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:

[RenoDick]

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.

[mb43188522]

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

[Michael241586546hf7]

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

[Michael241586546hf7]

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

[Frogman38]

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. 

[Photochroma]

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?

[Eric29489323q7t4]

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.

[Kristof Göttling]

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 ✌️

[Eric29489323q7t4]

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.

[Joy.Herbert]

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. 

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Please post your system information. 

[Bill Junk]

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.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

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

[HarveyPDale]

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.

[Bill Junk]

I've used it on .nef files.

[HarveyPDale]

When I try to use Remove Reflection on .nef files the button is greyed out and the message says that files of that type are not supported.

[Rgrenader]

I tried loading a Fuji RAF file (RAW) and an Adobe DNG file.  In both instances I got as "Not Compatible wit the File Format" error message.

[derrick_0311]

I think this is a very promising new feature. I am a portrait photographer, and as such I take a lot of photos of people with their glasses on. Every glasses lens seems to be different of course and it would be wonderful if the algorithm could remove glare from speedlights or strobes. Sometimes, depending on the angle or the lens, you are stuck with a bit of a relection. I thought this would be a great way to remove lens reflections. I've played with it a bit with limited success, but if you folks are looking at ways to refine the algorithm, it would be a huge asset to me. Thank you for your attention.

[Thomas_Lefauconnier5191]

J'ai testé la nouvelle fonction "réflexions". Mais cela ne fonctionne pas du tout sur les lunettes.

[Eric29489323q7t4]

Please refer to this Blog post to understand how to use the remove reflection tool, and when it is most effective.

[defaultu5wn3dzcxjra]

Reflection removal produces hash

[Bill Junk]

I've continued experimenting with the Reflection Removal feature of ACR and have found that it does a pretty good job of removing lens flare from images shot looking into the sun.  My test files were Nikon .nef files shot with a D850.  I also noticed that it is sensitive to the order in which ACR is activated.  It seems that one must open the raw image directly from Photoshop and not throught Adobe Bridge.

[Rgrenader]

Or directly from Lightroom Classic, which also disables the tool. 

[Bill Junk]

I tried another image with lens flare, this time a lot more complicted.  The Remove Reflection worked well on it.

Here's the beginning image as it appeared in ACR:

Here's what it looked like after removing the "reflections."

Notice that I still have a burned out warning about the center of the sun, but all of the reflections inside the lens that resulted in the multiple lens flare spots are gone.  And the nice thing about this is that it did not try to remove the star bust rays from the sun.  A couple years ago I spent a long time cleaning up this image with traditional tools in Photoshop.

After a couple minutes in ACR here's what I had:

There's still more work that needs to be done, but the "repair" that was previously very tedious was accomplished in a couple minutes.  Being able to focus on the creative changes is really nice.