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 is: Denoise - Heal (includes Generative AI Remove) - Crop/Edit - AI Selective edits. If you deviate from that you may see the removed object remains 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.

[jrsforums]

Ian, I understand.  However, isn't the tool ALWAYS replacing something?  If you do the selection on a person correctly, it will not replace it with another person....however, it will replace it with a newly created background.  The key is, I thing, understanding how the AI tool was trained to determine which path to take.

[johnrellis]

Yes, technically, the tool is always replacing the selected area with generated imagery. But in common usage by non-engineers, it's intuitive to use the term "remove" to mean replacing a visually distinct object by background or imagery that we don't perceive as a foreground object, and to use the term "replace" to mean substituting a new generated object for the selected object.

With this understanding of the terms, the help article gives useful advice about how to use the tool to remove instead of replace.

[jrsforums]

I agree to the 'KISS' principle.  However, even for "non-engineers", I would think it helpful to understand that the process is the same...and the masking process, as show so well in the article, is set to instruct the AI process in what to replace it with.....but maybe I'm being to logical and not 'artistic' enough 😀

[PhotoInge]

When removing objects against a clear sky, the sky is darkened around where the objects was

[johnrellis]

@PhotoInge: "When removing objects against a clear sky, the sky is darkened around where the objects was"

That can happen if you apply any of the Remove tools on top of an existing mask. In Develop, do Settings > Update AI Settings.  In general, do Remove first, then create the mask.

[Maurice37897261pt1r]

Hi,

Love the feature, but...

Remove should be more of a ''remove'' thing than a ''replace'' thing.

The selection of remove areas isn't intuitive.

The results are very volatile (sometimes very good, sometimes pretty bad).

The general application of the generative removal tool should be more like in Photoshop, where you have more control over the affected areas.

Kind regards,

[johnrellis]

See this article for how to use the tool more reliably to remove rather than replace:

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

[Lapuce69]

Hello, I'm new to using PS and LRC. I'd done some tests with the AI element suppression in PS and I'm delighted to see the function arrive in LRC. I generated a first time the choice N°2 was good but not perfect, I then updated and the 3 new proposals were not good, when I wanted to return to the proposal N°2 of the first generation that was not possible whereas one can baculate in PS. Did I make a mistake? If not, it would be nice to be able to go back to the previous generated version.

Thank you Corinne

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[johnrellis]

@Lapuce69: "it would be nice to be able to go back to the previous generated version."

The command Edit > Undo will back up to the previous version. See the attached screen recording for an example.

[heartburnNL]

Really an amazing addition! I find myself using it al the time and I'n pleasantly surprized by it's accuracy. Bravo!

[sheilah77]

I have the same issue as many do, it doesn't remove, just replaces with similar object. I end up going to PS to use it there. For me it has been completely unusable. Hopefully all this helps. Will be nice when it works like PS. Which is amazing.

[jrsforums]

It seems Adobe erred in naming it 'erase', maybe'replace' would be better

[johnrellis]

@sheilah77: "it doesn't remove, just replaces with similar object."

See this article for how to remove instead of replace:

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

If that doesn't help, attach a problem photo here or upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here, calling out which object you're having trouble with.

[cheryltb]

This is my new favorite tool in Lightroom! The only strange issue I've encountered is when I try to remove people - sometimes the original person is replaced with another person.  I did discover that removing the shadow is important to avoid replacing one person for another. 

[johnrellis]

@cheryltb: "sometimes the original person is replaced with another person.  I did discover that removing the shadow is important to avoid replacing one person for another."

Right -- this article covers that and other tips for doing remove instead of replace:

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

If you're still having problems with removing a particular person, attach the problem photo here or upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here, calling out which person you're having trouble with.

[Clément30651086lrty]

Good feature, makes my workflow way faster ! Almost always get the perfect result at the first try.

[Susan22949128oi72]

It doesn't work.  I've stopped even trying to use it. 

[Ian Lyons]

@Susan22949128oi72 

"It doesn't work" really does not help anyone. The purpose of 'Easy Access' and this thread is to provide meaningful feedback that the Development team can work to address in the final version. Maybe you can be more specific about what doesn't work by describing your results, etc.

As an aid and based on previous feedback, you may find below linked tutorial helpful.

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

[johnrellis]

@Susan22949128oi72, if by "doesn't work", you mean that it replaces a selected object with other versions of the object, then see this article for how to remove rather than replace objects:

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

If you mean something else, please attach full-resolution screenshots of the entire LR window (not phone pics) showing what you've selected and what the result is.

[B B Photographer]

I been trying to remove this chair from the corner of my image, but its just reduced the size of the chair leg, and i have done like 10 generations to remove this tiny bit of left over chair leg at the edge of the image and it just wont remove it.. so now i will have to export the image and remove it in photoshop

[Ian Lyons]

@B B Photographer 

Please see below linked tutorial as it may include tips on how to address the issue you're having.

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

[B B Photographer]

And photoshop removed the left over chair leg with the remove tool in 2 seconds flat. And the generative fill on photoshop also works wayyy better at removing stuff than the generative ai remove tool on lightroom. I hope this is not eating up my generate credits because i am going to be screwed soon at this rate.

[Ian Lyons]

@B B Photographer 

Generative AI is currently 'Early Access'. Adobe have already stated that while credits are counted in your allocation, there is no cost.

[johnrellis]

@B B Photographer: "I been trying to remove this chair from the corner of my image, but its just reduced the size of the chair leg ... And photoshop removed the left over chair leg with the remove tool in 2 seconds flat."

It sounds like parts of the chair were cropped out either by an explicit Crop or an implicit crop by enabled lens corrections or the Transform tool.  LR Remove works on the entire uncropped image, and if you don't select the entire object (because parts of it are cropped out), the Generative AI will try to match the uncropped-out portions (which is what it should do).   So the general rule is to apply Remove to uncropped images with lens corrections and Transform disabled, then apply Crop, Lens Corrections, and Transform.

When you send an image with cropped pixels to Photoshop, those pixels get rendered away and Photoshop Remove doesn't see them, so it doesn't try to match them.

If this doesn't help, attach the original photo (not an export or screenshot) here, or if the forum doesn't allow you, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.  You can see a number of posts from users who insisted Remove didn't work who then posted their images, and Remove immediately worked after following the instructions here:

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

[Jordack]

At this point I have quit using it and just go into PS. I am not even having luck with small things.