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:

[Chapps-LA]

I have no problem with it working with my Canon .CR3 RAW files. Are you dropping it directly into (updated) Photoshop? If you attempt to open from Lightroom, it won't work. Just drop the CR3 file into Photoshop, and you should be OK.

[MStrathmore]

Hi folks, great feature that shows a lot of promise. Didn't work for me unfortunately- here's the before and after. This is a (bad) shot out of a tourbus window that I wanted to experiement with before using on other photos. 

Hi

[Haawoo37203051z6un]

when I use reflection removal tool in camera raw , it shows an error 'unable to remove reflections, there was an unknown error. I tried many photos. it shows same error message. I had  switched on technology preview check box before starting. Could you pls give me a replay. thanks

[MStrathmore]

Follow up to my post above: I'm using a 2019 Intel iMac (Noted many of the comments were about this issue occuring on Windows). Also, the issue still occurs when I turn off use of the graphics processor (again, noticed some comments that it may be related to whether this is used or not). In my case it makes no difference. 

Finally, I'm on the latest (non-beta) version of Ps, Lr, Craw

[ioris18979492]

In the Camera Raw Removal dialogue box, I get the message that "Reflection Removal is currently not compatible with this file format." It is an ORF raw file straight out of my Olympus OM-1 camera. Is Adobe not supporting this raw file? Does this mean that I need to first convert to a TIF file? It's bad enough that this functionality is not incorporated within Lightroom or PhotoShop. This is just one more hurdle too many. ;~ {

[Derek23678628ypbm]

Its a great idea but I have tried it on som reflection from a coach window and it failed to remove the reflection

[herv37165296jhm2]

win 11, carte amd recente sur pc gamer , ne fonctionne pas , artefact sur toute l'image.

Toutes les solutions proposées sur le post ont été testées, sans resultats.

[satisfied_video5D97]

I have tried the new Reflection Removal Tool and it works fine. I can output DGN with reflection removed. When I view the output dng in Windows Photo, it looks perfectly fine.

Howver, when I import it into Lightroom Classic, the original reflection appears again just as it was never removed.

[Conrad_C]

For now, I think it’s expected the Lightroom Classic won’t show it. I looked at how Camera Raw stores the reflection removal, and for raw files it appears to store it in the .acr sidecar file (which also stores masks). For DNG I suppose they store the same metadata in the DNG file. But because this reflection removal feature isn’t in Lightroom Classic, Lightroom Classic doesn’t yet know what to do with the reflection removal data and so it doesn’t show up.

If Adobe eventually graduates this feature out of Technology Previews and also adds it to Lightroom Classic, then it all should work while the image is still raw. But for now, while it’s under Technology Preview testing, the only way for Lightroom Classic to see the removed reflection is is if it’s sent back from Camera Raw as a rendered (not raw) file, such as TIFF, PSD, or JPEG.

[satisfied_video5D97]

I have the same assumption. Then we have to wait for this great tool to roll out.

Thanks.

[Chapps-LA]

Very interesting! I was a little late in exploring this new tool, and it's something I've wanted for quite some time, as I photograph a *lot* of artifacts in museum display cases. I'll have to test this on a ton of photos that I've previously thought unusable due to reflections.

Here's a quick before and after - no processing has been applied to the image, other than the reflection removal. Note that it removed the reflection from the face of the bronze head, but decided to keep the rest of the reflection. Not ideal, as I'd like all of the reflections gone, but I can live with it. 

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Thanks for sharing! The tool is intended to improve your photos. It may not always completely remove difficult reflections, and in particular it will not always remove reflections that are so strong you cannot see anything underneath them---it will not hallucinate content in those regions. Please use generative fill if you would like to fix such reflections. Also checkout our blog for more explanation about the current applications, and our future plans.

[Chapps-LA]

OK, now I want you to add a 'hallucinate' option for reflection removal. Best laugh I've had all day. 

Yes, I know that it's unable to produce what it can't 'see', but in the attached photo, I would have thought that all of the information was there to eliminate the reflection. But the AI might have seen 'shadow' and decided to keep it intact? As you can see, not much difference (and I was really hoping this pic could be saved, edited, cropped). I'll definitely check out the blog - thanks!

[Eric29489323q7t4]

We already have the option to hallucinate. You can use Generative Fill to fill-in reflected regions where it is not possible to see what is underneath the reflection. You should do that after removing the reflection.

In your newly attached photo, try zooming in with your camera. Reflection removal will succeed more often when the glass fills the majority of the frame, so maximizing that area will yield more reliable results.

[Chapps-LA]

This is true, Generative Fill can come up with some 'interesting' solutions. In earlier releases, it had the odd quirk of inserting tiny toys or rubber ducks where I was attempting to remove something. That seems to be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, I think the reflection removal chokes when it's interpreting a dark reflection as a *shadow* (and, boy, would I like to see 'shadow removal' added). I started from scratch on this file, and only ran reflection removal after I had cropped the photo to just the fresco. It got worse - the glass remained hazy, the shadow-reflection very strong. I have to be *very* careful about using Generative Fill, since I'm recording actual works of art - I can't just add detail that doesn't exist. Yes, I could go back to my first attempt, which removes the haze better, and then laboriously create layers of differing exposure/lightened shadow, then use masking, etc. Huge pain, but for a more important fresco, I'd do it (I just did that for a Greek red-figure vase). Attached the new version (the colors, values, et al have not been optimized - this is just denoise and remove reflection).

[Eric29489323q7t4]

It looks like it did not succeed even when you zoomed in? Would you be willing to share the RAW file? I would be interested to try myself.

[Bhavin Khona]

The tool did not work.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

The tool will not hallucinate content to fill saturated regions, like the ones in this photo. Please use generative fill if you would like to do that. Our blog explains the intended applications of the tool, and our future plans for it. I would highly recommend checking it out.

[iPhotograph]

When I tried it with the attached image, nothing happened. The -100 settings shows just a black screen.

Computer: HP Zbook Studio with i9 and RTX4800, Files opened via Explorer.

On another, similar picture, there was at least some reduction, but still room for optimization.

The changes worked more on the upper part (i.e. sky), but on the lower part there are still strong reflections.

[VisualDigits]

Howdy, I just tried the n ew feature on a Windows 10, 64bit machine, 16GB RAM NVidia 3050ti.
Of course enabled the feature in camera raw then restarted Photoshop.

For me the checkbox is always greyed out. I tried older Nikon NEFs, Panasonic RW2 (older and newer ones) and DNG files.

I would expect that at least DNG files work. What do I miss here?

[iPhotograph]

Did you open the file via the explorer? I had the same issue when I opened the picture via Lightroom and then selected the Camera Raw filter in PS. This does not work, you have to open the file in Camera Raw before handing it over to PS.

[iPhotograph]

On other images, it works great (left picture = 100, right picture = 100)

[Eric29489323q7t4]

The tool is intended to remove reflections from plate glass windows that cover most of your field of view. As reflection regions become smaller, you may find that results vary more. Please consider reading our blog, which explains the intended applications of the tool, and our future plans for it.

[VivianBedoya]

Earlier this year I was photographing a bathroom renovation and the reflections on the shower doors were distracting and impossible to avoid. This new feature is a game changer! It's amazing to see how well reflections were removed from my original photograph and how with a remove tool, I will be able to resolve the little bit left behind. It's also pretty cool that when you move the slider to -100, you can see the reflections as a separate image. Congratulations to the team that developed this! 

[DaveBCameron]

Here's a thing; this also works for lens flare.