How to Remove Object from Image in Affinity Photo

Images are used across a variety of projects including sharing memories of loved ones. There are times when you will have distracting elements you want to erase. Removing an object from an image can be done in various ways with Affinity Photo. When doing this we want to preserve as much of the area as possible. In our tutorial, we will make use of the Inpainting Tool to do this.

The Inpainting tool is used to paint over areas you want removed. The software will then analyze the surrounding pixels and replace with similar pixels.

In this tutorial we will be using a smiling woman photo. If you would like to use another photo be sure to check out our selection of commercial usephotos. Let us begin by opening Affinity Photo.

Step 1 - Open photo and select Inpainting Tool

Open your photo and under the Layers Panel click on Add Pixel Layer. We are adding a new layer so that we can work non-destructively. Next, click on the Inpainting tool on the left side panel. You may need to click the little white arrow for the healing tools to access this tool.

At the top of the screen, click on the drop menu that says Current and select Current Layer & Below. Affinity Photo will use the information from the image below while painting.

Step 2 - Adjust brush size and paint over unwanted area

The brush size has an affect on how the Inpainting Tool works. For objects such as ropes, a smaller brush is better. For larger objects, such as the basket in our photo, we will use a bigger brush. If a large brush size is used on a small area, it will bring in too much of the surrounding area.

Adjust Brush size for Inpainting

You can adjust the brush size top left of the screen next to Width. Alternatively use your bracket keys, [ and ], to increase or decrease the size.

Next, gradually paint over the area you want removed. For some complex objects, it's best to go bit by bit instead of painting over the entire area at once. It also helps should you need to undo the action but don't want to undo all your work.

Remove majority of the unwanted area

Keep painting over the area until majority of the object has been removed. You will have a few artifacts show up. The Inpainting Tool is intuitive to a point and if you are not happy, simply undo the action.

You can also go over an area more than once. In the image below, most of the object has been removed but there are few areas that need to be fixed.

Step 3 - Use the Clone Brush Tool to fix artifacts

When you have gone as far as you can with the Inpainting Tool, the next step is the Clone Brush. You could use the Healing Brush but it can blur details. With the Clone Brush, it will exactly clone the targeted area.

Add Pixel Layer

Go again to the left side panel and click on the Clone Brush. Your mouse will show as a circle and a little further away will be a little plus sign. In the image below you can't see the mouse or circle, but it is there. The plus sign indicates the sample area or sample point. This is where your clone sample will come from.

Add another Pixel layer and change the Source at the top to Layers Beneath. We will be using the Clone Brush on this layer.

Sample Clone area

To sample an area, hold down Alt. Your mouse icon will turn into a crosshair. Wherever you click with this crosshair activated, your sample point will be placed. The point doesn't remain fixed, it moves along with your mouse.

Click and drag your mouse over an area you want changed. Unlike the Inpainting tool, you won't see any kind of 'red' painting. As you click + drag, the area will be adjusted with new information immediately.

Adjust Brush Hardness and Opacity

Adjusting the Hardness, Opacity and Flow at the top left will make the blending a bit more smooth. We adjusted our brush Hardness to 39% and Opacity to 43%.

The image below is the result of using the Inpainting Brush Tool to remove the basket.

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you want to learn more, be sure to follow our other tutorials on using the Patch Tool in Photoshop and using clipping mask with photos in Affinity Designer.