How to remove a person or an object from a photo

Paint over a person, a sign or anything else you do not want, and get the photo back with what was behind it.

The photo is right apart from one thing: someone walking past, a sign, a cable, a mark on the wall. Cropping loses the shot.

The short answer

Paint over it and take it out. Sable's Retouch fills in what was behind it, and only the painted area changes.

How to do it in Sable

1. Open Edit in the menu. Pick a picture from your library, or press Upload to add your own.
2. Choose Retouch as the tool.
3. Paint over what you want gone. Paint a little past its edges.
4. Choose Remove and name it, for example "the woman" or "the sign". Taking out a person? You can leave the words empty.
5. If you like, say what should be there instead, for example "an empty bench".
6. Press Apply. Not right? Undo and paint again. Happy? Save to library.

Change something instead of removing it

Choose Replace instead of Remove and say what should be there, for example "a vase of flowers". Light cleans the area up, Medium replaces it, and Heavy redraws it more freely from your words.

To take a person out, always use Remove: Replace keeps the outline of what was painted, so a person comes back as another person.

Tips

• Paint the whole thing, shadow included, or the shadow stays behind.
• Large areas come out best when you say what should be there.
• To change the whole picture rather than one area, use Describe a change on the same page.

What it costs

The price shows on the Apply button before you press it.

Updated 2026-10-13