Best Apps to Crop a Person Out of a Photo
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A picture you have taken feels crowded? The presence of bystanders makes a photo look more alive, and a well-placed photobomb is usually a lot of fun. However, this can also ruin a well-planned composition or a very personal moment. And now you are wondering how to edit people out of photos. But since this is a common problem, there are various solutions available for any device. You are likely to find a tool for the task since there are options available across many platforms. In this guide, we will explain how to remove people from pictures with the following software:
1. PhotoWorks for Windows
2. Built-in Photos for macOS
3. Snapseed for iOS and Android
4. Photoroom for online editing
5. Photoshop for pro retouching
Method 1: Crop a Person Out of a Photo with PhotoWorks
If you are looking for an easy enough app to remove people from the background, then PhotoWorks is right up your alley. It has a ton of different features and a sleek interface to utilize them all easily. This app can help you enhance any photograph in many ways: increase sharpness, saturate colors, apply expressive filters, and, of course, erase people from photos. PhotoWorks is also capable of content-aware editing and has functions powered by an AI to enhance images of all genres. Seasoned photographers can dig into some professional settings like HDR, 3D LUT, and Сurves.
Use Healing Brush for Simple Backgrounds
Healing Brush is a tool that can help you crop someone out of a picture with ease. You just need to paint over the person with a dedicated brush, and the program will do the rest.
Healing Brush works best when the person you want to remove stands against a plain background, like a clear blue sky or a single-colored wall. Here’s how it works:
Step 1. Install and Launch PhotoWorks
Click the button below to get the installation file. Then run that file and follow the on-screen instructions. Once it is done, start the program from the desktop icon.
Step 2. Open the Image You Want to Edit
On the startup screen, click the Open Photo button and find the photograph with people you want to edit out. You can also drag and drop pictures into the program window.
Load the picture you want to edit
Step 3. Select the Healing Brush
Open the Retouch tab, and on the panel, pick the Healing Brush. Adjust the size, opacity, and feather of the brush with sliders to paint over bystanders with more accuracy.
Remove anyone or anything with the Healing Brush
Step 4. Remove the Uninvited Guests
Now carefully paint over someone you want to remove from the photograph. It is best to do the whole human figure in one go without releasing the mouse button. Once it is done, click Apply.
Brush over the bystanders and let the program do the rest
Step 5. Save the Edited Shot on Your PC
When the result is good enough, click the Save button, choose a destination folder and export the edited image. You can also click the Show original button below for comparison.
Save the changes when the picture looks good enough
Healing Brush can easily delete people if they are surrounded by a plain and homogenous background. In other cases, it is best to resort to the Clone Stamp, for example.
Use the Clone Stamp for Complex Backgrounds
Clone Stamp is better for removing people from photos with more intricate backgrounds, like woods, hillsides, or walls with a texture. This tool is also included in PhotoWorks and is easy to use. It only takes a few strokes and mouse drags to hide a stranger.
Here’s how to crop a person out of a photo with it:
Step 1. Run PhotoWorks on Your PC
Launch PhotoWorks and import the image with the people you need to edit out.
Open your picture in PhotoWorks
Step 2. Stamp a Person Out with a Sample
Navigate to the Retouch tab and choose the Clone Stamp from the toolkit. Adjust the size and transparency. Mark the spot with the people you want to remove from the picture. Drag the reference marker over the part of the image that would be a fitting replacement and click Apply.
Use the pieces of the background to hide unwanted people
Step 3. Save the Result on Your Computer
Take a look at the edited and original image. If everything looks smooth, click the Save button.
Save the result when you find a perfect sample
If you want to see PhotoWorks in action, check out our quick video guide:
Editing a person out of the picture seems tricky at first. But with PhotoWorks, you can do it in less than five minutes. Try to remove people from photos with this program:
Method 2: Crop Someone Out on Mac with Photos
If you are a Mac user, you already have a tool that can remove people from images – the Photos app. It has a Retouch tool that works like a Healing Brush – paint over a person, and they disappear. Photos is also capable of scene and object recognition, has an uncomplicated interface, connects to your iCloud, and has some other neat features. However, its toolkit is too limited for advanced editing. If you are a casual iPhone photographer and have a Mac, this is a setup for you.
Remove a person using a built-in Mac program
Here’s how to edit someone out of a picture with Photos:
1. Run the program. Launch the Photos app and open the image you want to edit.
2. Select the tool. Click Edit on the top right and find Retouch among the options.
3. Adjust the settings. Hit the drop-down arrow to access the brush diameter setting and adjust it.
4. Brush over. Click on the Brush icon and paint over the person you want to be removed in one stroke. Release the mouse button and, once the result is calculated, click OK.
5. Save the result. The app gives you options to save the image as a new file or apply changes to the original. Choose one option, and you are done!
This method is not Apple exclusive. But if you have an Android phone or a regular camera instead of an iPhone, you might have trouble exporting your pictures to your Mac.
Method 3: Remove People From Photos in Snapseed App
Snapseed is a free app to remove a person from photos and do other editing on your phone anywhere and anytime. It works with regular and RAW files, has curve controls, can correct perspective, can do fancy things like double exposure, and more. To edit someone out, you just paint over with a thumb, but finger work on a touchscreen is less accurate than using a mouse.
Edit a photo with one thumb in a mobile app
Here’s how you can edit people out of photos with Snapseed:
1. Download and install. Get the app version for your device:
2. Add a photograph. Tap the Plus icon and import an image to edit.
3. Retouch the image. Tap the Healing icon and highlight the person you want to remove.
4. Save the fixed photo. Tap the Checkmark icon and export the result.
Snapseed is available for most mobile devices and includes enough tools to stand toe to toe with some desktop programs. But it might be a little unfriendly towards beginners who just want to remove people from photos with a simple app.
Method 4: Remove a Person From a Photo Online in Photoroom
If installing new software on your device is not an option, try browser tools like Photoroom. It is a web-based platform that allows you to remove the object or its background. Photoroom removes people and things cleanly, but has no other free features, which makes it not great for day-to-day editing. Photoroom also has a mobile app for easier access on smartphones and tablets.
Try online editing if there is no room for hefty software
Here’s how you can remove people from photos with it:
1. Open the website. Go to the Photoroom web tool page and upload your image. Your picture can be any size, but only in JPG or PNG format.
2. Use the brush. Highlight the person you want to remove with the brush. The result can be a little off at first, so it may take a couple of tries. You can also tweak the brush size for more precision.
3. Download the image. After the erasure is complete, download your photo as a PNG file. Done!
Photoroom allows you to remove a person from a photo online for free. But with a paid subscription, you can access other tools and have some cloud storage space.
Method 5: Remove a Person From a Photo in Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is one of the biggest players in the game. If there is anything you want to do to your image, it is likely, the editor is capable of that. High-end color grading, vector graphics processing, growing AI integration – the list of features goes on and on. Removing a person from a photo is also included. However, you have to handpick the removal area point by point instead of filling it with a brush. It is a very precise method but might be too tedious for casual photographers.
Trace around the person you are about to remove in Photoshop
Here’s how to remove a person from a photo in Photoshop:
1. Add a photo. Open the image you want to fix in the program.
2. Select the person. Use the Lasso tool to trace around the person you want to erase.
3. Fill in the selection. Go to the Edit menu and select Content-Aware Fill. The program will automatically fill the selected area with sample material from around. If the sampling area (highlighted with green) includes objects you don’t want to be sampled, remove them by clicking the “–” icon and brushing over the green areas.
4. Apply the changes. When the filling gets smooth enough, apply the fill and choose New Layer as the output method to preserve the original image.
5. Save the result. Done!
As versatile as it is, Photoshop requires time investment, and it is pricey as well.
Final thoughts
Now you know how to crop someone out of a photo. Modern tech allows you to rescue photos that would be ruined otherwise. Even the unwanted presence of a human figure can be solved in a matter of moments. Mobile and online tools easily remove small intrusions, Photoshop erases complex figures without a trace, and for anything in between – PhotoWorks is at your service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, there are a lot of them, including mobile apps, desktop programs, and online tools. You can learn how to crop people out of pictures with some of them in our tutorial:
PhotoWorks
Photos
Snapseed
Photoroom
Photoshop
You can do it in the handy PhotoWorks with its smart object removing features.
Download this easy-to-use photo editor and try it for free today!
The iOS version of Snapseed is a suitable tool. It is an app that erases people and does all kinds of other editing tasks. Read a short guide on how to remove people in Snapseed
PhotoWorks has tools to help you do that: Clone Stamp, Crop, Healing Brush.
Discover a step-by-step guide to find out more about them.