P: Generative Remove Feedback (Lr Classic & Lr Eco)

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

This post applies to Lightroom Classic and the Lightroom Ecosystem products.

Camera Raw feedback can be found here.

Generative Remove makes it easier to remove unwanted objects and distractions with a simple gesture, even on complex backgrounds. For more accurate results, be sure to include the object's shadow in your selection and/or expand its size. 

Detect Objects uses AI to find the objects underneath a brushed area. The masked areas will now appear larger than the Early Access version of this feature. You can also circle objects for quicker selection now. 

We have also updated the spot selection experience to make it easier to manage variations, switch the fill type, refine the selection area, or re-generate as needed. 

Batch updating is also now supported for Generative Remove spots. 

Try out the latest updates and share your feedback with us here. Please also include the following details in your post: 

• App version
• System details
• Example image(s) if you wish to share

Our team continually monitors this thread to track issues for future improvement. Thanks!

Lisa Ngo: Lightroom Product Manager

Posted by:

[johnrellis]

@jillymc926: "The opacity thing solved my issue!"

Good. There have been many reports of the opacity slider getting set to something other than 100 -- either LR is buggily changing it or the UI design is fooling too many people into changing it by accident.

[C.Cella]

Per Desing any new remove uses the last set Opacity in the preferences.

e.g

Set the Opacity for an existing Remove to 0
Crete new one

The new one will have Opacity at 0

The team has decided to remove the Opacity slider upon creation from the UI (the slider was there in LrC 13) so we can't immediately crete a Remove at 100% opacity.

I have been thinking about a plug-in taht notifies users at the Opacity is not at 100% BUT it would suffice to instead return that slider to the Ui as before,

Many users had problems due to this ill fated UI redesign.

The issue has been reported by me "in primis" nearly 6 months ago internally, but also publicly by other users: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-remove-opacity-slider-has-changed-loc...

.

[johnrellis]

@C.Cella: "Per Design any new remove uses the last set Opacity in the preferences."

That likely accounts for much of the confusion -- some users may have previously set Opacity and then don't notice the previous value is used. But I don't think it accounts for many or most of the reports here. How many people deliberately set Opacity to 0? Given the dozens of reports, I think there's a bug, perhaps in the upgrade process, that is setting Opacity to 0 in the preferences.

[C.Cella]

Given the dozens of reports, I think there's a bug, perhaps in the upgrade process, that is setting Opacity to 0 in the preferences.

By @johnrellis

Very possible:

The preference is this one:

<key>AgDevelop_dustSpotOpacity</key>
  <real>1</real>

The minimum allowed value is 0.01
I suggested to always set it to 1 for any new Remove but even this suggestion never was considered.

.

[MicheleDeeVee!!]

lWhen I used generative fill to remove a person and his shadow, there was still a faint outline on the photo so it seemed to just have lighted it up AND it added a little person.  Very weird.  

[johnrellis]

@MicheleDeeVee!!: "When I used generative fill to remove a person and his shadow, there was still a faint outline on the photo so it seemed to just have lighted it up AND it added a little person."

There could be several causes of these symptoms:

1. After clicking Remove, check that the Opacity slider is 100 -- LR infrequently changes it to something else.

2. If you applied Remove on top of an AI mask (e.g. Sky or Subject mask), do the menu command Settings > Update AI Settings to recompute the mask.

3. See this short article for how to remove objects more reliably:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/generative-remove-replace/

Most complaints about Remove are addressed in the article. But if it doesn't help, please attach a full-resolution JPEG exported from the unmodified original photo (not a screenshot). With nearly every one of the several dozen problem photos posted here, we've been able to show how to quickly remove the desired objects.

[Rico Myburg]

It would be really convenient if the remove brush tool and Generative AI brush were two seperate brushes.

Even better if they each had their own shortcut button. This would be so much better to help with a quicker workflow.

Example: Removing a simple distraction only requires the remove brush but the AI option is selected and vice versa - removing a complex distraction and Gen AI is not selected.

Hope this makes sense.

[johnrellis]

@Rico Myburg:   "Even better if they each had their own shortcut button."

These are the current shortcuts:

- Q opens the Remove panel, with the last-used mode (Remove, Heal, Clone) selected.

- Option Shift G toggles the setting Use Generative AI.

[Aplanc]

Generative Remove works almost to perfection. I had been using quite a lot, and all the time comes out perfect. The no AI stll haas a lot to be desired and also the construcion of the MASKS. They used to be better than now. 

[MassimoMax]

Subject: Observations on Generative Remove Functionality

The Generative Remove tool is a powerful and highly useful feature. However, there is a specific combination of actions that frequently results in "ghosting" artifacts, which might benefit from optimization.

Scenario:
When attempting to remove an object, such as a lamppost against the sky, the following sequence produces suboptimal results:

1. Create Mask using the Sky selection tool.
2. Apply Dehaze at +20/+30.
3. Use Remove with Generative AI (including Object Detection), targeting the lamppost.

Result:
While the lamppost is removed, a faint white "ghost" of the lamppost often remains visible.

Alternative Workflow:
When the sequence is adjusted as follows, the issue is usually resolved:

1. Use Remove with Generative AI (including Object Detection), targeting the lamppost.
2. Create Mask using the Sky selection tool.
3. Apply Dehaze at +20/+30.

Outcome:
In this order, the removal typically occurs without leaving a white ghost of the lamppost.

Technical Details:
I am currently using Lightroom Release 14.1.1 with Camera Raw 17.1.

Hp Z Book Firefly 14" G9 Mobile Workstation with Windows 11 Pro v 23H2, CPU 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1265U 1.80 GHz, 32 GB RAM, Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, NVIDIA T550 Laptop GPU.

This observation may be helpful in refining the Generative Remove tool's interaction with other features like masking and dehazing.

[johnrellis]

@MassimoMax: "While the lamppost is removed, a faint white "ghost" of the lamppost often remains visible."

Right, Adobe recommends doing Remove first and then masking. But if you do masking first and then Remove, you can easily fix the ghosting by doing the menu command Settings > Update AI Settings, which recomputes the underlying AI mask.

See this article for Adobe's recommended order of applying commands:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/generative-remove-replace/

[joedibr]

NO MATTER WHAT i DO ALL IT DOES IS REPLACE THE OBJECT THAT I'M TRYING TO REMOVE.  LATEST VERSION OF ALL PRODUCTS. IT'S THE FIRST THING I DO AND IT NEVER WORKS!!  

[johnrellis]

@joedibr: "ALL IT DOES IS REPLACE THE OBJECT THAT I'M TRYING TO REMOVE. "

See this short article for how to remove objects more reliably:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/generative-remove-replace/

Most complaints about Remove are addressed in the article. But if it doesn't help, please attach a full-resolution JPEG exported from the unmodified original photo (not a screenshot). With nearly every one of the several dozen problem photos posted here, we've been able to show how to quickly remove the desired objects.

[joedibr]

If it takes this much work it's too difficult!  I have trie devery suggestion and every order of operations, and nothing worked.  The way it should work, you highlight the object, extend the highlight a reasonable space beyond the object, then hit remomve.  Under NO circumstanses shoulsd a new object be placed in the photo when the REMOVE is hit. Period.

[johnrellis]

It's quite simple once you spend just a very few minutes learning how to use the tool by reading the article. You can see from the several dozen examples posted in this thread that nearly all of the desired objects were quickly and easily removed. But if it's still not working for you, please attach a full-resolution JPEG exported from the unmodified original photo (not a screenshot). 

[LuluBirder]

I read the article and it did not help nor did looking at the examples
posted. Attached is the cropped image that I am working with trying to
remove translucent twigs from in front of the bird.
[image: LB3_6826-Edit.jpg]



--
Louisa Evers
elouisa603@gmail.com
Take care of the birds and you take care of the world

[sb2314]

Please try using an area much larger than what you need to remove, even if
it encroaches on a nearby item and then make sure the opacity is set to
100% and try again. I have had excellent results with it 99% of the time.
Good luck!



--
Sent from Gmail in PC

[LuluBirder]

I have been trying to use Remove both with and without Generative AI and it simply does not work for out of focus twigs and vegetation that appears translucent. It does not detect what is underneath, producing truly bizarre results. I photograph birds, but can't always tell when a closer twig or leaf is in front of the bird. I use Lightroom Classic in iOS Sequoia 15.1.1. Attached is the original image and what Generative Remove producted, apparently attaching the head of a black-capped chickadee onto a white-breasted nuthatch. Where the chickadee head came from is a complete mystery.

[johnrellis]

@LuluBirder: "it simply does not work for out of focus twigs and vegetation that appears translucent."

Remove always tries to match its replacements with what's left unselected. So when you selected part of the bird's head, it generated a replacement (a bird's head) to match the unselected body of the bird.

You can quickly remove the translucent twigs by selecting just them, with three different Remove selections, not selecting the bird's head:

Remove can't remove the translucent haze on the bird's head without generating a completely new (different) head. But you can use a Brush mask to select that part of the bird's head:

and then increasing the Texture, Clarify, and Contrast of the mask:

There just isn't any detail in the lower half of the head to recover, though.

[Aplanc]

I don't know if it is just by chance, but I have never remove an object
that was not removed totally. What I do, and hope it will help you, is when
the dialog Selected comes out, before hitting remove, I always hits first
subtract and it works.

[Turbolyft]

I am constantly noticing issues with the generative fill showing definitive outlines around the replaced areas making the tool useless. 

[johnrellis]

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@Turbolyft: "I am constantly noticing issues with the generative fill showing definitive outlines around the replaced areas making the tool useless."

There are different situations which can create such outlines, and there are usually ways to avoid them. However, the screenshot you posted doesn't show any such outline on my calibrated display:

If you post another example where the the issue is more obvious, then we'll be able to provide better help.

[giancatt.stmoritz]

Hi Lisa

LRC 14.1.1 

M4 MacbookPro

Sequoia 15.1.1 (24B2091)

Picture of woman at private event with injuries after attack.

requested me to clean up pictures of injuries.

I tried with LRC with following results:

1. original image of face

 

2. LRC proposals 1 

proposal 2

 

proposal 3

 

the "original eye" is not detected. 

results are useless like this.

this is my feedback on a problem fo AI and LRC

thank you and best regards

giancarlo cattaneo, switzerland

[johnrellis]

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@giancatt.stmoritz: "the "original eye" is not detected."

To get matching eyes, select both eyes with a single selection, being sure to include all the discolored, bruised skin:

Then subtract the selected portion of the nose:

It's crucial to select both eyes with a single selection and then subtract the parts you don't want selected; otherwise, if you select the eyes separately, then due to a design bug, you'll end up with two different selections rather than a single selection, and the eyes won't match.

Then you'll have to look at many variations (perhaps 20 to 30) to get something acceptable (clicking Generate to generate three more variations).  When you see a plausible variation, make a new Snapshot of it, so you can go back later and select the best variation.

Here are some variations that look plausible to me:

   

Note that you can adjust the eye color using Radial Gradient masks.

[graham_4016]

I absolutely love this new feature! with a little trial and error I'm finding that its reaaly simple to use in removing quite complicated clutter from my images (tree branches and leaves). at firstI tried to take too big a bite, but found several smaller removals worked way bettter than a large one.