P: Reflection Removal feedback (CR & LrClassic)

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

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:

[KE_DP]

Not for eyeglasses - all it does is blur the entire image.

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

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 introduced dust removal, so they’re definitely working through the items in that list.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Please note that this tool does not blur the image. You may select "Best" quality setting, and full image details will be output. You may use "Preview" to create images for various purposes: social media posts, or quickly checking the result of the tool before investing time to render full details. 

[JohnDG Photography]

Eric,
it would be nice that we could select the quality in settings. Right now, it jumps every time to "preview".  We have to change the quality settings with every picture we process. 

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Thanks for letting us know your experience. Noted.

[Stefano53]

Non rimuove i riflessi dal vetro anteriore dell'auto

[Stefano53]

Questo è il risultato

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Thanks for posting. Is this a RAW or JPEG? If you're able to share the original, that could help as we are continuing to improve the product.

[JanPronk]

Working well !! 

[hamannkls]

sorry! This function does no work like the online help 😞

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Please post a screen capture to demonstrate the issue. Many or even most failures result from folks who are learning how to use the tool.

[wolfgangr98104515]

Entfernt leider keine Spiegelungen auf Brillengläsern.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

This is well known, and is intended. Please read the Adobe blog to learn more about the tool. In particular, it does not remove reflections from small panes of glass that are part of the scene. That includes eye glasses.

[Mattie_Creech1410]

I dont understand this funtion.. I have tired to use it many times and I cant get it ot work. I saw it advertised to be able to remove reflections in windows of the subject, or other persons or items and I cant seem to get it to do that. or remove any type of reflection for that matter. and yes I have it set to best. 

[Eric29489323q7t4]

The "best" quality doesn't matter. It just adds additional detail. Please share examples of photos that its not working for you. Most users are needing to learn what kinds of reflections the tool is designed to use. 

[robtmann@gmail.com]

I thought I would submit this because it's an interesting error. The reflection removal tool removed the reflection from this display case perfectly *except* for the reflections of the flourescent lights behind me. I'm wondering if it's because those lights actaully match the perspective of the grid above the display case. This was probably one of those one in a million conicidences that are impossible to plan for. (Photo attachted)

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Hi Rob, could you share the DNG? I'd like to try it myself.

By the way, I noticed that you are using Adobe's Project Indigo camera app. I hope you're enjoying it!

[robtmann@gmail.com]

Here's the DNG. Indigo works very well! I prefer it to the built-in iphone camera app. I wish I could change aspect ratios and it does tend to run hot, but otherwise it works very well indeed! Robert Mann's DNG snapshot with reflection issue 

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Thanks so much. We are continuing to improve this feature, so staty tuned for updates. 

[Canonballer]

There is no doubt that this tool is impressive.  I first used it when taking photos of London from the "Sky Garden" located on the 35th, 36th, and 37th floors of the "Walkie-Talkie" building in Fenchurch Street, within the city of London's "Square Mile", which offers stunning views across London.  There is an large, external, public viewing gallery / balcony, which is great, but this has a high glass safety screen through which you have to shoot if you want to take photos of the views.  Using the reflection removal tool on the images I shot, meant that images that otherwise would have been unuseable, became virtually flawless views of the capital, which I was really please with. 

However, having since tried using it on shots taken through shop windows, into the shops concerned, where reflections from the high street behind me were more complex, it has shown its limitations (see before and after examples attached).   You can still see reflections from the high street evident, particularly on the two shop assistants.

Camera was an Olympus OMD-EM10 with the kit M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ lens.  The RAW (ORF) image was then processed in Lightroom (including the reflections removal, at the highest quality) and then transferred into PhotoShop and saved as a JPEG.  My desktop PC spec is as follows: 

Processor 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700 (2.10 GHz)
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Yea that's a difficult case. Please stay tuned for updates!

[ludovic_4955]

On this poor picture, remove reflexion tool remove lights but not reflections on the window.

I hope it will help to improve your new tool.

Best regards

Ludovic

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Try zooming in next time.

[TxRanger]

The tool removed the reflections including the rainbow.  It also added a bunch of texture in the upper 1/3 of the photo.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Thanks for sharing! Super interesting. Unfortunately, rainbows are in fact reflections, and they often can cover your entire camera view (like in this photo). So it's not surprising that the tool removed the rainbow. This tool removes transparent things. Sorry if the result is not useful for you.