Use Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill to automatically hide people and larger objects.
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Introduction
This is a great photo of three friends hiking.
Unfortunately, the man on the left is very distracting and takes away from the couple on the right.
My name is Jesús Ramirez.
And in a next few minutes, I'll show you how to remove unwanted content from your photos with just a few clicks.
For this image, we will use the Content-Aware Fill,
Choosing content-aware fill for large object removal
a powerful tool that uses advanced technology to generate and seamlessly blend a realistic replacement for the removed content.
It's the perfect tool when you have a big area to remove in a lot of similar background content around it.
Other tools could work, like the Clone Stamp Tool, but it requires more manual labor.
And the Spot Healing Brush Tool is better suited for removing smaller objects.
The easier and faster solution is the Content-Aware Fill.
Selecting unwanted content with the lasso tool
To start, select the object you want to remove.
In most cases, the Lasso Tool will work great.
Enable it from the Toolbar or press the L key on the keyboard.
I'm a big fan of keyboard shortcuts.
I recommend using them if you feel comfortable.
With the Lasso Tool, you can freehand the selection.
Trace around the man on the left.
If you make a mistake, you can deactivate the selection by going into the Select menu and choosing Deselect.
But the keyboard shortcut is much faster.
Press control D on Windows or Command D on the Mac and try again.
Create a loose selection, but at the same time, try to keep as much of the original content as possible.
With the selection active,
Refining results in the content-aware fill workspace
go into the Edit menu and choose Content-Aware Fill...
In this workspace, the window on the left shows the areas Photoshop utilized to generate the fill represented by the green overlay.
The window on the right will display a light preview of the fill, which will change as you refine the controls.
In this case, the generated fill looks great, but if your results show content that doesn't match, try removing the green overlay from areas that are not similar to the background around your subject.
To do so, enable the Sampling Brush from the Toolbar.
Click on the - icon from the Options bar, and paint over the areas you don't want to sample from, like the other hikers and the blurry foreground.
As you remove the sample areas, look at the preview until you get a result that works.
Once you remove that unwanted object,
Outputting a non-destructive fill
you can output the results by going to the Output To: settings and choosing New Layer.
Then you can press OK.
Photoshop will then create a new layer and place the generated content on it.
This non-destructive workflow allows you to edit and experiment without committing to the adjustments.
You can always return to the original image if you don't like the changes you've made.
Cleaning up imperfections with healing tools
If you notice any imperfections with your fill, you can always use other tools to correct minor issues like these blurry areas.
To do so, disable the selection, then choose the Spot Healing Brush Tool from the Toolbar.
Then from the Options bar, check the Sample All Layers box.
And make sure Content-Aware is enabled.
Then simply drag over the blurry areas.
This looks great.
You can now click on the Eye icon to disable the layer and compare it to the original photo.
Now that you know how the Content-Aware Fill works, try removing other distracting elements from your photos.
What you learned
When to use the Content-Aware Fill
Content-Aware Fill is useful for removing all kinds of items from an image, including large objects and people.
How the Content-Aware Fill works
Content-Aware Fill is a powerful feature that uses advanced technology to generate and seamlessly blend a realistic replacement for the removed content.
Use a separate layer for retouching
Placing your changes on a new blank layer allows you to edit and experiment without permanently altering the original photo. In the Content-Aware Fill workspace, you can choose to output to a new layer. Photoshop will create that new layer and put its replacement content on the new layer.
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