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:

[marks7722111]

I've only tried the new reflection removal tool a few times, but so far...wow. I take a lot of photos in museums, and that includes objects inside Plexiglas, plus paintings with glass protection. I'm constantly battling reflections. Other Photoshop tools help a lot, but can be tricky and time-consuming. I use a Mac Mini M2 Pro, and the refleciton removal tool uses only a few seconds to process. I have to open the file directly into Camera Raw for it to work, and then open it inside Photoshop to continue the workflow. I will want to try this on many more photos to see if the 'wow' factor holds up.

I'm looking forward to this tool working on jpeg, etc. I'd also love to see a tool that could remove glare, another museum photo challenge.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Nice result! Museum display cases are difficult to work around, and to remove reflections from.

[joecos55]

Thought I would try another useless so called AI feature, opened 3 raw files tried all three and the tick box was grayed out the files were Nikon raw files.

[gnrd]

I tried using NEF files (Nikon) and converted to DNG and still the tool is greyed out on MBP M2Pro with 32GB RAM.

[regulab8962614]

Funktioniert bei mir (Mac-Userin) leider überhaupt nicht. Sieht aus wie ein grosser Farbfehler

[Ab van Polanen]

Still the same problem for me. Identical

[Pagolo]

It would be great to improve the elimination of reflections from the glasses.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Please refer to this Blog post to see how we are working to expand the uses of this tool.

[Random A Photography]

I can't get it to let me even check the reflections box.  I did everything in the instructions

[dwzimmerly]

This is a fantastic reflection removal tool that Adobe has created. The Before photo was taken in a shop window in Prague in 2014.

[gwinters2128]

Does not seem to work with .nef files. This is the Nikon raw file. Do I need to convert to a .raw file? I like the idea, since I have some bird photos shot through a window.

[KasiaD]

It is possible with Nikon NEF RAW files. See the answer to Stevord41 below for different options.

[CCNY]

I just used it. Awful. DId not remove reflections. Only made outlines/edges turn (top photo) purple. 

[Erik Bloodaxe]

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.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Erik is correct. Thanks. Please refer to this Blog post to understand how to use the tool today, and our plans to develop it in the future.

[danielr24388939]

It works often pretty well, hier a shot through a window into a dark room before and after reflection removal, all else equal. 

Kind of "successful elimination of Saul Leiter" (a great photographer, btw) 

[MTMPhoto]

I'm using this just on family photo on christmas morning. I have 2 large sliders with the tree in front. The tool didnt work on the glass door reflections but the highlights from the chritmas lights on the tree. The only thin i did was lens profile correction. I didn't even get the to verticals yet. 

[Eric29489323q7t4]

The tool is designed to remove large-area reflections that block your view of the subject. The reflections on these glass doors are not large, and do not block your view of the subject (the tree), so they are not removed. Please refer to this Blog post to understand how to use the tool today, and our plans to develop it in the future.

[KasiaD]

Really pleased so far with my test images - I've travelled a lot by plane and train and have many images looking inside-out with reflections which I (now thankfully) did not delete. Here is an example of before and after. Thank you. I'll continue to experiment.

[umlautnord]

Very unsuccessful using this so far, on a number of images. There seems to be some interaction with AI Denoise especially—no matter which one is applied first.

This is an image that I thought would be pretty clear-cut: Photo out of a plane window. Some obvious reflections in the window against a fairly flat sky.

If Denoise is applied, Distraction Removal > Reflections just doesn't see the reflections at all. It just seems to shift some color/tone curves. When Denoise is removed, Distraction Removal only sees the most obvious reflection and tries to remove it. Frankly, I could have done way better with either AI or Gen AI remove even on that one reflection. It did not matter if AI Denoise was set to 2, 50, or 100.

This was done on a RAW DNG opened in PS as a smart object from LrC. Edits done in ACR plugin on the fully RAW smart object. Images saved directly out of PS ACR plugin.

Would welcome tips, or happy to share more info if it'd help product folks.

Original

Original

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With AI Denoise, No Distraction Removal

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With AI Denoise, With Distraction Removal

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No AI Denoise, With Distraction Removal

[Eric29489323q7t4]

The output of remove reflections can change even when the input is modified in a small way, for example by removing noise. This is typical of all AI models. In your final result, the most salient part of the reflection is removed, and the photo is usefully improved even if it remains slightly imperfect. The success of the tool is to improve your photos, which does not mean the result is always perfect. While its true that, in this case, you could use generative fill instead, that is rarely the case when removing semi-transparent reflections, so I think you will find that the remove reflections tool is generally useful for improving your photos in ways that generative remove is not. Please refer to this Blog post to understand our plans to develop this feature further in the future.

[umlautnord]

Thanks for the reply, @Eric29489323q7t4! I appreciate the blog post link, and the larger context. I am particularly encouraged by the fact that the functionality isn't just about specific reflections, but also about general haze etc. (I've definitely got a number of JPG/HEIC images that could benefit—and am always glad to hear when features are planned for those formats.)

Back to RAW/my example: I totally understand that removing/altering noise changes the picture for reflection removal. It also makes far more sense to use a targeted feature like this for reflection removal than an attempt at generative removal. However, AI Denoise is a pretty fundamental use case in ACR/Lightroom these days, I think. It is for me, at least! I use it more than half of the time with my RAW images. So, I think my feedback is that it really needs to work alongside/with AI Denoise! (I.e. it should have a similar effect to image #4 as image #3.)

[Eric29489323q7t4]

It does work with AI denoise. This specific example did not. You can expect the results to change when you modify the input image, and that includes removing noise. Sometimes it will go the other way: denoise will make remove reflections work better. It will seem random because it is. We're working to improve this tech preview to make it more robust, but you should expect variation in the output.

[Stevord41]

Went to try the new Reflection feature and for some reason, the Reflections Removal tool is grayed out. The little triangle says it's only for RAW images. I am using a Nikon NEF file. I work in LR and then open PS and from there open CR.  What am i doing wrong? 

Thank you. 

[Stevord41]

Also, just tried opening the NEF in PS first, then CR but still no luck.  

Thx.