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

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:

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)
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.

[umlautnord]

It's really great to see that this tool can work on HDR-enabled images. Photoshop doesn't seem to handle content-aware fill or generative AI with 32-bit images.

Three things I'd love to see Adobe look into, and/or get help with, based on my experience thus far. They're all related to the same general issues around background matching + edge handling, and my biggest experience is when dealing with blurrier objects. Often, on flat backgrounds (smudge/reflection against sky).

1) The tool seems to almost always leave a noticeable line or hard transition between the gen AI area and the surroundings. This is the worst (and visible even zoomed pretty far out) against sky or any flat background, but it's often there even on a more complex background as well. I tend to see this whether the goal is more of an object replacement or a removal.

2) Flat backgrounds often don't get very well matched in terms of pattern, color, and/or texture to their surroundings. This is even the case when the background for the object within the gen AI area is the same as the background outside of the area. Again, e.g. sky or similar. This exacerbates and is related to the edge handling/line issue in #1. 

3) Like others have noted, I often get "replace" rather than "remove" even if an entire object + shadow seem to me to be selected. This is particularly a problem when the "object" isn't recognizable as an object, persay. For example, a reflection in a window or a blurry finger at the edge of a photograph. The Gen AI result is often something "new" that's a little smeary rather than actual removal. I can cycle through/refresh to eventually find one that's more true "removal," but I have to get lucky to find something that also minimizes #1 and #2 as much as possible.

Per recommendations, I do use the "standard" removal tools (content-aware remove/heal) as much as I can. And sometimes I'll use them to touch up what Gen AI has produced. However, they struggle with larger areas and more complex objects. It's exciting that Gen AI does better, but it'd be great to be able to handle the above scenarios better.

[defaulttlovqv5qxxow]

The Generative KI takes Lightroom Classic up to a absolute new level! 🙂

[blukom]

I would say that this LR-tool is really "at an very early stage" and there is a lomg way to go until it will work. I tried so many times just to delete items – a person, traffic signs, Sheets of paper on walls, bins etc  –  on plain or structured backgtounds and in 80 percent I failed. Suprisingly the results in PS are much better than in LR – for ever reason. So I‘ll do the most of the retouch furthermore in PS.  

[joes66863724]

So far this does not work on my system. When I select the AI generate buttton, it locks up all the tools and I have to restart lightroom. 

[defaultmkwe20uckt5b]

Buongiorno! Spesso non rimuove gli oggetti. Li sostituisce con altri! 

[cmplsn69]

I've installed version 13.3 but int the panel I can't see the new functionality in the remove panel.

any suggesstion ?

[cmplsn69]

Sorry, selected the wrong option, it works fine!

[sb2314]

Try choosing much more than the object so the AI has a better chance to work. It's still a work in progress, and you can always go to Photoshop and do it there as for now, it works much better there.

[sb2314]

Choose an area much bigger than the subject and see if this improves your
results.

--
Sent from Gmail in PC

[S01AC]

Photoshop does a much better job of Generative AI. LC did not completely remove an object that was surrounded by water. Insterted green shrubs that were not even in the photo.

[ellens77958465]

This has rendered the old remove tool useless. I can't remove anything even when I don't have generative AI checked. When checked, It wants to subsitute something-another person's face, something completely irrelevant. Worse than the old plain old clone tool. Really not only not useful, counterproductive. Not ready for prime time as a tool. Truly a disappointment. I think that Adobe should have tested this more before releasing it. It certainly doesn't do what the example showed in the new features of LR. Maybe I'm not getting the best way to use this.

[Gordon3709859525px]

First attempt would qualify as a clear fail.   Only removed the buds from a branch, but left the branch.

[anthonyg80189877]

Fantasticos resultados para ser una primera implementación, cada vez está mucho más completa la herramienta.

[Ron Funderburk]

I am trying to remove the wires in and outlines of the netting but the generative AI doesn't seem to recognize it when I outline it.  

[Jovial_JourneyB831]

This is very bad. It's supposed to be a generative REMOVE tool and on rare occasions it does that, but most of the time it tries to replace it with something else. Photoshop seems to work well. Why not in Lightroom Classic? Also by coming out with this too soon, you've wasted a lot of people's time trying to use it.

[johnprose]

Great start and very useful. Just one comment... I used the remove tool, which worked very well but when I used the DeNoise tool on the same image it resampled and changed the area I had worked on with the remove tool.

On another note, can we have the option to edit the DeNoise tag on the file and not have DeNoise put in the keywords please

Thank you

[umlautnord]

Yeah, since it relies on the actual pixel data, enhance is going to require recalculation/regeneration.

Off topic/to your other note: I'm not 100% sure what you mean by the denoise tag on the file., but you can turn off the keywording under Preferences > File Handling.

The denoise information is actually added to the metadata of the file... LrC doesn't seem to allow you to surface that in the main metadata viewer, unfortunately. It's only in the history step and via the filename it generates, as far as I can tell, and I can't get a smart collection to work on it.

However, I know that the Metadata Viewer plugin that is powered by exiftool can surface the info for you, and there may be other exiftool-powered viewers that are a little more helpful in the interface. The AnyFilter plugin will let you search/filter based on DeNoise/Enhance/any of that hidden metadata, too.

[Ian Lyons]

@johnprose 

The behaviour you describe regarding an image that you susbsequently denoise is expected. The order edits should be  Denoise - Heal (Including Gen Remove) - Crop/Edit - AI Selective edits

[johnprose]

I will try that Ian.  My preference has always been to get everything right and denoise last 🤷‍:male_sign:

[Deborah23059745j5nm]

since switching on Ai remove tool it has moved my spot brush out of sync. 

On the screenshot I am removing a spot on the blonde girls chin but the tool is in the wrong place!!

It has disrupted my whole workflow for this job

[lexy1238]

The tool works mostly good - for me the white line when starting to mark the area which should be removed  is not very good (too bold) - would like to have the colored field of the pencil so the borders are much more better to see.

[Andreas32882698evst]

Tolle Erleichterung, ht bei mir überwiegend sehr gut funktioniert. Die Wartezeit ist akzeptabel!

Gruß

Andreas

[MD WASIM AKRA37760320agum]

Wonderful., It is not a remove tool, It replaces the object with something replicating the environment. This is a feature that I was really looking forward for. Very useful.

[Jason37761814af8c]

Rikk,

It's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing.  So happy this is in lightroom classic now, saving me from going to PS. Does a great job for me.

[dbuckenmyer]

Tried removing a light pole 3 times. Regenerated 3 times. Reselected 3 times. Always gave me some form of the pole, with or without the base, even with the shadows removed. Otherwise, it has mostly been helpful.