Reflections on Reflections
The first time I saw Lightroom’s new AI-powered Reflections tool in action, I felt like I’d been handed a key I didn’t know I’d been waiting for. It was a quiet morning—one of those ordinary, bird-filled hours when the light is still soft and the sassafras tree outside my kitchen window plays host to finches, woodpeckers, titmice, and the occasional blue jay. I had my Fuji X-T3 ready on the kitchen counter, lens trained through the window, ISO already high to deal with the dim light. The shot came easily. The result did not.
Reflections. Always the same hazy overlay—soft-edged versions of kitchen tiles, a shape from the toaster, even my own elbow sometimes. I’ve tried angling the lens just right, used polarising filters, shot through narrow open gaps in the sliding door. But most of the time, the moment passes before the workaround can even start.
_Unedited_ American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) · Tuesday 22 July 2025
FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 1600 · 1/500 sec
XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR · 600 mm · f/8.0
So when Adobe released version 14.4 of Lightroom Classic with this new Reflections feature—tucked into the Distraction Removal tab—I had a backlog of nearly-great images waiting for it. And it worked. Not by magic, but by a kind of intelligent guesswork that feels like magic. I clicked Apply, adjusted the amount, set the quality to Best, and the glass just… vanished. What remained was the goldfinch exactly as I saw it—perched and alert on a narrow branch, backlit by morning light. No ghost of a toaster anywhere.
The actual edit was straightforward. I loaded the original RAF file from my X-T3 into Lightroom’s Develop module. Basic tone work came first—shadows lifted, highlights eased back, exposure nudged up just enough to balance the background without blowing the whites on the bird’s chest. I used the Camera PROVIA profile, as I often do, because it brings out Fuji colours without exaggeration.
_After Global Edits (Basic Panel)_ American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) · Tuesday 22 July 2025
FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 1600 · 1/500 sec
XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR · 600 mm · f/8.0
Then came the mask. Lightroom’s Subject Mask found the bird in one go. I added some exposure, pulled the blacks down a touch, and warmed the temperature slightly to bring out the yellow without making the greens in the background too muddy. Noise reduction was handled with AI Denoise at 67, which feels about right for ISO 1600 on the X-T3. It took about 10 seconds for the image to update—quick enough that it feels natural in the workflow. Sharpening stayed subtle—this lens at 600mm doesn’t need much help.
But it was that final AI pass—the new Reflections option—that pulled everything together. At 100% strength, the effect was clean but not clinical. The out-of-focus branch that had crossed in front of the frame was mostly neutralised, and the faint glow of window glare was stripped away. The goldfinch no longer looked like it was hiding behind glass. It looked like it had been shot outside, in open air.
_After AI Tools_ American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) · Tuesday 22 July 2025
FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 1600 · 1/500 sec
XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR · 600 mm · f/8.0
Applying Reflections took about two minutes to complete—longer than AI Denoise, but well worth the wait. Like all AI features in Lightroom Classic, the changes are non-destructive and don’t generate new files. You can always roll back or tweak things later. Just be aware that if you make further edits after applying Denoise or Reflections, you’ll need to rerun those steps to update the result. It’s all part of the same live workflow—nothing is baked in unless you export.
I exported three versions: one unedited JPEG for reference, one with global edits, and a final with Reflections applied.
For years, I’ve accepted that window shots would always be compromised—something to use only when absolutely necessary, with expectations kept low. This tool changes that. Not in a flashy, marketing-demo kind of way, but quietly, in the background of my daily routine. I can now shoot from the kitchen, in my socks, coffee in hand, and still feel like the photograph stands on its own.
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Digital Photography Adobe Lightroom Classic American Goldfinch Lightroom Editing Non-Destructive Editing Photo Editing Photography Workflow
