The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for removing an occluding object from a surgical image. An image capture device is inserted into a patient and captures an initial image of a surgical site inside the patient during a surgical procedure. A controller receives the image and determines that the occluding object is present in the initial image. The controller executes a removal algorithm that includes controlling the image capture device to perform a plurality of movements, controlling the image capture device to capture a plurality of images, wherein each image among the plurality of images corresponds to a movement among the plurality of movements, and applying an image filter to combine the initial image and the plurality of images and generate a processed image where the occluding object is removed from the processed image.