How to remove the dust using Lightroom or Photoshop Camera Raw Filter

In previous articles I covered how to spot and clean dust particles on the camera sensor. If you have some photos with dust spots on them, you need to remove the dust using Lightroom or Photoshop. I am going to show you a hidden gem in Lightroom and Photoshop, which makes spotting the dust easier and more accurate.

Efficient Technique to Remove the dust spots from a photo

It is very easy to use Spot Healing Brush in Lightroom or Photoshop to remove some of the dust spots, not all of them. Some of the dust spots are either too small or they are blended so well that makes it difficult to locate them.

In below picture, you can easily locate three dust spots,

Even when I zoomed to the image, it is not that easy to locate the pesky ones!

Even by zooming to the image, finding all dust spots is not that easy

In this photo I marked them all

You notice that in some photos it is very time consuming to locate all the dust spots. Here it comes, the Hidden Feature in Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw filter to rescue!

The “Visualize Spots” is the hidden gem in Lightroom and Photoshop which helps us to locate tiny dust spots and correct them. Lets get started

“Visualize Spots” in Lightroom

In Lightroom go to Develop Module and select “Spot Removal” tool, or press letter Q on the keyboard. Look at the bottom of the viewing are and you will see this hidden feature.

Visualize Spot in Lightroom

Check the box and the photo changes to Negative in Black and White. By adjusting the slider the dust will show up. Use the Healing or Clone to remove the dust spots.

After activating the Visualize Dust, the photo turns in to negative black and white image.

“Visualize Spots” in Photoshop

In Photoshop it is hidden even deeper, go figure! Open the photo in Photoshop and go to top menu then Filter. From drop down menu select “Camera Raw Filter”. You can edit jog or Raw files, “Camera Raw Filter” is just the name of this filter.

Visualize Dust in Photoshop

Then select Spot Removal brush (letter B on the keyboard). In the new opened window on the bottom right hand side panel you can see the “Visualize Dust”, activate it and adjust the slider to see the pesky dusts and remove them.   

Visualize Dust in Photoshop

And here it is Before and After dust removal.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for upcoming articles as I am going to discuss how to o clean the sensor automatically and manually, and how to use Lightroom or Photoshop to remove the dust from photos, and as always feel free to contact us if you have more questions. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for new tutorials and tips.