aug 12, 2025

Eric,

do I understand it well the reflections will only be removed when the glass plate fills the whole frame of the picture. As it won't remove reflections from a windows that's part of a larger picture. 

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Explorer , Aug 14, 2025 Aug 14, 2025

I tried to cut part of the picture, so only a small part of the window remains. Feed only the small part to the reflection removal and paste it back into the original picture, using Photoshop. It's not perfect, but ..
I noticed doing this, the reflection feature reacts differently than using the entire picture. With the entire picture I can't get any reflection off either.

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Explorer , Aug 15, 2025 Aug 15, 2025

well Eric, since I tempory used the jpg picture kastalia67_s provided, I had to work in jpeg. I only shoot RAW and I only use Ps. Just wanted to see what it would do if I narrowed the view to just a part of that car window like it was one whole picture. And it did work. 
If I can use that technique with a RAW, the result can only be better.
Looking forward to see support for small panes of glass in RAW.

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Adobe Employee , Aug 15, 2025 Aug 15, 2025

FitzFoto, that suggestion will not work. That crop will not change the RAW result. To remove reflections from a cropped region you must convert the RAW image to a PNG/TIFF/JPEG.

 

Here is one workflow:

1. Open the image in Lightroom.

2. Make a virtual copy, and crop the virtual copy

3. Export the original and cropped image as TIFF files

4. Open the original and cropped TIFF in Photoshop

5. Use the Camera RAW filter to remove reflections from the cropped image

6. Copy the clean, cropped image int

...
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Adobe Employee , Aug 15, 2025 Aug 15, 2025

Kastalia, please precisely follow the steps I enumerated. It will work. There are other variants that will work, but not what you did. 

 

FitzFhoto, as you probably know, when you crop a RAW photo in Lr or ACR, the underlying image is not modified. Specifying a crop simply tells Lr/ACR how to render that RAW image onto your screen. The remove reflections tool operates before the crop is applied by Lr/ACR when your RAW is rendered onto your screen. Why? There is a long list of usability issues th

...
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Community Beginner , Aug 15, 2025 Aug 15, 2025

Hi Eric,
I just tested your steps, precisely.
Screen capture shows you a little reflection suppress in part of the girls face.
Well it is the best I could achieve up to now.

Here are the steps :

1. Open the image in Lightroom.

2. Make a virtual copy, and crop the virtual copy

3. Export the original and cropped image as TIFF files

4. Open the original and cropped TIFF in Photoshop

5. Use the Camera RAW filter to remove reflections from the cropped image

6. Copy the clean, cropped image into the original

7.

...
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Explorer , Aug 16, 2025 Aug 16, 2025

That explains, why it removed some of the reflections in my workflow. I didn't actually crop the picture. I marked the area, copied, created a new image and paste only that part. So, it had no other information of a larger picture when I applied the reflection removal.
Then I copied the result back to the original picture and aligned it.

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Community Expert , Aug 20, 2025 Aug 20, 2025

That’s expected…the feature is currently designed to remove reflections in a window filling the entire image frame between camera and subject. Eyeglasses only cover a small area of the frame so they aren’t handled yet. But in the original Adobe blog post announcing reflection removal, they did say they’d like to handle eyeglasses in a future update.

 

Since the blog post was published last December they did add support for some non-raw formats, extended the feature to Lightroom, and just introdu

...
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Community Expert , Sep 09, 2025 Sep 09, 2025

We can all see the reflections in the floor, but from what Adobe has said throughout this thread and in their blog post, the feature is currently designed to more clearly reveal what’s showing behind the reflections in a large transparent glass window covering the entire frame. Although they might cover more use cases later.

 

Removing the reflections from the floor with the current version of this feature wouldn’t be expected to reveal anything behind the floor, because the floor isn’t supposed

...
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Explorer , Sep 15, 2025 Sep 15, 2025

Not always, but it's better on RAW pictures as they contain more detail information.
But if the glass plate with the reflection doesn't cover the whole image, it doesn't work on RAW either.

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New Here ,
Dec 21, 2024 Dec 21, 2024

I exported DG files from Lightroom to Photoshop. Camera Raw did not recognize them so I couldn't try removing reflections. On a whim I exported the files to my desktop and then imported them into Photoshop; Camera Raw recognized the files and opened them. I was able to run the remove reflections. It worked as advertised. I am running a Mac Studio, M2, Sequoia 15.2.

 

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New Here ,
Jan 07, 2025 Jan 07, 2025

I just discovered this (from an anthony morganti video) the way to make it work is to select edit as smart object in PS.  Then double click on the image in the layer panel...pow.. it works.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jan 08, 2025 Jan 08, 2025

Here is the link to the video for others to check.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoB8oHaDPGA

In this video, I demonstrate a new feature just added to the current version of Photoshop. My Latest Course: Photoshop Unleashed! https://bit.ly/4eqgUBr I have FREE Keyboard Shortcut Cheatsheets and Mini-Courses available. Check them out: https://www.AnthonyMorganti.com To get more info about ...
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Community Beginner ,
Dec 21, 2024 Dec 21, 2024

I'm using Photoshop and LRc in an Apple M2 laptop. I enabled Reflectionn Removal in Photoshop and restartedit. If I open a Sony RAW file (,ARW) directly into Photoshop the tool works as advertised. If I open the same file in LRc and choose "Edit in Photoshop" from the Photo menu, it opens fine in Photoshop Camera Raw filter, but the Reflection Removal is disabled (grayed out). No change whether I'm in the Library or Develop module or working with the origional or a virtual copy. Please fix this because it makesmy workflow from LRc very cumbeersome. Thank you.

 

Marty Bigos

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 21, 2024 Dec 21, 2024

This doesn't work for me.  All I get is a pixelated screen.  I'm using a Mac with OS Sequoia 15.1.1IMG_8599 copy.jpg

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 23, 2024 Dec 23, 2024

I also tried it with a dng file of the same photo, and got the same (poor) result 😞

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New Here ,
Jun 18, 2025 Jun 18, 2025

Michael, did you ever get this to work? I just tried the feature and got the same result you did.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 18, 2025 Jun 18, 2025

Hi Michael. Sadly not, still the same despite a couple of software updates since. Even more frustrating since the monthly subscription has gone up by 50%. I'd love to be able to use this feature (but not at the cost of a new Mac as I'd expect the spec of my existing one to be more than sufficient). 

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 19, 2025 Jun 19, 2025

This is a problem at the driver level, and so Adobe cannot directly resolve it. Apple is aware of the problem.

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New Here ,
Jun 19, 2025 Jun 19, 2025

Thanks Eric.

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New Here ,
Jun 19, 2025 Jun 19, 2025

Michael, thanks for the reply! Yeah, I suspect it's an issue with Intel Macs. (I have a 2019 iMac, which I suspose is ancient since the advent of Silicon.) I have no real use for the feature, but yesterday took a pic through my windshield while driving that I thought would be a perfect test. Oh well, I wasn't winning a Pultizer with it anyway. Thanks again  - mkc 

 

 

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 19, 2025 Jun 19, 2025

Yes this is an issue with Macs. Apple has been notified. Hopefully they will fix it in an upcoming software release.

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Participant ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

Few people have mentioned this. 
Error: Unable to remove reflections and unknown error occurred. 
I have a community thread with details https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-beta-bugs/remove-replections-error-in-acr-tech-preview/idc-... 

to summarise...

Laptop, Windows 10, integrated Intel graphics using 8G of shared RAM from 16G system. 
Error occurs during process many types of raw file. But very strangely if I open multiple other programs to use some memory. The process will complete. This is counter intuitive. 
I have successfully removed plate glass reflection from Apple ProRAW, Sony ACW and Nikon NEF files. Under these conditions the results are astounding. Just can't understand why it crashes unless I open other multiple apps. Many details and rabbit holes in that post. 

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

That’s a great idea! However, the algorithm needs some improvements in detecting reflections. I’ve attached two images: the original and the 100% version. Perhaps a selector of some kind would be helpful in identifying and adding or subtracting areas?

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 30, 2024 Dec 30, 2024

This reflection was partially removed, and so the photo is improved. That said, we continue to work to improve the tool. Please refer to this Blog post to understand more about our plans.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

This looks quite weird in negative and postive. I actually thought this image might work quite well, but it really looks like the AI is struggling with the vignetting of the lense.
Especially the negative removal looks strange cause its all just blurred out.

Maybe this input helps making the tool better in the futuer ✌️

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 30, 2024 Dec 30, 2024

This is expected. Please refer to this Blog post to understand how to use the remove reflection tool, and when it is most effective. Specifically, this reflection is so strong that you cannot see anything underneath it. The fact that it has removed anything at all is remarkable. As a rule of thumb, if the reflection is so strong that you cannot see your subject through the glass, the remove reflections tool will not help much. That said, you could try blending the -100, 0, and +100 images together to make a composite that meets your specific goals for this photo.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024
 
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New Here ,
Jun 18, 2025 Jun 18, 2025

Hi. Did you ever get this resolved? I just tried it and got the same results. 

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New Here ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

After seeing this demonstrated online, I've tried this several times on my PC with unedited RAW files and it's just not working. All I get is a dark image with 5 or 6 thick horizontal blue lines on it and the reflection is still there. 

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 30, 2024 Dec 30, 2024

Please post your system information. 

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Engaged ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

As my first test of this feature I tried it on a photo I took from a helicopter along the north shore of Kauai.  There were two obvious reflections from the helicopter's windshield dome.  The Distraction Removal > Reflections did a good job of removing the one on the left that was the largest area covering both the cliffs and some of the oean, but completely missed a smaller one to the right and near the center of the image.  I was able to remove this other reflection with the Remove tool using generative AI.

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 30, 2024 Dec 30, 2024

I would be quite interested to see these images. Would you consider sharing them?

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New Here ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

I hope that you'll make the feature work on Nikon camera raw files, i.e., those with file extension nef. That will save a lot of time for me because now I have to take that nef file, convert it into a dng file, and then go to remove reflections.

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Engaged ,
Dec 22, 2024 Dec 22, 2024

I've used it on .nef files.

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