Introduction  |  Method 1: Brush/Pencil  |  Method 2: Spot Healing Brush  |  Method 3: Healing Brush  |  Method 4: Patch  |  Method 5: Content-Aware Move
Method 6: Content-Aware Fill  |  Method 7: Remove  |  Method 8: Generative Fill  |  Method 9: Clone Stamp  |  Method 10: Combining Tools  |  Removing Objects Exercise
 Exercise
Removing Objects with Photoshop - Introduction

One of the most common uses for Photoshop is to remove objects from images. Photoshop has a variety of methods to allow you to pull this off. For example, let's say that you want a picture of the Roman Colosseum but you don't want to capture any of the people walking around - you just want the building. One thing you could do is use an option in Photoshop called image stacks. This allows you to set up a camera and take multiple pictures of the building over time and then combine the individual images so that only the areas with no people in them in each image is used to build your people-free photo. I know - cool.

Image stacks are great, but only work if you have multiple images from a single spot. What if you only have a single image? In this lesson, we will look at nine different methods (ten if we combine multiple methods) to remove objects from an image in Photoshop. We will start with an aerial shot of the Roman Colosseum littered with tourists and cover multiple ways to remove the people so that all we are left with is the building itself. We will go from this...

To this...

Note that the people and vehicles are missing from the bottom picture. We will work together to cover various ways to remove items, and then you will work on your own to complete the removal of the people and various other objects. When we finish these instructions, you will select an image of your own from a group of aerial photos and work independently to remove the people and objects from it using what you have learned in this lesson.

Keep in mind that while we will be using Photoshop's tools to clean up an aerial photo of a landmark, that the techniques we will cover can be used to remove anything from any image. Got a picture with a pole in the background that looks like it is coming out of your head? No problem. Does it turn out there was a person walking through your fantastic beach photo? Piece of cake. No longer dating that loser and want to remove them from your vacation photos? Can do.

When you finish this lesson, removing any object from any image will not be a problem.

Note that this tutorial assumes that you have used Photoshop before and are familiar its basic function and thus will not spend time on getting you familiar with the Photoshop environment. If you have never used Photoshop before, you should stop this tutorial now and work through a Photoshop basics tutorial so that you can learn the various parts of the interface and all of Photoshop's basic functions. You will get much more out of this tutorial if you are not lost.

Let's get started by getting the picture we will be using open in Photoshop.

  1. Click HERE to open the full-sized Colosseum image (it will open in a new browser tab)
  2. Right-click the Colosseum image and click Save image as... and save the Colosseum image to your device
  3. Open Photoshop

Before we open our image, let's reset the Photoshop workspace to make sure that everyone sees the same thing and everything is in the same place.

  1. On the Menu bar, click Window...

    This will open the Window menu
  2. In the Window menu, point at Workspace and click Reset Essentials...
  3. In the file select window, click Open...
  4. Go to where you saved the Colosseum image file and double-click it - the file should open in Photoshop

Photoshop gives us nine basic ways to remove items in an image (ok, full disclosure time here: there are actually a few more ways, but they require specific editing that goes beyond simply removing an object or require the use of multiple images, and since we only have a single image, we'll go with these):

  1.  Brush/Pencil Tool
    1. Paints with the Foreground color
    2. Can only color over an area with solid color
    3. Should only be used on small areas
  2.  Spot Healing Brush Tool
    1. Replaces the item being drawn over or clicked on by blending the area with the surrounding pixels
    2. Works best on backgrounds with low detail, like sky or ocean
    3. Should only be used on small areas
  3.  Healing Brush Tool
    1. Takes the texture from the area you sample and the color from the area you are painting to and combines them
    2. Specifically designed to fix flaws such as dust spots, scratches, and wrinkles
    3. Does not work on areas with an edge
      4.
  4.  Patch Tool
    1. Allows you to make a selection and move that selection to another area and have Photoshop replace the selection area with the new area
    2. Automatically blends the two areas
    3. Each time you use it, you get a slightly different result (even when used on the same location)
  5.  Content-Aware Move Tool
    1. Makes a selection and moves that selection to another location with the original spot being filled based on the surrounding pixels
    2. Generally used to move objects within an image, but can be used to cover up objects
    3. Simply pressing Delete while using this will activate the Content-Aware Fill
  6.  Content Aware Fill
    1. Fills a selection based on the surrounding pixels
    2. Clones other parts of the image to replace your selection
    3. Does not blend colors and can create blurs or distortion
      4.
  7.  Remove Tool
    1. Allows you to draw over an object and Photoshop will use artificial intelligence to evaluate the image and remove the object
    2. Can be used multiple times on the same area to 'clean up' any issues
    3. Can be a great first tool to use when removing objects, and then use one of the other methods to fix any remaining issues
  8.  Generative Fill
    1. Uses artificial intelligence to generate image elements that maintain the lighting, perspective, and color of the original image
    2. Can be used to generate foreground or background elements that are completely unrelated to the original image (for example, you can add a unicorn to an image that has no other animals in it)
    3. Since artificial intelligence generated objects are far from perfect, areas created with Generative Fill may have composition issues when closely inspected
  9.  Clone Stamp Tool
    1. Replaces the area being drawn on with pixels from the sample area
    2. Often requires lots of clicking
    3. Does not naturally blend, so you have to do that manually

Don't worry if the above descriptions are vague and difficult to follow - they are simply an overview. When you have experience using each tool, everything will make sense.

Below is a reference table for how each of the nine options work, to help you decide when to use each:

 

Brush/Pencil

Spot Healing Brush

Healing Brush

Patch Tool

Content-Aware Move

Content Aware Fill

Remove Tool

Generative Fill

Clone Stamp Tool

Blending of colors

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

 No No

No

Requires sample

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

 No Yes

Yes

Requires selection

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

 Yes Yes

No

Requires selection move

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

 No No

No
Safe near an edge Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Uses Artificial Intelligence

 No No No No No No Yes Yes No

No two tools work the same and there are a wide variety of possible tools and uses. While the table makes it look like some tools do work the same, how they pull off the removal is unique to each. To learn how each of these tools work - and more importantly when it is most efficient to use each one - we will work with our image of the Colosseum to practice each tool.

Before we actually start editing our image, let's make a copy of the Background layer that contains our Colosseum image. It is generally a bad idea to make edits that destroy part of an image (called 'destructive editing') without having a way to get parts back to the original form and fix mistakes. There are several different methods in Photoshop to allow us to make edits without destroying areas of the image (called 'non-destructive editing'), but one of the quickest and easiest ways is to simply make a copy of the image layer and make all of our edits on the new layer. Let's do that now.

  1. In the Layers panel, make sure the Background layer is selected (you only have one layer, so it must be selected)...

    Remember that you can always tell which layer is currently selected because it will be highlighted in gray

  2. Right-click the Background layer and in the pop-up menu click Duplicate Layer...

    This will open the Duplicate Layer window...

  3. In the As: field, change the name to Working...

  4. Click OK - notice that Photoshop creates the new layer for you in the Layers panel...

Let's save our image as a Photoshop file.

  1. In Photoshop, click File and then Save as...
  2. Save the image as Remove_yourlastname.psd (replace yourlastname with your actual last name so I know that it is yours) on your device
    (HINT: remember that Photoshop will add the .psd file extension for you automatically, so don't actually type that in, but you might need to change the Save as type: option to Photoshop (*.PSD;*.PDD;*.PSDT) - the first option in the list - to get it to save correctly)

Each of the following 10 Tutorial Steps of this lesson are short and designed to give you quick experience using a specific tool/technique. You will get an opportunity to practice with each tool/technique when you reach Method 10: Combining Tools where you will remove the remaining people from the Colosseum image, and then work with another image before you submit both to be graded.

Keep something very important in mind as you go thru this project:
Our goal here is to be able to remove objects from images
WITHOUT VIEWERS BEING ABLE TO TELL THAT ANYTHING WAS REMOVED.

Have a look at this image:

Just looking at it, can you tell what has been removed and from where?

Don't cheat and scroll down, actually look at the image and see if you can tell what has been changed.

When you think you know, go ahead and scroll down to take a look at the original image...

   

   

   

   

     Keep scrolling...

    

   

   

   

    A little more...

   

   

   

   

    Scroll scroll scroll...

   

   

   

   

    Almost there...

   

   

   

   

Here it is...

Now be honest - how many of you thought that an entire SUV was missing? The disappearing vehicle was actually pulled off by Jesus Ramirez, and as you can see, he did a great job (I did some adjustments here and there to make it look really awesome).

This is the level of quality we are shooting for - the viewer of the image should be unable to tell that anything was edited out of the photo. As you work thru this project (and when working on the exercises that follows), keep in mind that you NEVER want it to be obvious that something has been removed. If it is obvious that the image has been edited, it takes you out of being immersed in the image, kind of like when someone in a movie looks at the camera. We are shooting for realism, so take the time to make it look good.

In the next step, Method 1: Brush/Pencil, we will use the Brush/Pencil tool to make some basic adjustments.

Introduction  |  Method 1: Brush/Pencil  |  Method 2: Spot Healing Brush  |  Method 3: Healing Brush  |  Method 4: Patch  |  Method 5: Content-Aware Move
Method 6: Content-Aware Fill  |  Method 7: Remove  |  Method 8: Generative Fill  |  Method 9: Clone Stamp  |  Method 10: Combining Tools  |  Removing Objects Exercise
 Exercise