Quick Tip: Remove a Person From a Photo With Photoshop CS5’s Content Aware Feature
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Estimated Completion Time: 10 Minutes
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
With the launch of the new Adobe Suite of programs comes the long awaited Adobe Photoshop CS5. Packed with new features to speed up your workflow it truly is the most advanced edition of Photoshop to date. One of the new features we will be looking at today is called Content Aware. This feature allows you to quickly fill in a selection with surrounding content making it look like a part of the original image. In this case we will choose to remove a person from a photo, this can be done in less than five minutes. With the additional image enhancements this tutorial will take you less than 10 minutes to complete.
Original Image
Before we begin, download the image that we will be working with. As you can see, there are two individuals in this photo. In today’s tutorial, we will use Photoshop CS5′s Content Aware Feature to remove the man on the left.
Step 1
Using the content aware tool on different images produces different results. An image with a gradient background such as the sky in this image is quite tricky to work with. Open beach.jpg in Photoshop.
Step 2
We are extracting the person on the left from this photo. Using the Pen Tool, (P) Begin by making a path around the subject. The nice thing about using content aware is that you do not have to be exact when making a selection. In fact, do your best not to cut too close to the subject.
Notice in the image below how far I am drawing the path from the subject. Try to keep this distance all the way around. If you go too close, Content Aware will take pixels from the subject. If you cut too far it will take pixels from the woman on the right.
Step 3
Once you complete the path around the subject, turn it into a selection. This can be done by right clicking on the path and selecting Make Selection.
A dialog box will pop-up, make sure the feathering is set to 0px. Leave all other options as they are. Click OK.
Step 4
Now we have an active selection around our subject. In this step we will make the subject disappear from the image using Content Aware Fill. To do this, go to Edit > Fill.
A dialog box will pop-up, make sure the Content Aware option is selected. Blending mode is set to normal and the opacity is at 100%. Hit OK.
You can cancel the selection at any time by making another selection or just clicking anywhere else on the page with any selection tool.
Step 5
In this step we will remove some of the other artifacts in the image using the same process. The content aware tool did miss a spot where the subject’s foot originally was. To do this, draw a rectangle around the area using the rectangle selection tool. And use the content aware fill as we have done in the previous steps.
Now let’s remove the people towards the right of the image. Create a rectangle selection around them and use the steps we just demonstrated to remove them.
Step 6 (Optional)
Using the Crop Tool (C) lets crop the image so that the focus is drawn to the woman jumping. To do this, just crop out an area of the image that you would like to keep. Beware of the shadow that is left behind from the person that we have removed. You can use the Content Aware feature to remove this shadow but I have decided to crop it out altogether.
Click the checkmark at the top to keep this area. Photoshop will discard the content that is outside of your crop area.
Step 7 (Optional)
In this step we will enhance the photo by giving it a more vibrant look. The colors currently appear somewhat dull. There are many ways to accomplish this but we will use Color Curves. To do this, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves, (Cmd + M). A dialog box will pop-up and we will select each of the channels, R, G, B and work on them separately. Select the Red channel from the dropdown menu.
We are going to make two points on the graph. One in the bottom of the top right square, and one in the top of the bottom left square.
Once you have made these points, make sure you enter the values for each. For the top right point the Output value is 199, and the input value is 185. For the bottom point the values are 56 and 68, respectively. You can play around with these setting and adjust them to whatever you feel is appropriate. Repeat this for each of the colors, Green and Blue.
Final Image
Your image should now look something like the one seen below. As you can see, we have removed the man on her left with very little effort using Photoshop CS5′s new Content Aware Feature.
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How is this different than using the heal brush with the content-aware radio button selected? Just a different way of doing a defined selection?
Hmm. I wonder if it’s a more accurate/faster of removing objects than the clone/healing tools. But I’d like to know as well, how does it differ. It seems like a great time saver, esp for me since I’m always removing stuff.
Look for videos on youtube for content aware fill. Keep in mind it does not completely replace clone stamp but i can do just as good if you have a good image for it (good contrast, lots of areas to copy from, ect.).
nice man nice
Hi,
i tried this above option but iam able see the “conten-aware” in fill dialog box..
when say fill its filling with flat color of foreground not image part…
can show me details for above said image..
Hey, from what I gather after reading your problem it seems like you might be trying to apply the content aware fill on another layer, different from the main image. The “fill” must be performed on the actual image, there is no need to create other layers here.
Not :-) I can´t to see the “conten-aware” too. I have only one layer, the main. Can you help me?
Make sure the layer is unlocked.
make sure you are using cs5 also
Great feature but i cant help but feel that Adobe are de-valuing the designers trade a little, soon any 12 year old with a PC and a dodgy copy of Adobe will be able to achieve results that typically take some time and skill from experienced designers.
Progress. It just means most of the quality will be in knowing what to do rather than how to do it.
How do you think us photographers feel? Every teenager with a DSLR is now a “professional photographer.” On top of that, our DSLR’s now shoot HD video, so we gotta become videographers too!
Progress. You either get on board or get left in the dust.
We must destroy technology and go back to the stone age!! Let’s burn Adobe Software!!
Lol Your comment made me remember a passage I read some time ago… people destroyed sewing machines because they said the new machines would take their jobs and make people homless…
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/159734/technology/industrial_sewing_machine_.html
@Rich
Did you actually just suggest that technology take a break from progressing to give you job security? I think that is the most absurd thing I have heard in a technical forum. Do you think that all the photographers and graphic designers, before you, were de-valued as the tools you use today came into existence?
Seriously. This is the point of technology.
i think just copy paste or clone tool would do the work its just copy paste the other hill….. look verycarefully at the hill same as the other one.
great lesson
tnx 4 that =)
U MIGHT BE KIDDING, RIGHT?
a tutorial for CONTENT AWARE????????
gimme a break
It help me! I knew in general that it could be done. I had seen someone do it, but could not remember what it was called or how to go about it. So, yes, this tutorial was a big help to me.
I can still see the man in the finished product, but good tutorial, nonetheless.
Yes he is still there. That’s where the pro touch ups come in me thinks.
You are right! Good eye!
Yes this is the first thing I noticed. This could be fixed by selecting the clone stamp tool and sampling left or right of where the man was. Then set the opacity to about 45% and staying horizontal to your sampled area, clone in ever so slightly until his ghosted outline is no longer visible anymore. I guess we will always need professional human intervention. Nice tutorial though:).
Neurologicaly you think you can see the man because your brain has locked him there from the original photo and refuses to let you see what you wish to from the excercise.
You can still see him on the uncropped version. He’s ever so slightly darker than the background. Subtle, but it’s there. You probably wouldn’t see it if you didn’t know it had been there.
http://www.netglos.com/how-to-remove-a-person-from-a-photo-by-using-cs-5-content-aware/
WOW look!, that website stole my tutorial.
cool tutorial! another great photoshop cs5 resource i found: http://www.peachpit.com/adobecs5
his shadow is still there too ;)
no biggie or anything, but maybe remove that too? in-case one is interested in making this photo ultra realistic.
That’s not his shadow. Take another look.
It’s mentioned in the text that the image was cropped to get rid of the guy’s shadow in part 6 but I guess some people aren’t here for the articles.
I noticed that this works only on the original layer not on copy layers. And I think it’s silly because you may need to “delete” objects on copy layers when you’re doing a creation. Sorry for my english but I’m French…
YOU FORGET TO REMOVE THE SHADOW OF THE GUY ON THE DOCK !!!!!!
CHECK THE FIRST ORIGINAL PICTURE…
Gr8 work.. thanks for this.. I ve been looking out for some good sites to learn photoshop …. This is a good list of ‘em..
Hi
thanx for your help
but i have problem i done from step 1 to step 4 but image not cut properly its mixed up
so please give me a solution so that i can do the same please pl pl
Raj
Hey, the accuracy of the content aware tool depends on the selection. if you cut too close the person will be visible if you cut too far it will get mixed up with other elements within.
Wow ! That’s a good instruction. Really it is much more helpful to a beginner. Thanks for sharing it.
Regards,
Al Kamal Md. Razib
very good tutorial always something new to learn, for a beginners,
Dont forget to remove the SHADOWS. DURRRRRRRRRRRRR
hey Step 4 then my pic http://stat.gogo.mn/blog/7/35207/wor1d/help.JPG , why this?
this is a great way to take a person out, you saved me many hours with a clone tool. thanks for the info
Progress. You either get on board or get left in the dust.
I can still see the dude’s outline.
i don’t believe it, i think it’s bullshit. how can it draw the island on its own thats impossible.
nevermind i’m a believe now i actually did it
thank you :)
croped out my gf lol
This may be an absurdly dumb question, but how did Adobe fill in/complete the random island in the background that the guy’s foot was formerly covering? Am I misunderstanding something?
i just got CS5, from CS3 and this tutorial is really cool))) thanks
wow~~~~ Thanks^^
What a super time saver! Thank you and I LOVE CS5!
@Shane while I agree with the advanced technology it makes it easier for people to produce decent images and video. HOWEVER, technology only goes so far. Our imagination and vision make us great!
Thanks for your help its much appreciated and easy to understand. However, do you have any tips on managing layers? I have a tough time with that bit.
Cheers
what sorcery is this?!
Nice tutorial. Didn’t know about the content aware tool before. Also is there a special technique to remove the background ie the opposite of this tutorial?
Hi there, nice one!. I like this!. Thanks :)
Is there a great software or tutorial to help extract people from backgrounds onto other backgrounds and that retain ceratian details such as “wisps of hair ?” and such.
Sorry but I’m new to photoshop. What if two persons are standing side by side, would content aware tool works if I want to remove one person?
All the images went missing. Please fix them.
Hi
I tried to download tutorial pics but received message below
This image has been deleted
Regards
Krish
this will replace clone stamp tool
Great directions. But the whole thing is useless because you forgot the very first step in the process.
How do we get to the Awareness tool. Since we do not know how to get to it we can not do any of it.
you fix that major problem and this will be of great help.
im trying to remove person from a photo using your tips but after step 2 and 3 i cant do “fill” (step 4) can You please tell me why???thanks
Thank yo for this tutorial which was a real help to me. Cheers!
good tutorial tnaks :)
superb, thankyou
Hi,
Is there an online site I can send my photos to who can do the removal for me?