How can I remove unwanted people from a photo without just blurring the background?

Asked 4/1/2016

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2 answers

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I sometimes take portraits at popular landmarks, but there are people standing in the background that I do not want in the final image. I would like to remove them rather than blur that part of the photo.

What is the best way to do this? Are there editing tools or shooting techniques that work well for removing tourists or bystanders from the background?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

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The first step is to choose your location carefully — find somewhere where there aren’t many people gormless wandering around. If there’s a big attraction and everyone’s standing and taking photos, you’ll struggle to get a clear view without people in the way, so find a place where there’s a lot of movement. I chose the location in the photo above because it was a hiking trail so every person in the shot was walking.

Finally, take note of the actual landscape too. Waterfalls will end up blurry, and objects like flags will end up being removed. It’s also best if it isn’t a windy day so you don’t get trees moving and clouds drifting. These will end up as a blur in your final image.

Then head to Photoshop and go to File > Scripts > Statistics. Select "Median" for the stack mode and check "Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images." Finally, click the "Browse..." button to select your set of photos and hit OK. Photoshop will process the images to preserve the static background and remove everything that changes between the shots (the moving people). And finally you will get the required pictures.

Originally by user49972. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user49972

10y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes—this is possible, but the best method depends on the scene.

For editing a single photo, tools like Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill or similar retouching tools can remove small or isolated people if the background is simple enough to reconstruct.

A better approach is to plan for removal while shooting. If the camera is fixed, take multiple shots over time and combine them so only the background areas without people remain. In Photoshop, stacking the images and using a median blend/statistics method can automatically remove moving people from a busy scene.

This works best when:

  • the camera does not move
  • people are moving rather than standing still
  • the background itself is mostly static

It works less well if there is motion in the scene, such as waving flags, moving trees, drifting clouds, or flowing water, because those can blur or disappear in the final composite.

If neither method works perfectly, manual retouching can still give a believable result, especially when the removed people are small in the frame and the exact background detail is not critical.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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