Clean up feature is not working in Photos app after macOS Sequoia update on iMac

I did some more experimentation. After rebuilding photos library, disk first aid and even Oynx on the system, was still having problems. But I found it was working on some earlier pictures - but not all.

The current photos it was not working on were shot with a Nikon in raw (NEF). I tried running them through Pixelmator Pro for color correction (indoor hockey lighting) from within Photos. It seems to be working now with the results of that output within Photos.

I thought I had used it before on Nikon raw images but can't guarantee that.

I also tried just editing with the built in Photos capabilities and that did not fix it. But again, once I ran it through Pixelmator Pro from within Photos, Clean Up works as expected.

A few more experiments:

1. edited with Affiniti Photo 2 within Photos also makes it work
2. tested on a photo shot from an iphone (heic) - worked OK
3. tested on an older Nikon raw photo - not only did it not erase the item but it corrupted some other part

My conclusion from the above is that, while the other Photo tools work fine with the Nikon raw (NEF) format, the clean up tool seems to have problems with it. But a work around is to send the image through an external editor from within Photos that returns it as something other than a NEF raw file.

If this is correct, it would be great if Apple could either support the raw formats (possibly others have problems?) or spell out clearly the limits and list this type of work around.

Note that when Clean Up does work it is often amazing.

You are absolutely right. All you have to do is drag the RAW file to the desktop so it becomes a jpeg copy then drag the copy back into Photos and it will work on the copy no problem. It sems when they were developing the tool they did not test it on Nikon NEF files. It dioes not work at all on Nikon NEF files. I sent feedback to Apple but will also contact Support and hopefully they can fix it by the next update.

Alisonbonbalison wrote: …I could clear a photo of blemishes very quickly and easily. Now it is taking more than twice as long.

I just played with it again, and if I get the brush size a bit larger than that bubble, then I can make a tiny sideways movement over dust particles, just about as quickly as just tapping them, and it works pretty well.

That said, many of us would like the Retouch tool returned, maybe with a specific cloning tool as well. We've left our suggestions for Apple here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

You used to use the retouch tool for small spots. But now you can use the cleanup tool.

Here's a picture at a roller coaster.

I circled a bubble of some sort near the top.

I enlarged it before working on it, and up close it looks weird. And there are some dust spots around it:

This is after I have reduced the size of the CleanUp tool's brush

and swabbed it over the bubble and the spots. It works pretty well, I think.

I haven't used it much, though., What is happening for you when you try this?

The clean-up tool has been designed to remove large objects with one click. It detects objects in the foreground and we can select them with one click for removal. Photos will synthesize a new background to replace them, that will blend in seamlessly with the surrounding background.

But it is not working so well with small blemishes like dust spots, because the new background may just be replacing the selected dust spot by another dust spot from the surrounding texture, if there are several dust spots near by. To avoid this we have to select the whole group of dust spots together.

Are the photos you are trying to use cleanup on a raw format from a digital camera such as a Nikon or otherwise? If so, try editing from Photos with an external editor, saving back to Photos and trying again.

Please see my earlier response I did on Dec 24th (near the top of this thread) to see what I had discovered.

Alison ~ Are you really running macOS 15.1 as indicated in your tagline?...

Find out which macOS your Mac is using - Apple Support

...If so:

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

õ¿õ¬

It looks like the circle size (in mm, not pixels) stays the same even when you zoom in. As I showed in an earlier post, here, for doing spots I've used Clean Up zoomed in, and it seems to work pretty much like Retouch.

And like Retouch, I can't get decent results near an edge, where it doesn't have any information in one direction. This is one reason why we need a clone tool. I've been doing the cloning with GraphicConverter.

James Hunkins wrote: "...If this is correct, it would be great if Apple could either..."

James ~ As we're all just users here, let Apple know:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

õ¿õ¬

The problem, for us "real" photographers, is that this new Clean Up tool doesn't work on RAW files.

The Retouch function was perfect to remove blemishes on a face or even a car in the distance. Now nothing works anymore --neither the new Clean Up function nor the Retouch option because it's gone.

Apple used to make THE perfect tools for people working in the creative industry. It's not true anymore. Obviously the Cupertino folks tested this new feature before releasing it, and they just decided that Apple users shooting with real cameras (i.e. not iPhones) didn't matter to the bottom line anymore. It hurts.

I'm having the same problem. Import Nikon NEF files and the tool does absolutely nothing. After I updated to Sequoia I can not even remove a small dot. I don't see why they couldn't have left the Retouch tool and added Clean Up as an option. This is super frustrating.