Remove people from photos

Introduction

In this guide we will describe a photo-editing technique useful for removing people from photographs. When shooting in a city, it often happens that people end up in the middle of the frame and need to be removed from the photo-especially in very touristy places, where it is almost impossible to find compositions without human subjects. Let's see how to proceed to remove crowds from photos!

Premise

When photographing historical monuments or other areas with heavy foot traffic, there will always be a certain number of people or cars blocking the frame. Removing them all using the clone/heal tool is not always possible, because there may be unique background elements that cannot be copied. Using the clone tool becomes particularly frustrating in shots with strong perspective, where the size of symmetrical objects changes depending on the distance. By using the technique described in this guide, it is possible to use two or more photographs to remove moving people or cars from an image, resulting in a composition free of human elements, as shown in the example below.

This guide is intended for those who already have a good understanding of photo-editing tools-first and foremost the eraser tool or the clone/heal tool along with basic knowledge of using masks and layers. It is recommended to shoot preferably in manual mode to avoid having photos with different exposures. I used GIMP for the editing, but you can use any program as long as it allows you to work with selections. If you don't have these skills, clicking the link will open the guide we wrote on the topic in our photo-editing blog.

I took the photos on March 30th in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The images were shot specifically for this tutorial, so please forgive the simple composition and harsh light. Even though it was low season, it was still difficult to find a moment with absolutely no one in the frame. To get a completely empty shot, I could have waited longer, but fortunately I was looking for an opportunity to capture images for this guide on how to remove distracting elements from a photo. Below is an example with the distracting subjects highlighted.

How to Proceed

Let's now see how to proceed. We start from the assumption that people are almost always in constant motion, and the position of distracting elements changes over time. Place the camera on a tripod (or even on a wall in case of emergency) and frame the scene as you prefer. Take the first photo, paying close attention to which areas are hidden by people. Make sure the camera is placed on a fixed support, otherwise aligning the shots during editing will become much more difficult.

At this point, wait for the right moment and take a second photo, when the previously hidden areas become visible. Repeat the process if, for example, some positions are still occupied while others have cleared. Continue until every portion of the image is free from distracting elements. Obviously, the better the planning during shooting, the less work will be needed in GIMP.

Another thing to note is that there are situations where you will never be able to obtain a completely crowd-free photo because the place is simply too crowded, but the margin for improvement is still significant even with just a few shots. It is also true that with patience and effort you can achieve perfect results. This example is a very simple case, meant only to help you understand the concept.

As we can see from the photos on this page, the sequence of shots allows us to have different clear areas in each frame. The first step (if necessary) is to normalize the various photographs.

With a small brightness adjustment, we make all the shots identical, so they can be blended perfectly. As a second step, we select one photograph to serve as the base and identify the areas that will need replacement (highlighted in red below).

Using the additional shots, we look for moments in the other photos where the selected areas are free of people and crop them to replace those areas in the first image. There are several methods we can use to achieve this result. As mentioned earlier, you can use the Clone/Stamp Tool, which is probably the best solution for this purpose. This tool is also essential if some areas require small corrections.

Alternatively, you can work with selections and layers, copying and pasting the various pieces. You could process the shots as different layers, use a clone tool, open them separately in different windows and copy/paste the needed parts-basically, you can work however you prefer, with any photo-editing program, as long as the concept remains the same.

As you can see, thanks to a bit of luck and the fact that there weren't many people passing by, it was possible to achieve a very satisfying result with minimal effort. Of course, if you are in Venice, using this technique may be a bit more complicated, but I assure you that with patience and good timing you can still achieve excellent results. Always remember that a good photographer generally waits for the right moment to take the shot, and you should limit this technique to situations where it is the only possible solution.

Conclusion

We hope you liked this page about removing unwanted people from your panoramic photographs. Before saying goodbye, we would suggest you read our home page, with all the articles we wrote about Cortina d'Ampezzo.

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