Editing Quick Tip: Banish Unwanted People in Street Photos & Landscapes (VIDEO)
Here’s a dilemma that many of us have experienced when shooting in the field or on the street: You capture a what you think is great shot, only to realize later that you failed to notice a person walking into the frame or emerging from behind a tree or building.
While it’s too late for a reshoot, there’s a quick-and-easy method for eliminating these unwanted distractions by following the instructions in this tutorial with photographer, educator, and Adobe wizard Julieanne Kost. Best yet, this process takes barely five minutes to learn. It all about understanding how to use the Distracting People removal tool in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).
The first step, if you haven’t already done so, is activating Technical Previews in ACR—otherwise you won’t be able to access this feature. The easiest way to do this in Photoshop is by selecting Settings, Camera Raw, choosing Technology Previews, and enabling the new AI features in the settings panel. You’ll then need to quit and restart Photoshop.
Kost also explains a similar process for starting in Bridge which is where this quick lesson begins. You’ll select the image(s) you want to work on before clicking the Open In Camera Raw icon. Next bring up the Remove tool tapping the “B” key. Now go to the Distraction Removal section and choose the People option and click on Remove.
As you’ll see, ACR uses generative AI technology to remove the people and fill in the targeted areas, like with Kost’s landscape shot of an imposing arch with two bystanders in the lower right corner of the frame. If ACR locates and removes more people than you intend, there’s a quick way to keep them in the shot.
Kost demonstrates a few quick tricks for refining the process which is just about as simple as is gets. One you’re done watching head over to her super helpful YouTube channel where you’ll find Lightroom and Photoshop tricks on just about any editing technique you can imagine.
We also recommend checking out a tutorial we featured earlier that reveals how a world-renouwed German landscape photographer uses Lightroom to create “atmospheric” outdoor photographs that are full of mood and emotion.
