Adobe seems to have found a very effective solution to remove a defect that spoils many photos:; the reflections. Still in the testing phase, Reflection Removal should ultimately save countless photos.
Who has never experienced the disappointment of seeing a photo completely ruined by an unsightly reflection! This is an extremely frustrating, yet recurring feeling in photography. But budding photographers can be reassured, this will soon be history! Indeed, Adobe, the famous editor of Photoshop and other graphics solutions, has developed a function, called Reflection Removal, which allows you to remove reflections from photos, and the results are rather promising, as it announces in a blog post.
Mentioned for the first time during the Adobe Max conference, under the name Project See Through, it can be truly life-saving for certain shots. We think in particular of photos taken behind a window or an airplane window. It uses artificial intelligence to remove unwanted reflections and restore the scene as you see it. It is currently only available in the testing phase in Photoshop’s Camera Raw tool, but it is intended to appear in Lightroom eventually.
Reflection Removal: a tool to remove reflections
The operation of this technology is based on artificial intelligence, and more precisely on the process of reinforcement learning. The AI was trained on thousands of photographs without reflections, which were then combined to create millions of images with simulated reflections. As a result, the algorithm has learned to distinguish and separate the two scenes that make up an image with reflections, namely the landscape or the object targeted by the photographer, and the different elements which “pollute” the rendering by reflecting each other. on a window.
The function takes the form of a slider ranging from -100 to 100, in order to precisely control the effect. At 100, reflections are completely removed, while at -100, only the reflected image is visible. The result of the examples presented by the company seems very satisfactory, because they not only remove the reflected elements, but they also recover contrast and saturation. Result: it’s as if there had never been any glass between the camera and the subject. Note that the AI used is not generative, which means that it will never create objects or landscape elements to improve the shot.
Reflection Removal: a function still in development
The Reflection Removal feature is still in beta and should improve over time. Also, not everything is perfect. For example, the AI may have difficulty understanding certain objects in order to detach them correctly. The result tends to vary in complex situations. This is particularly the case with very bright reflections, night scenes and particularly dense overlays. Also, “the best way to remove reflections from a photograph is to avoid them in the first place”.
Another problem: the tool is not designed for surfaces other than large flat windows, and is therefore not yet able to handle reflections on curved objects, mirrors or even bodies of water. Also, subsequently, Adobe wishes to extend the function to “remove small reflections such as glasses and distant windows”but also take care “dust, scratches, rain, snow or other elements that land on the windows”.
Reflection Removal is currently only available on Camera Raw, but integration with Lightroom software is planned for later. Please note, the tool currently only works with photos in RAW format, but Adobe plans to extend compatibility to JPEG and HEIC formats. To use it, you must go to the Camera Raw preferences and activate the “New AI Settings and Features”. The option will then appear in the “Distraction Removal” section of the Remove panel.
