P: (Technology Preview) Reflection Removal (CR)

[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 non-raw photos (e.g., JPEGs or HEICs) will be added in a future 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 the 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 

Posted by:

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Thanks Marty! Is there a place where we can view your work that uses reflection removal?

[Marty_Bigos8577]

Eric -

Here is Frank Sinara's house in Palm Springs taken from inside a van.

[KasiaD]

I did a different test today. I had a photo with a reflection caused by my grey grad filter. I used the reflection removal tool and it worked really well. Will need to remember this if it happens again in future. Normally I would delete the image.

 

[Sylvester5ED2]

Reflections removal A+, however when I try to save the DNG and open in lightroom it still has the reflections, odd the preview doesn't show the reflections???

Also open in photoshop from lightroom makes it a tif and then the camera raw reflection removal doesn't work. 

Thanks. 

[Arnold Staniczek]

Doesn't it work with NEF files?

[Arnold Staniczek]

Sorry, the error was sitting in front of the computer.... it works! 

[massimoc34505475]

Hi,

Am an ex Adobe employee (10 years ago, when we switched to CC 🙂

I am using the Reflection removal very successfully but have noticed an issue where fringes are significantly increased and the Defringing is unable to correct it any longer.  Admittedly, I am using the Reflection removal for images that it was not designed for (for example where only a case with glass appears in the picture and not where the whole picture is a pane of glass).  Note in the enclosed file that Reflection removal has an effect on the reflection in the case but it modifies the frine on the edge of the case and in the lamp above.  Nonetheless, I wanted to inform you of my observation.  RAW file enclosed.

Thanks and best regards

[Chapps-LA]

I thought I'd share a particularly successful use case of the reflection removal tool. I had thought that a photo I took at the Metropolitan Museum in New York was unusable, due to reflections and haze, and the reflective coating on this encaustic (colored wax) mummy portrait from Roman Egypt. But the tool saved the photo very effectively. The three attachments show the RAW file (denoise was used), the resulting image with reflections removed (not yet adjusted for color and lighting issues), and the image showing exactly what reflections were removed. As a great deal of my work involves my photographing museum displays (with no special lighting), this is a big deal for me. 

I'm crossing my fingers that you rapidly evolve the tool to work with JPEGs and TIFFs, as there are times I don't have my professional camera with me, and have to use an iPhone to record a display - I have tons of 'unusable' reflection-ruined photos in those formats.