# How to remove a person from a photo > To remove a person from a photo, open it in Kenerate's Edit Studio, choose AI Edit and describe who to remove — “remove the man in the red jacket behind the couple, keep everything else the same” — or paint over them with Magic Eraser. The background is rebuilt where they stood. On supported iPhones, Photos → Edit → Clean Up does the same on the phone. URL: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-remove-a-person-from-a-photo Publisher: Kenerate AI (https://kenerateai.com) Last updated: 26 September 2026 ## Key facts - AI Edit: Describe who to remove - Magic Eraser: Paint over them - iPhone: Photos → Clean Up (Apple Intelligence) - Photoshop: Remove tool ## Steps 1. Open the photo in Edit Studio — Upload it to Kenerate's Edit Studio. 2. Describe who to remove — Choose AI Edit and write, for example: “Remove the man in the red jacket walking behind the couple. Keep everything else exactly the same.” 3. Or paint over them — For one small figure, use Magic Eraser and brush over the person. 4. Download — Compare with the original, re-run if needed, and download. ## In depth ### Inpainting: filling the hole Removing a person is inpainting — filling a region so it matches its surroundings. The 2000 SIGGRAPH paper “Image Inpainting” propagated lines of equal brightness inward from the edges, as art restorers do [1]. ### PatchMatch and Content-Aware Fill PatchMatch (2009) found matching patches elsewhere in the photo up to a hundred times faster than earlier methods [2] and became the engine of Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill in CS5 [3]. It works best when the background repeats — sand, grass, sky. ### Large holes and generative fill Big removals — a person in the middle of a street — need more context. LaMa (2022) uses a network that sees the whole image at once and was trained on large masks [4]; today's prompt-based editors go further and generate new background, which is why they handle crowds and architecture, and why the fill should be checked for invented details. References: [1] Bertalmio et al. — Image Inpainting (SIGGRAPH 2000): https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/344779.344972 [2] Barnes et al. — PatchMatch (SIGGRAPH 2009): https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1531326.1531330 [3] Princeton — PatchMatch powers Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill: https://eqn.princeton.edu/2010/06/patchmatch/ [4] Suvorov et al. — LaMa: large-mask inpainting (WACV 2022): https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.07161 ## FAQ Q: How do I remove a person from a photo? A: Open the photo in Kenerate's Edit Studio, choose AI Edit and describe the person to remove, or paint over them with Magic Eraser. The background is filled in where they stood. Q: How do I remove someone from a picture on iPhone? A: On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence, open the photo in Photos, tap Edit → Clean Up and tap, brush or circle the person. On other iPhones, use Kenerate in Safari. Q: Is there a free app to remove a person from a picture? A: Kenerate is free to start: 25 free credits on sign-up for AI Edit and Magic Eraser. iPhone Clean Up is built in on supported models. Q: How do I remove several people at once? A: Describe them together — “remove all the people in the background behind the woman” — and check the result. Crowds covering most of the scene are the hardest case. Q: Why does the filled-in area look blurry or odd? A: The AI has to invent what was hidden. Use the largest photo you have, keep the prompt specific, and re-run; for small figures, Magic Eraser is often cleaner. Q: How do I remove a person in Photoshop? A: Use the Remove tool and brush over the person; Photoshop fills the area. For larger areas, select them and use Generative Fill. Q: Can I remove a person and keep their shadow out too? A: Yes — mention the shadow in the prompt (“remove the man and his shadow”) or paint over both with Magic Eraser. Q: Is it OK to remove people from photos? A: It's fine for your own photos. Don't use it to mislead — for example to change news, evidence or someone else's photos without permission. ## Related pages - Free AI background remover: https://kenerateai.com/free-ai-background-remover - Transparent background maker: https://kenerateai.com/transparent-background-maker - Free PNG maker: https://kenerateai.com/png-maker - White background: https://kenerateai.com/white-background - Remove white background: https://kenerateai.com/remove-white-background - Black background: https://kenerateai.com/black-background - Transparent logo: https://kenerateai.com/remove-background-from-logo - Signature PNG: https://kenerateai.com/remove-background-from-signature - Remove shadow: https://kenerateai.com/remove-shadow-from-photo - Remove glare: https://kenerateai.com/remove-glare-from-photo - Remove text: https://kenerateai.com/remove-text-from-image - Make an image transparent: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-make-an-image-transparent - Remove background in Canva: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-remove-background-in-canva - Remove background in Photoshop: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-remove-background-in-photoshop - Remove background in GIMP: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-remove-background-in-gimp - Remove background on iPhone: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-remove-background-on-iphone - All background remover alternatives: https://kenerateai.com/background-remover-alternatives - remove.bg alternative: https://kenerateai.com/remove-bg-alternative - Photoroom alternative: https://kenerateai.com/photoroom-alternative - Pixelcut alternative: https://kenerateai.com/pixelcut-alternative - Canva BG Remover alternative: https://kenerateai.com/canva-background-remover-alternative - Adobe Express alternative: https://kenerateai.com/adobe-express-background-remover-alternative - erase.bg alternative: https://kenerateai.com/erase-bg-alternative - removal.ai alternative: https://kenerateai.com/removal-ai-alternative - Picsart alternative: https://kenerateai.com/picsart-background-remover-alternative - Pixlr alternative: https://kenerateai.com/pixlr-background-remover-alternative - Clipping Magic alternative: https://kenerateai.com/clipping-magic-alternative - PhotoScissors alternative: https://kenerateai.com/photoscissors-alternative - PicWish alternative: https://kenerateai.com/picwish-alternative - Slazzer alternative: https://kenerateai.com/slazzer-alternative - Fotor alternative: https://kenerateai.com/fotor-background-remover-alternative ## Sources - Apple — Clean up, extend and reframe photos on iPhone: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/clean-up-extend-and-reframe-photos-xy0grrlxue5w/ios - Apple — Requirements to use Clean Up in Photos: https://support.apple.com/en-us/121429 - Adobe — Remove objects from images in Photoshop: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/remove-tool.html