For decades, removing dust spots from our photographs has been a tedious, time-consuming chore. But thanks to a new feature from Adobe, AI-powered dust spot removal is now a reality!
The Workflow: Lightroom to Camera Raw and Back
The new AI dust removal feature is a game-changer but it is not yet fully integrated into Adobe Lightroom Classic. Instead, it’s currently available inside of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) which is accessed through Adobe Photoshop. Don’t worry, you do not need to be a Photoshop expert to use this feature.
Here is the step-by-step workflow:
- Prepare your image in Lightroom Classic. Before you do anything else, perform all of your usual edits on the image. This includes applying basic adjustments, Masking, and any other enhancements that you want to make. The order of operations matters here and it’s essential that AI Denoise is applied before you move on to dust removal.
- Save your work. Once you’re done with your Lightroom edits, you’ll need to save them into the photograph’s metadata so that Camera Raw can see them too. To do this, go to the Library Module’s Grid view, select the image, and then go to Metadata > Save Metadata to File.
- Open the image in Camera Raw. The easiest way to do this is to drag your image thumbnail from the Lightroom Classic’s Grid view or Filmstrip onto the Adobe Photoshop application icon on your computer’s dock or taskbar. This will automatically open the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw.
- Remove dust spots with AI. Once the image is open in Camera Raw, go to the Remove Tool. In the panel that opens, select the Distraction Removal tab, and then click the new AI Dust Removal option. In a matter of seconds, the AI will identify and remove dozens, or even hundreds, of dust spots. Each removed spot will be marked with a small gray circle.
- Review the AI’s work. While the AI is incredibly effective, it is not flawless. Before you close Camera Raw, take the time to zoom in and review the image. Make sure the AI didn’t miss any spots or remove anything you wanted to keep. If you find a mistake, you can click on the gray circle to either delete or refresh the repair.
- Return to Lightroom Classic. Once you’re satisfied with the results, click the Done button and close out of Photoshop.
- Read the Metadata back into Lightroom Classic. This is a critical step! To make sure that all of the dust removal edits that you made in Camera Raw appear in your Lightroom Catalog, select the image and use the Metadata > Read Metadata from File command!
By learning this simple workaround, you can get immediate access to this amazing new technology. Artificial Intelligence won’t catch every single spot, but it can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, allowing you to finish up any remaining touch-ups inside Lightroom Classic!
