Say goodbye to distractions in your photos
Quickly remove unwanted content with the Remove tool.
Published
Say goodbye to the distractions in your photos.
My name is Jesús Ramirez.
In the next few minutes, I will show you how to use the Remove Tool in Photoshop to remove unwanted content from your images.
This photo has a few distracting elements like the pole, cones and trash can.
Removing them will help the main subject stand out and make the photo less distracting.
Fortunately, in Photoshop, this will take just a few clicks.
To start, click the New layer icon to create a new layer to work non-destructively.
This new layer will contain all your adjustments and keep your source image intact, giving you complete freedom to modify or undo your edits at any time.
Next, select the Remove Tool from the Toolbar.
You'll find it under the Spot Healing Brush Tool.
Now go up to the Options Bar to adjust some crucial settings.
Make sure you enable Sample all layers, so the Remove Tool can work on the new blank layer you just created.
Remove after each stroke is active by default.
It allows you to apply the change immediately after you complete each brushstroke.
We'll keep it on for the time being.
Then under the Mode dropdown, you can choose whether or not to use generative AI in the removal process.
Using generative AI produces better results, making it especially effective for larger areas or those with complex details.
However, it is not always necessary.
For quicker edits, you can turn off generative AI to eliminate the need to process the changes via the cloud.
In this case, we'll set the Mode to Auto (May use generative AI) to allow Photoshop to determine the best method.
We'll start by removing the cones.
Make your brush large enough so that you can easily paint over them.
You can resize the brush tip by tapping on the left and right bracket keys.
You will find them to the right of the letter P in North American keyboards.
Then simply brush over the first cone.
Photoshop will apply the changes immediately after you release, and you can click on the Eye icon to disable the layer and compare the results with the original photo.
You can then continue removing the rest of the cones.
But before you do so, disable the Remove after each stroke checkbox.
Then you can brush over the remaining cones.
Notice that the Remove Tool no longer applies the removal when you finish a brush stroke, allowing you to paint over multiple objects at once.
If you make a mistake, hold Alt on Windows or Option on the Mac to temporarily enable the Subtract mode and paint away the imperfections.
In this case it's not necessary.
Now you can either press Enter on Windows, Return on the Mac, or click the Checkmark icon to apply the removal process to the selected areas.
And Photoshop does an incredible job in removing the cones.
Let's now remove the trash can with a very useful feature.
To remove the trash can, simply loop around it, if the start and end points are near each other, the loop automatically closes and fills the center.
If the overlay is difficult to see, you can go into the Gear icon in the Options Bar and increase the overlay Opacity or change the overlay Color.
I'll change the overlay Color and Opacity back to the default settings.
Then just tap the Enter or Return key to apply the removal process.
And the results are just incredible.
Now let's remove the red pole on the left.
And we'll use another helpful feature.
Make sure the brush tip is larger than the pole.
Then click once at the bottom of the pole, hold Shift and click again at the top.
Photoshop will draw a straight line between the two points.
By the way, this will only work if you have Remove after each stroke unchecked.
Then tap the Enter or Return key to apply the removal process.
And again, Photoshop does a fantastic job.
You can click on the Eye icon to disable the edits and compare the results to the original image.
Now that you know how to remove unwanted objects using the Remove Tool in Photoshop, try it with your photos.
Again, my name is Jesús Ramirez, thank you for watching.
Note: Stock assets provided are for practice purposes only. See terms.
What you’ll learn
Quickly remove objects with or without Generative AI
Choose whether or not to use Generative AI to remove unwanted objects, or leave that decision to Photoshop. Then just brush over or around objects to remove.
Instruction by
Adobe Stock Contributors
