How to Photoshop Someone Out of an Image

There are many reasons why you might want to Photoshop someone out of an image. Perhaps it's an image that contains a person you dislike, or a photograph of you with your ex in front of Niagra Falls, and you just love the way your eyes look next to the pounding waterfall. Maybe someone photobombed the background of your image, or you're standing next to someone that your relatives told you they're bad news. Whatever your reason is for editing this person out of your life, this Instructable will teach you everything that you need to know!

Step 1: What You Need

There are a few things that you will need to complete this Instructable. Here is a list:

1. A computer with Photoshop version CS3.0 or higher (you could use an earlier version, but we will be using the Quick Selection tool, which first came out in CS3.0).

2. An image to Photoshop. Make sure that the person you will be Photoshopping out of the image does not take up the majority of the image, and that the background of the image is fairly consistent.

3. A great attitude! (Okay, this is optional, but it helps - Photoshop editing can be a tedious process)

Step 2: Start Photoshop, and Open the Image That You Wish to Edit.

Our first step is to open Photoshop and, after locating the image we wish to edit, opening the image. You can do this by going to File -> Open, and then using the browser window to locate and open your image.

Step 3: Select the Person or Object You Wish to Remove From the Image With the Quick Selection Tool.

Use the Quick Selection Tool (which can be found on the toolbar) to select the person or object that you wish to remove from the image. Once the tool is selected, another toolbar will appear on the top of your workspace. This will have options for the Quick Selection Tool. Make sure that the icon of the tool with "+" is selected, as this will add a selection to the image; the icon of the tool with "-" selected will remove a selection from the image, which is helpful if you accidentally select too much of the image. Be sure to select all of the person or object that you wish to edit out, and nothing that you do not want to be removed from the image.

Step 4: Remove Your Selection by Creating a New Layer and Then Delete the Old Layer.

Right-click on your selection, and click "Select Inverse". This will select everything in the image that you have not selected. We want to do this because we will be making a new layer* from only the part of the image that you want to keep, therefore removing the selection of the person or object you wish to delete.

After that, right-click on the new selection and click "Layer via Copy". This will create a layer identical to the original, only without your original selection. You should now have gray and white checkers in the place of the person or object that you wish to delete. This means that the part of the image with the checkers is currently transparent; meaning if we were to export the image as a .jpeg, it would simply be white.

We now have to fill in that part of the image with the rest of the background. Be sure to remove the original layer (most likely named "background" and located in your layers pallet) before moving on to the next step.

*A layer is essentially images that Photoshop uses to stack onto each other. A layer could be text, an image being placed onto another, or in our case, the same image with the person or object we wish to delete removed.

Step 5: Use the Clone Stamp Tool to Fill in the Area Removed From the Photograph.

After removing the selection from the image, we are going to use the Clone Stamp Tool to fill in the area removed from the photograph. The Clone Stamp Tool is located on the toolbar, and to use it use Alt-click (Option-click on Mac) to select an area of the photograph that you wish to copy to the removed selection. What we are doing here is using pixels of the image that exist in order to fill in what we deleted. This will only work if the background of your image is not highly detailed or is not consistent throughout the photograph.

Step 6: Use the Blur Tool to Smooth Out Pixelated Areas.

The next step is to use the Blur Tool (located on the toolbar) to blur out areas of the image that might look pixelated or rough. What this tool will do is blur different pixels together to make the transition between the area that we removed from the image and the rest of the image smoother.

Step 7: Remove Any Blemishes and Rough Edges.

The final step is just to remove any blemishes in your photograph and any rough edges that you might have. We can do this using the tools describes in this Instructable, as well as other tools. Feel free to play around with everything that Photoshop offers, and make it look as realistic as possible - blending colors, smoothing pixelation, and making the entire photograph consistent are all key to making it look as if the photograph was never edited, which is key.