4 Things About AI Healing in Lightroom

I was 18 years old working at Blimpie’s, a sub sandwich shop. The guy who was working the shift with me opened my eyes to how wording affects perception.

I forget exactly what we were debating. I had pointed out that he was complaining about whatever it was just like I had been.

His reply was, “Oh, no. You’re complaining. I’m just stating facts.”

Ha, stating facts indeed!

But still, what a way to reframe it, right?

(Totally use that the next time someone complains about your complaining, haha!😆)

So last week while I was editing wedding catalogs, I thought of myself as “playing” with the new generative AI healing tool in Lightroom. It was totally fun and fascinating!

I could easily say that I was “testing” this tool. Testing sounds so professional, scientific and impressive, right?

But also soooooo boring and serious. “Playing” has an element of enjoyment while “testing” kind of doesn’t.

Unless you’re a mad scientist maybe.

Either way, I’ve learned a few things about using the AI healing tools. This is what I've learned so you can use it on your end too.

First, be sure to update your Lightroom to version 13 so that you have the new generative AI remover tool.

Also, there’s an update to the update that fixes a few bugs. As of this writing, 13.3.1 is the newest and freest of bugs.🪳

1️⃣ Select Multiple Objects

Using the generative AI takes 10-15 seconds to “think” before it removes the selected object. Seems like a long time, right?

Well, save yourself some time when you are using the generative AI by itself by selecting all the things in the image you want to fix BEFORE clicking apply. That way it thinks once instead of multiple times for each individual thing.

2️⃣ When to Use Object Aware:

Generative AI by itself is great but it sees the whole selection area as up for grabs when making a correction. If there’s something in the selection that you don’t want the AI to change, then be sure to tick the box for Object Aware.

Things like an arm, neck, head, building, etc. that you want to keep but there’s something behind or in front of it that you want to correct.

Below is an example where I wanted to erase the sign but keep the pole so I used the Object Aware to do that.

I love this new Object Aware because we haven't ever been able to erase objects from behind or in front of an ojbect in Lightroom before! 😀

3️⃣ Three Variations

With the new AI healing tool, it gives you three variations just like the AI does in Photoshop. Remember to scroll through if the first one you see isn’t quite what you want. Or hit refresh to see another batch of results.

4️⃣ Great for Small Things—Iffy on Big Things

Using these new AI healing tools has worked out pretty well for small things like sockets, signs, light fixtures, etc. Really well, actually!

I’ve noticed it’s hit or miss on bigger things in a photo, though. I’ve tried removing a big TV in a photo or a person in a busy background that didn’t work. And sometimes it just tries to replace the thing I want to erase with another version of the same thing.

For example, I was trying to erase a stand and the generative AI kept trying to give me different variations of stands. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Not perfect but still it’s a great tool when it works! And the less you have to edit in Photoshop, the better and faster. 🙌

Have you learned any tricks to using the new generative AI tools in Lightroom? I’d love to hear about it! We can play (or test, if you prefer) together! ;)

I’m off to continue “testing” with the generative AI tools on the wedding catalogs I have this week. Yay! (It’s still playing to me.)

Happy editing,

Erika