P: New AI-powered Generative Remove (Early Access) available across all surfaces.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

This post applies to Lightroom Classic and the Lightroom Ecosystem products.
Post Camera Raw feedback here

This thread is now closed. Please update to LrC 14.x or LrD 8.x. If you wish to provide feedback, please go to the new article.

The Lightroom team is sharing an early look at Generative Remove, which makes it easier to remove unwanted objects and distractions, even on complex backgrounds, with a simple brush stroke. Generative Remove is powered by Firefly AI.

How to use Generative Remove on a desktop:

• You can find Generative Remove under the newly renamed Remove panel (aka “Heal”).
• Make sure the “generative AI” checkbox is enabled before you start brushing (note: when unchecked, Lightroom will use Content-Aware Remove to fill your brushed spots). 
• By default, you will be given a moment to refine your selection with an add or subtract brush. Remember to include shadows for a more accurate result! You can also skip this step by holding down ‘CTRL’ on windows or ‘CMD’ on mac as you finish your brush stroke. 
• Once you’re ready to apply and have accepted the terms, Generative Remove will use Firefly AI to remove your distractions and intelligently fill in the space that’s left by the removed objects. 
• Note: stable internet connection is required to use this feature.
• Generative Remove also lets you choose from multiple variations, so you can pick the one you like best, giving you full creative control. 
  
  Checkout the FAQ and Best Practices

Please give it a try and share feedback and/or report variations in this community forum. It would greatly help to include details like which app you are using (i.e., Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw) and other system details. Our team will continually monitor this thread to track issues to improve the future experience.

Lisa Ngo: Lightroom Product Manager
Posted by: Rikk Flohr 

Update (Dec 2024):  With the new release, it is no longer necessary to perform Generative Remove Operations prior to Cropping. 

Update:

Here are some tips if you are having issues with the feature replacing your object instead of removing it. 

• Enlarge your selection - if your brush stroke is too tight, you will have unexpected results.
• Remember that removing an object means painting over it, its shadow, its reflection, and any non-contiguous pieces. If you leave behind a shadow, a reflection, or a disconnected piece (e.g., a hand on a shoulder), the AI will attempt to create something to cast the shadow, reflect, or complete the unbrushed discontinuous item. You can avoid these issue by following the guidance provided in this linked tutorial. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/generative-remove-replace

The recommended order for applying edits is:

1. Denoise 
2. Heal (includes Generative AI Remove)
3. Crop (includes traditional Cropping, Lens Correction, Transform, or any operation changing the geometry of the image, including round-tripping to PS to use Gen-Expand)
4. Global Edits
5. AI Selective edits (Sky, Person, etc)
   
   If you deviate from that, you may see the removed object remain as a ghost image. If this occurs, you will have to use Update AI Settings, which can be found under the Develop module 'Settings' menu.

[Mosb38064585hj1i]

very powerful

[Andy1549]

I'm using LRC on the photo plan - auto updates. The tool has been updated recently (last 2 weeks?) and now has two options and imho doesnt work as well as it used to whatever I try. I used it a lot (alongside healing) to remove the collar on a few polar bear shots last month. It seemed to know what I was trying to do, excellent - and even managed to remove a whole donkey from another photo (not in the Arctic!) Anyway, my point is, it isnt as smart as it was based upon my recent experience with a very simple remove. Feels like a step backwards.

[John R Ellis]

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@Andy1549, the previous three tools are still present and haven't changed.

Clone:

Heal:

Remove (formerly called Content-Aware Heal):

The new Generative Remove is only invoked when you select the option Generative AI. The option Object Aware provides a new method of selecting pixels; if you don't check Generative AI, then the old Content-Aware algorithm will be applied to that selection.

So in your recent test, which tool and which options did you select?  

[Andy1549]

thanks for the reply John. Get the three tools still exist and I actually tried both remove options, assuming the object aware was the 'original eraser tool'. As is said I find it doesnt work as well, but if youre telling me its exactly the same code then maybe its just one of those things.

I see from other posts about using the tool before even basic changes like lens recognition which I will try in future. I'll make sure its first in workflow.

[John R Ellis]

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"assuming the object aware was the 'original eraser tool'"

No, Object Aware was added in LR 13.3. Adobe has confused matters by changing the names of these tools.

To get the original three tools, which haven't changed, click the Clone icon , the Heal icon , or the Remove icon  with Generative AI and Object Aware unchecked (to get what used to be called Content Aware). If you see one of those tools giving much worse results now, that could indicate a bug that Adobe should know about. Upload the original photo to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here, so we can verify.

[jtu50]

Using LR Classic, Win 10. Generative erase misses the mark sometimes, where generative fill in PS gets it. Sometimes it does not erase the highlight area, but fills in the area with an unwanted image.

[John R Ellis]

@jtu50: "...PS gets it. Sometimes it does not erase the highlight area, but fills in the area with an unwanted image."

When Photoshop gets it but LR doesn't, you likely are working with an image with Crop, Transform, or Lens Corrections enabled. Disable all of those before applying Remove. See this article for details:

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

If that doesn't help, please attach the original photo here (not an export) so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. If the forum won't let you attach it, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

[m_a_r_o]

削除した部分が周りの背景と馴染んでおらず修正箇所がわかってしまう。

選択範囲のぼかし機能か、もしくは背景と完全に馴染むようにしてほしい。

[John R Ellis]

Google translation: "The deleted part does not blend in with the surrounding background, so the edited part is obvious.

I'd like a selection blur function or something that will completely blend in with the background."

Sometimes it helps to expand the selection to include much more of the surrounding area, and Remove does a better job of matching.  If that doesn't help, please attach the original photo here (not an export) so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. If the forum won't let you attach it, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

[florianl66018671]

Not sure why Photoshop's remove feature had always been miles better than Lightsroom's... being both Adobe products. And I got to say that I will still have to go over in Photoshop when I want to do a good remove job. The new LR remove tool is not cutting it for me.

[John R Ellis]

@florianl66018671: "Photoshop's remove feature had always been miles better than Lightsroom's"

When Photoshop's Remove is working better than LR's new Generative Remove, that's typically because you've got Crop, Lens Corrections, or Transform applied to the photo. LR's Remove looks at all the pixels of the photo, even those cropped out by those tools. Temporarily remove the crop, lens corrections, and transform and Remove usually works much better at the edges of the photo. See here for details:

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

If that doesn't help, please attach the original photo here (not an export) so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. If the forum won't let you attach it, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

[x JMPD x]

Generative Remove seems to struggle when trying to remove an object at the edge of the frame. It tries really hard to keep the colors at the perimeter of the original image the same, instead of just extending adjacent textures in the image like trees or walls all the way out the the edge.

[John R Ellis]

@x JMPD x: "Remove seems to struggle when trying to remove an object at the edge of the frame."

Most likely you've got Crop, Lens Corrections, or Transform applied to the photo. Remove looks at all the pixels of the photo, even those cropped out by those tools. Temporarily remove the crop, lens corrections, and transform and Remove usually works much better at the edges of the photo. See here for details:

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

If that doesn't help, please attach the original photo here (not an export) so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. If the forum won't let you attach it, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

[heidid99034767]

The new Generative AI is pretty amazing. There's just one hitch that I would love to work out. Sometimes when trying to remove people, it replaces them with other people. I've tried making sure I select the entire group or person, even if they're split up behind, let's say, a guard rail. But it still replaces only with people. I've tried a few different refreshes but it still does it. It would be amazing if some of the 3 options were landscape instead or if there was a checkbox to replace with landscape instead. Thank you so much for all the hard work that went into this! It's already saving me so much time!

[John R Ellis]

@heidid99034767: "it still replaces only with people."

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

If that doesn't help, please attach the original photo here (not an export) so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. If the forum won't let you attach it, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

[blue_pacific]

Using Lightroom Classic and Windows 10,  I tried to remove a name on the side of an old steam locomotive. The generative AI removed all but part of one letter of the name-- it made that part more distinct rather than replacing it with the smooth metal surface. I tried again with a larger selection, then I tried various other methods but nothing would remove that one letter.  In fact, once the AI had decided that letter should be boldly visible, none of the other tools would alter it. So, I went back in the history and gave up trying to do this in Lightroom. 

[John R Ellis]

@blue_pacific, please attach the original photo here (not an export) so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. If the forum won't let you attach it, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

[HardShadows]

Seemed to work much better a couple of weeks ago at launch. I could easily REMOVE telephone poles and powerlines...today trying to remove a telephone pole and powerlines that are in the middle of the image and it REFUSES to work properly no matter what i do (small bursh size, huge brush size, object aware, etc) it wants to REPLACE them with other poles and wires, and if in the rare case it trys to remove the pole, it leaves an almost white outline of where the pole was, in essence REPLACING the pole with a now 'white' pole. I'm guessing Adobe tweaked the algo and broke it.

[HardShadows]

with crop removed, and then generative ai removal used. yes, i have lens correction on, as it applys when i ingest images...i'm hoping that Adobe's smart enough to sample an image that has corrections such as lens corrections, and crops applied and look at the obvious data the intended photograph contains and deduce from that intent what it should do with the ai model, instead of halucinating and generating what it feels like.

[HardShadows]

using photoshop ai erase on the same raw image...just a very rough quick 'paint over' with the tool in PS and bam, pole and lines gone. i would think adobe would be using the same ai engine and algo for ps and lrc...but obviously not. seems ashame that we have to hop from lrc to ps to do something that simple..

[John R Ellis]

@HardShadows, read all the way to the end past the screenshots.

I got good results on your .jpg by selecting all the wires and the telephone pole at once, with a generous boundary around them:

If you try to do it segments, one piece at a time, Remove will try to match what's left.

I suspect you're working with a raw and not a JPEG. If you have Crop, Lens Corrections, or Transform applied, disable them before applying Remove and then re-enable them when done, as described here:

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

Remove looks at all the pixels in a photo, including those cropped out by Crop, Lens Corrections, and Transform.  So in this photo, it might have been trying to match the replacement against the small bits of wires that were cropped out.

"it leaves an almost white outline of where the pole was, in essence REPLACING the pole with a now 'white' pole"

You were likely applying Remove on top of a Sky mask. Force the Sky mask to be recomputed by doing the menu command Settings > Update AI Settings. Here's an example, where I used a Sky mask to darken the sky, then applied Remove on the pole and wires.  It appears as a ghost, since the original Sky mask didn't include the pixels where the pole was. There's a red dot under the Masking icon indicating that an AI mask needs updating:

Doing Settings > Update AI Settings recomputes the Sky mask with the pole removed, and all then looks good.

This has been a confusing aspect of AI masking that occurs with the older healing/remove tools as well.

[HardShadows]

thanks for the great feedback. yes, i am working on the raw file, for some reason the forum kept refusing to take the .cr2 file saying the file extension didn't match, so thats why i uploaded the .jpg's. i'm still puzzled why when i have teh raw open in lrc and i say 'edit in ps' and it bounces the raw image to ps and ps says 'processing .cr2' when it's opening, so i assume lr isn't sending ps a tiff...and then the ai erase tool in ps worked fine on that raw image when i selected the 'individual' items, and then it bounced the raw file back to lr. I'll give your method a shot as well. I know it's still in 'trial', I'm hoping adobe figures out a smoother less restrictive workflow process...i hate to think that once i'm several steps into editing if i disover an unoticed 'thing' i want to remove, that i have to start going back and 'uncropping, unfiltering, uncorrecting'  steps just so i can remove something i didn't notice or changed my mind and decided i didn't want in the image. But hey, it's still been a good day!

[John R Ellis]

The forum platform rented by Adobe is pretty mediocre. But you can upload raw files to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

When you do Edit In Photoshop on a raw, all of LR's current settings get rendered into an RGB photo (e.g. a TIFF) that you then edit in PS. That rendering applies any crop, lens corrections, and transform, so there are no longer any hidden pixels -- what you see is what you get.  This is why so many people think Photoshop gives better results.

I'm pretty sure the designers of Remove didn't fully understand the implications of the current design of Remove -- so much of the negative feedback here is caused by applying Remove after Crop, Lens Correction, and Transform. But that's the idea behind "Early Access" -- get user feedback.

It's easy to temporary disable Lens Correction and Transform -- hold Alt/Opt over their eyeball icons in the upper-left corner and click the toggle that magically appears. But there is no such toggle for Crop -- you have to do Copy Settings, reset the crop, then Paste Settings when you're done.

One design suggestion is for LR to temporarily disable Crop, etc. when you enter the Remove tool, and then re-enable them when you leave (similar to how the Crop tool shows the entire photo when it's active).