Remove ambient effects

Last updated on Nov 10, 2026

Learn how to remove ambient effects, such as lens flares, haze, fog, and smoke, from images using the Remove tool in Adobe Photoshop (beta) on desktop.

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Remove ambient effects to reduce or remove visual distractions such as lens flares, haze, fog, smoke, and other atmospheric effects while preserving the underlying scene in Photoshop (beta) on desktop.

Use the Remove tool to clean up images without manually selecting and painting over each affected area. Whether you're cleaning up a landscape obscured by fog or haze, toning down unwanted reflections, or reducing a lens flare that competes with your subject, you can target specific effects while retaining important image details.

Photoshop creates a generative layer for the Remove tool edits, keeping the changes separate from the original image. Two variations appear in the Properties panel, including one with enhanced details, so you can compare the results and choose the one that best suits your image.

Select File > Open to open an image.

Select Remove tool from the toolbar.

Select Find distractions from the Options bar or the Contextual Task Bar.

From the Ambient effects dropdown, select Shadows, Reflections, Lens flares, or Atmospheric.

Find distractions menu with Atmospheric selected for removing fog, haze, and smoke using Remove tool
Select Atmospheric in the Find distractions menu to detect fog, haze, smoke, steam, and dust and remove using Remove tool.

Select Remove.

Note

This feature requires cloud processing and doesn't support 32-bit documents. Set Mode to Auto and Generative AI processing to Cloud in the Options bar.