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. Edit
5. AI Selective edits
   
   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.

[Matthieu384426282szr]

used it on my bbq aside the white wall of my house. it ALWAYS create a new object when i just wanted to erase the bbq leaving the white wall naked. So frustrating

[johnrellis]

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@Matthieu384426282szr: "it ALWAYS create a new object when i just wanted to erase the bbq leaving the white wall naked"

Your screenshot suggests you used Object Aware to select the barbeque. Sometimes Object Aware leaves a bit of the object unselected, it doesn't include subtle shadows or reflections, or it doesn't use a large enough boundary around the object.

So the first thing to try when this happens is simply to click Refine and select a larger boundary around the object, which usually corrects the problem.

 I was able to quickly remove the replacement and the white outlines from your screenshot:

See this article for  additional advice on how to use Remove to more reliably remove rather than replace:

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

If that doesn't help, please attach here a JPEG exported from the original unmodified photo. Nearly always there's a simple tip that will correct the issue.

[GIFFOU]

Yup that worked, but that erased some flowers and make it less natural on some variations (not that bad on this photo but on others that could be a down for me). Thank you !

[Love.PhotoandVideo]

Remove AI does not wotk on an image that is HDR combined from three different exposures in lightroom

[johnrellis]

@Love.PhotoandVideo: "Remove AI does not wotk on an image that is HDR combined from three different exposures in lightroom"

I just did some tests with HDR merges and didn't see any problems with Remove. Most likely, your issue is unrelated to Merge. 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 a full-resolution JPEG exported from the unmodified original merged DNG and call out the object you're like to remove.

[Dirk3844418208z3]

I can see it sometimes conflicts with denoice AI. If I removed something and then I do the Denoice AI option it comes back with something strange I already wiped with the AI option. Seems the two are not yet in sync, so when I used AI on the original RAW, I then do denoice with AI, then I have to redo again the same action with Genarative AI to remove an object I didn't see anymore on the RAW. Can this be fixed? Regardless of this I love the options and work above expectations.

[johnrellis]

@Dirk3844418208z3: "If I removed something and then I do the Denoice AI option it comes back with something strange I already wiped with the AI option."

According to the FAQ posted at the top of this thread, Adobe recommends this order for applying the tools:

"The recommended order for applying is: Denoise; Remove (includes Generative AI Remove); Crop/Edit; AI masking. 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."

[Dirk3844418208z3]

@johnrellis Thank, as for me, denoice on 614 (iindoor) photos takes a very long time, so that was the reason for me to do it as last action when I am asleep. Thanks for your reply. 

[Seppo368797838vp3]

Does this work also in the white corners you get with perspective correction/rotate (when you do not constrain crop to maximize image area)? So far LR has considered those areas not picture areas and thus uneditable (for some technical reason), but post headline says "across all surfaces". 🙂

[johnrellis]

@Seppo368797838vp3: "Does this work also in the white corners you get with perspective correction/rotate (when you do not constrain crop to maximize image area)?"

Unfortunately not -- those corners are off-limits to all LR commands. You'd have to fix them in Photoshop.

"but post headline says "across all surfaces"."

That's Adobe's internal jargon for all the products in the Lightroom family: Classic, Desktop, Mobile, Web, Camera Raw.

[Seppo368797838vp3]

Dämn, I hope this get corrected. Seems so unnecessary to create all new extra 120 MB file fo such small fixup.

[Jose2528480529kp]

works

[MARCEL34521755ixpi]

De gros progrès par rapport à l'ancien outil supprimer. Par contre 2 bugs a améliorer : 1) si on recadre la photo avant de l'utiliser, le résultat est beaucoup moins bon, il reste des petites parties de l'objet. 2) idem si on corrige la selection en ajoutant un morceau oublié, il semble que ce morceau n'est pas bien traité. Pour info j'essaie de supprimer une partie d'un vetement posé sur de l'herbe dans un coin

[johnrellis]

@MARCEL34521755ixpi: "if you crop the photo before using it, the result is much less good, small parts of the object remain."

Adobe explicitly designed Remove to look at the entire photo, so if you use Remove on a cropped version, you may not be selecting all the pixels of an object, and Remove will generate a replacement that tries to match those remaining pixels.

Their thinking is that if you apply Remove to just the cropped pixels and then change the crop, there won't be odd bits of objects left un-removed.

But this behavior has confused many, many people here thinking that Remove doesn't work very well ("Photoshop works better"). Cropping is the first thing most people do in their workflow.  

So some of us have proposed either that Remove looks only at cropped pixels, or that Remove generates a warning when Crop, Lens Corrections, or Transform have been applied, or that when the Remove panel is open, Crop, Lens Corrections, and Transform are temporarily disabled.

[ThierryH]

I think a fourth option must be considered, (maybe) in comjunction with showing an uncropped version: make selecting compatible with Object Masking: the user could select using the brush and/or the rectangle and let Firefly select the whole object, including the invisible/out-of-crop part of it.
Object Masking selections are soo much better than the current Remove selections. Is there any reason not to reuse the Object Masking component for the Remove selections?

The extra rectangle would help with many rectangular objects (e.g. bricks, windows, doors, etc.) and is more time and effort efficient.

[ThierryH]

I would also add that all these issues would vanish if there were separate buttons for Remove and Replace (with ...). In the latter case there could be a prompt (cfr. PS) the describe with what.

[Corniger]

My words. Remove and Replace should semantically be different!

[johnrellis]

@ThierryH: "if there were separate buttons for Remove and Replace (with ...). In the latter case there could be a prompt (cfr. PS) the describe with what."

I think there are two separable issues here: 1) Why does Generative Remove seemingly "replace" the selection rather than "remove" it, and 2) Should LR offer Photoshop's Generative Fill, where the replacement can be guided by a text prompt.

1) LR's Generative Remove always creates a replacement for the selection that, in its judgment, best matches the surrounding pixels. In my experience helping dozens of people here, nearly all of the complaints about Remove replacing rather than removing arise because the user didn't select the object's shadows, reflections, cropped-out pixels, and discontiguous pieces of the desired object. So LR generates a replacement that tries to seamlessly match the remaining scene.  If you select a tree but leave parts of its trunk or branches unselected, it's going to generate a replacement that matches the remaining trunk and branches. If you select a person who has an arm draped around another person but don't select the part of the arm visible on the other side of that person, it could generate a replacement person to match the draped arm.  If you select some but not all of a fence, it will replace the selection with variations on the fence.  (All examples here.)

In general, if Generative Remove didn't try to match the unselected bits and pieces seamlessly, it would generate replacements that look unnatural. 

2) I've only played a little with Photoshop's Generative Fill and can't make an informed judgment about whether it would useful to be in LR.

[johnrellis]

@ThierryH: "Object Masking selections are soo much better than the current Remove selections."

In my observations, Masking > Objects and Remove > Object Aware are nearly identical, except that Object Aware adds a boundary around the object to help make the Generative Remove create a better replacement.

Can you post an example showing where Object Masking and Object Aware generate much different selections?  Export the original unmodified photo as a full-resolution JPEG and attach it here, and show screenshots of the two different selections. The unmodified JPEG will let us and Adobe understand the issue better.

[johnrellis]

@ThierryH: "I think a fourth option must be considered, (maybe) in comjunction with showing an uncropped version: make selecting compatible with Object Masking: the user could select using the brush and/or the rectangle and let Firefly select the whole object, including the invisible/out-of-crop part of it."

An issue with that approach is that Object masking and Object Aware selections are driven by what the user selects. If there is enough of what we consider an "object" that is cropped out and isn't selected (because it's outside of the crop), then when we select the visible pixels inside the crop, the cropped-out pixels won't be included in the object selection.

Here's an example. I've cropped the photo to include just the right-side 1/3 of the bookshelf, selected it with Object masking, and set Exposure to -4. Then I uncropped the photo, and you can see that the object selection only included the visible pixels and little bit of the cropped-out pixels, leaving the entire left side of the bookshelf unselected:

 

[MarkNF]

I have tried the new Remove tool twice on two different files and each time it failed and could not be used.  In one file I tried to remove the roof of a house sticking out through trees in a small part of the photo. In the second file I tried to remove a small object. In both instances the software generated different versions of what I was trying to remove and did not actually remove anything.  This was true for all three versions and even the refreshed versions. 

[johnrellis]

@MarkNF: "the software generated different versions of what I was trying to remove and did not actually remove anything. "

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 a full-resolution JPEG exported from the unmodified original photo, so we and Adobe can see the issue in detail. With nearly everyone who has posted a problem photo, we've been able to show how to remove the desired objects.

[MarkNF]

I’m attaching a jpeg (exported from LR to my desktop) of one of the files that has not been processed. When I use PS’s Remove tool it works perfectly. I am trying to remove the house in the upper right corner. 

Thanks for your help.

Also, please disregard the Replies I sent via email.

Mark

[johnrellis]

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@MarkNF, LR's Remove did quick job of removing the house from the JPEG you posted:

That indicates the original photo was cropped in LR and there were house pixels cropped out and not getting selected by the Remove brush.  Remove will then try to match those unselected pixels.  This is why Photoshop works -- the rendered photo that LR sends to Photoshop doesn't contain cropped-out pixels, and what you see is what you get.

The cropping could come from Crop, Lens Corrections, or Transform. Temporarily undo each of those, apply Remove, then reapply them.  This article gives more details:

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

[MarkNF]

John, the jpeg posted in this thread is straight out of the camera, no processing of any kind, no cropping.  It was taken with a mirrorless camera, no Import presets applied except copyright info, no Lens Correction and no Transform. Did you say that you were able to get the LR Remove tool to eliminate the house on the upper right?

Just as an fyi, although I do not see how this would matter, the jpeg is the result of an in-camera  focus stacking. Again, in-camera and not by LR or PS.

Mark