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.

[Top Cat2000]

A difficult image to edit, so ignore the underexposed ship.  In the LR edit, there is a ghost image where the wind turbine has been removed - this took about 4 attempts to get a reasonable result.  The cars were fairly well removed in LR (2 attempts), and the figure by the bollard was more successfully removed, (1st attempt) as was the smaller mast in the distance.  I then used the Generative fill in PS to compare, and the replacements were all better than the LR ones.

[johnrellis]

@Top Cat2000, the ghost outline of the wind turbine is caused by doing Remove (any kind of remove) on top of the an AI mask (e.g. Sky).  The original mask didn't include the turbine, so when you removed it, its pixels were replaced by the original unedited sky. You can either do Settings > Update AI Settings to recompute the mask, or apply Remove first then the mask (which is what Adobe recommends, though that doesn't match the natural workflow of many people).

As for removing the person next to the bollard, I didn't see any qualitative difference between LR and PS. 

The cars, however were tedious for me to get an acceptable replacement with both LR Remove and PS Generative Fill. Lots of just-OK variations but nothing very good.  Here is the best I did with LR after many tries (PS was different but no better):

[Top Cat2000]

Thanks johnrellis.  Yes , I have had that ghosting issue before, I should have done things in the proper order! (As you say, not always the most intuitive way of working).  I sort of assumed the AI was intelligent enough to see through this, as it is amazing how it does recreate scenes.  You certainly got the car park flat, which I didn't achieve!

PS always offers 3 alternatives which is handy as the first is not always the best, but LR does not appear to do this.  It all goes to show theres nothing like the craft of making a good image in the first place like we used to in the days of film!

[johnrellis]

@Top Cat2000: "PS always offers 3 alternatives"

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LR Remove also offers 3 variations each time you click Refresh, though you have to click the left- and right-arrow buttons to see them in turn:

I like that PS shows you all three at the same time, and as you click Generate to see more, it shows all the variations you've generated:

With LR, I find myself making a Snapshot for each variation that looks promising, and then hovering the mouse over the list of snapshots to quickly compare the best variations. It's clumsier but gets the job done.

[mpressionz]

AMAZING!!!!! I love what it has done for some of my images... it can be funny though! I'm adding 3 images... the first original with a '360° camera' in the shot, the second (unrefined) capture to remove it and the third, a much better defined selection to remove but still an unsubmittable image.  The AI did very well in my opinion, and I hope your further development of it will be even more pleasing. Bravo!

[AlexMastellone]

It replaced my reflection in a mirror with the reflection of some weird guy with red face...scary and weird!

[johnrellis]

@AlexMastellone: "It replaced my reflection in a mirror with the reflection of some weird guy with red face"

See this 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 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.

[recorpac]

So far so good

[umlautnord]

I'm running into some issues with LrC's Develop module not always displaying/rendering changes to Gen AI Remove settings, e.g. opacity. This seems to only crop up when modifying some overlapping gen AI remove areas. The changes are properly reflected in LrC Library previews after a few moments, and everywhere in Cloud products (LrD/LrM/LrW) once synced. The changes are also properly reflected in exports of the image from LrC. 

The only semi-fix I have found is quitting and reopening LrC—that will get Develop to properly display opacity as defined. However, it also requests a reupdate of AI settings at that point, which recomputes/alters some of the Gen AI in the image. You can then choose the previous history step before "update AI settings." That gets you back to the Gen AI versions you had, at the opacity you actually specified, without any AI errors.  But, you're then back to the same original issue, as further opacity changes will again not render in Develop.

I realize overlapping Gen AI Remove areas is probably not an intended usage. I'm using the overlaps because I'm getting some interesting abstract artistic results. Which I realize also isn't an intended usage. But stiill: LrC Develop should render settings properly, as everything else does—and as LrC will export.

In LrC, I have tried saving metadata to file, and tweaking other develop settings. Nothing other than quitting and re-opening seems to force LrC to reevaluate the opacity on some of these areas in Develop.

Unfortunately for troubleshooting, the issue is inconsistent on different areas in different snapshots of the same image. If relevant, most/all of the removal areas were probably applied in LrD or LrM. I've created various snapshots in LrC from versions synced down from the cloud; some of them have issues, some of them don't.

Broadly, my fix has been to just work with any artsy overlapping Gen AI Removal in LrD or LrM. If I create snapshots in LrC, I'm safe editing things other than the Gen AI Remove areas.

--

Primary image I'm having trouble with is an HEIC, HDR editing enabled. Full file lives in the cloud, not just a smart preview. There are usually no requests to update AI settings other than when quitting and reopening LrC as described above.

macOS 14.5 on MBP 2020 13" M1 with LrC v13.4 and LrD v7.4.1

iOS v17.5.1 on iPhone 12 with LrM v9.3.1

[johnrellis]

@umlautnord, the behavior you describe does sound like Remove is not operating as intended by the developers (i.e. a true bug under Adobe's definitions).  I suggest you submit a separate bug report following these guidelines:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/how-do-i-write-a-bug-report/idi-p/12386373 

Include the sample photo you're using, a written step-by-step and a full-resolution screen recording (not a phone video) showing the detailed steps you took:

https://www.descript.com/blog/article/how-to-screen-record-on-windows 
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102618

If the files are too big to attach to your post, you'll have to upload them to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and include the sharing link.

I understand this is a lot of work. But having worked with Adobe for many years, I know they're much less likely to pay much attention unless they can immediately reproduce the problem (unless many, many people report it).  

[umlautnord]

Oof, yes. I will try to pull this together. As I said, it doesn't always happen, but, since you think it sounds like a true bug I'll work on it. Thanks for flagging/the encouragement, @johnrellis .

(Is there a way to share the image file itself with Adobe folks without making it public?)

[johnrellis]

@umlautnord: "Is there a way to share the image file itself with Adobe folks without making it public?"

You could write in your bug report that they should ask you privately for a link. But that could make it a little less likely they'll look at it carefully. Better if you have a test image you could share publicly.

[Andy Chua Photography]

The Generative Ai Tool on Lightroom is definitely better than the Heal/Clone tool but its still further off the remove tool in Photoshop. The remove tool on photoshop works well 85% of the time. Remove tool on Lightroom is a 50/50, I hope I could have better result in Lightroom for removing simple stuff without creating another tiff file in photoshop.

[Ian Lyons]

It would be helpful if you could give specific example of the issue you're having with LrC AI Generative Remove

[glenn2001]

Here’s an example: suppose I have a photo that has a trash can on the left side and a light pole on the right. I want to remove both. Let’s say I remove the trash can first. If I immediately try to remove the light pole, I can’t. The tool doesn’t select anything. I have to exit the tool, say by selecting the masking tool, then reselect the remove tool. Then I can select the pole. I should be able to remove as many objects as I want while the remove tool is active.


Glenn

[glenn2001]

The remove tool is excellent! Two points:

I found that you need to crop after you remove an object.  If you crop before removal, the removal doesn't work because it still sees part of the object.  You need to tell people this.

Also, I don't see how I can run consecutive removals on different parts of a photo without closing the tool, opening a different tool, and then going back to the remove tool.  If there is a quicker way to run consecutive removals, please let me know; if not, add one!

Thanks

[johnrellis]

@glenn2001: "I found that you need to crop after you remove an object.  If you crop before removal, the removal doesn't work because it still sees part of the object.  You need to tell people this."

Agreed. Adobe modified the top post of this thread to link to this tutorial, which explains the crop issue and other issues for removing rather than replacing:

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

But I know that most people aren't going to see that.

Note that there are other ways pixels can get cropped out but still be visible to Remove: Lens Corrections and Transform.  So always disable Lens Corrections and Transform and undo any Crop before applying Remove.  (For some older cameras, LR / Camera Raw also performs a hidden crop, e.g. where the sensor records 6024 x 4024 but LR / Camera Raw automatically crop it to 6000 x 4000, but there's nothing that can be done about that right now, even though it can affect removing objects near the edges.)

[johnrellis]

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@glenn2001: "I don't see how I can run consecutive removals on different parts of a photo without closing the tool, opening a different tool, and then going back to the remove tool. "

You don't have to open a different tool. Just close the Remove tool by clicking the Edit button at top or the Close button at the bottom of the Remove panel. Then reopen Remove:

I agree it's a klutzy UI design -- I accidentally converted Clones to Remove mode a few times. But the former incarnation of the tool (Heal) worked the same way -- if you applied a Clone and then clicked Content-Aware Remove, the Clone would be converted to Content-Aware. I wonder how many times I did that and never noticed (since it happened instantly)?

[Nathan S Hamilton]

even with the tips from the additional article, it still adds something instead of completely removing.  I can go into PS Beta and completely remove using the same image as needed

[johnrellis]

@Nathan S Hamilton: "even with the tips from the additional article, it still adds something instead of completely removing.  I can go into PS Beta and completely remove using the same image as needed"

Please attach a full-resolution JPEG export of the original photo here and call out which objects you're trying to remove. That will allow Adobe and others to better understand the issue.

[Suri38338874itvb]

This software is simply incredible! I had a beautiful portrait that was ruined from a yellow traffic light sticking out of the subject's head ever so slightly but completely throwing off the photo. I had no expectations whatsoever when I selected the area and hit generate. I audibly gasped when it perfectly removed the sign yet kept every flyaway hair from the subject's head perfectly intact, although it did add some extras resulting in some more volume, which is fine, and filling in the gaps with the same green scenery as the rest of the image. I am thoroughly impressed. 

Well done Adobe!!

[willemientje]

Sometimes great but also sometimes by far not so good as when it's done in Photoshop. I tried to remove a stem from a plant at the edge of my image  but it replaced with practically the same stem. But when it works it's great that one doesn't have to hop over to photoshop. 

[johnrellis]

@willemientje: "I tried to remove a stem from a plant at the edge of my image  but it replaced with practically the same stem."

This occurs when there are pixels cropped out due to Crop, Lens Corrections, or Transform. Remove looks at all the pixels, cropped or not. So temporarily undo the Crop and disable Lens Corrections and Transform, then apply Remove, then re-enable Crop, Lens Corrections, and Transform. See this article for more details:

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

But if that doesn't help, please attach here a full-resolution JPEG export of the original (unmodified) image.

[Wisco Photog]

I LOVE IT!!!! Im a newborn, baby and family photog and Im always dealing with drool and spit on stains on clothes and it is a great time saver!!! If you brush in in the direction of the pattern it works 100%. So far I have not had an issue. THANKS for this!!! If you do it in smaller sections its perfect. So far so good!!!