If you’re sort of new to Photoshop we have a welcome treat for you today: Another installment of the popular “Photoshop for Beginners” series from the PiXimperfect YouTube channel.
Each lesson in the series is devoted to one important tool or technique, and the topic of today’s episode is Photoshop’s powerful new Remove tool. In less than 20 minutes you’ll learn how to set up the tool, why it’s so helpful, and the best way to use it for perfect results.
Unmesh Dinda is an internationally popular image-editing instructor who teaches workshops across the globe and has almost five million subscribers to his channel. He says that if he had created this basic series before Adobe’s latest update, the Remove tool wouldn’t have been part of the mix. But now it’s easy enough for anyone to master with great success.
Dinda illustrates the versatility of this much-improved tool by comparing it to Photoshop’s Clone Stamp and Spot-Healing Bush tools to accomplish a simple task. As you’ll see, both alternate methods are cumbersome and often deliver sloppy results that require extra time to refine.
The new Remove tool, by comparison, “changes everything” and works like a charm. It’s important to update to the latest version of Photoshop before you watch Dinda explain how the tool works. Once you’re good to go it’s a simple matter to configure the tool to your liking, and Dinda walks you through the easy step-by-step process.
As he explains, this is an “actual Photoshop tool” that involves input from you, and not a new form of AI magic like Generative Fill. Dinda’s characterization is as concise as it gets: “It’s used to remove stuff. That’s it.” In other words, the Remove tool won’t fill an area with something else, as does Generative Fill, but it’s extremely effective when employed for its intended purpose.
Dinda’s guide is straightforward but complete, and includes helpful keyboard shortcuts for streamlining the process, He provides examples of images for which this method is most productive, and walks you through the various options the tool provides. Then you’ll see how the tool works to easily eliminate unwanted objects from all sorts of images.
We encourage you to visit Dinda’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find more tips and tricks, as well as earlier episodes in the popular series.
And don’t miss the guide we posted from another image-editing expert, explaining how to use Photoshop’s new Gradient tool with real-time visual feedback and more.
Image noise can really ruin an otherwise nice photo with ugly artifacts that appear as random speckles of grain and unsightly variations in the brightness and colors of your shot. It’s a rather common occurrence, shrouded in a common misconception, that’s demystified in the tutorial below.
Duade Paton is a professional nature and wildlife pro based in rural Australia, who regularly posts tutorials on shooting and editing techniques. Today’s episode is a combination of both, as he demystifies the concept of image noise. He demonstrates his tips using an image of a bird, but the simple techniques you’ll learn are appropriate for whatever photos you capture outdoors.
Paton explains exactly what causes noise in an image, reveals camera settings to reduce it, and debunks what he says is a “misconception that high ISO directly causes noise.” He also discusses how noise-reduction software enables him to use higher shutter speeds.
In simple terms, Paton puts it like this: “Noise is caused by a lack of light hitting the sensor of your camera,” and he uses two examples of the same shot to illustrate that the “the more light the sensor gets the less noise your image will have.” As you know, this is controlled by a combination of the shutter speed, ISO, and aperture settings you choose.
If you’re wondering about the misconception mentioned above, take a look at the next two images Paton pulls up on the screen. One is pretty clean while the other is really noisy, and here’s the surprise: both were shot at the same ISO setting. So why are they so different?
The answer simple. The photo without image-killing noise was captured with bright, direct sunlight, hitting the bird’s eye (and his camera’s sensor), while the other photo was captured in low light before sunrise—requiring processing adjustments to amplify the dark image.
With that knowledge under your belt, Patton proceeds with a variety of solutions. He discusses the ISO settings he uses for different types of wildlife images with lenses of different focal lengths. You’ll also see how he manipulates aperture and shutter peed settings to get the cleanest results possible.
The lesson wraps up with an explanation of how the size and type of sensor in your camera factors into the equation, and the impact of noise-reduction software on the final result.
You can find more helpful tips by visiting Paton’s YouTube channel, and watching a related tutorial we posted explaining how to shoot stunning landscape photos in harsh summer light.
