How to Remove Objects in Lightroom: Step-by-Step Guide

How to Remove Objects in Lightroom

Are you looking for an easy and quick guide for removing unwanted objects from your images and videos to give them a cleaner and more professional look? If you’re a Lightroom user, then your problem has been resolved because after reading this article, you’ll get a step-by-step guide about how to remove objects in Lightroom. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using Lightroom on your Android, Windows, PC, or iOS; you’ll be able to remove unwanted objects on all versions of Lightroom after having a look at this post. Now no distracting elements can deprive you from the beauty of your shot because you can easily erase them through Lightroom Classic or Lightroom Mod APK.

Object Removal Tools In Lightroom

While editing photos or videos in Lightroom, we’ve to face different scenarios, and we need to remove different types of objects. Suppose you’ve two pictures; in one image, you want to remove a person or any other distinctive object located at the side or behind the focus object. On the other hand, in the second photo, you want to remove dust spots or blemishes from the face of the focus object. These are two different situations, so you’ll use different types of tools in both cases. So Lightroom offers three different kinds of tools, including healing brush, clone, and content-aware remover, that are used to handle different circumstances in photo editing with a little difference in their functionality. Let’s discuss each one in detail:

Healing Brush

You can easily access the healing tool by navigating to “Develop Module,” and  its settings will appear by pressing the H key on the keyboard. This tool is used to tackle little imperfections in images, like dust spots or blemishes on the face. When we select this tool and paint on the affected area, it automatically copies pixels from a similar location. Then, it merges them with the original pixels to blend the distracted area. You can easily adjust the size of the healing brush tool by using a slider available in the settings panel of this tool.

Clone Tool

The clone tool helps to copy pixels from one area within the frame of the photo and paste them into the distracted area. Suppose you’ve taken a shot of your friend at a beach with water in the background, but you observe a ship at a long distance behind. If you want to hide that ship, then this tool will make your editing process easier. By using this tool you can cut a piece of image having sea water and can place it on the boat to hide it completely.

Clone Tool

If you’re dissatisfied with the results of the healing tool, then you must give a trial to the clone tool. Similar to the healing tool, you can adjust the size and direction of the clone area from setting by moving the slider back and forth or by rotating it in any direction. By rotating the clone area, you can make a resemblance to a nearby location so it can give a natural look, and your picture will seem original.

Content-Aware Remove

It’s rather different from the other tools discussed above because it uses AI for pixel creation instead of sampling pixels from a similar area. Adobe introduced this feature in late 2022, and it helps to replace unwanted pixels with AI-generated pixels. It has proved to be very effective for handling complex situations when both of the above tools don’t work.

 For instance, you’ve got a group photo consisting of all your friends and an unknown person, and you want to remove the unknown person from the frame. In this case, this tool will help you fulfil your desire without disturbing the original look of your image. 

Steps to Remove Unwanted Objects in Lightroom

If you’re looking for a very quick and straightforward method about how to remove objects in Lightroom Classic & CC, then you need to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Understanding the Functionality of Object Removal Tools

Before proceeding to the process of removing unwanted objects in Lightroom the first step is to know the purpose of different tools. If you’re unaware of the functionality of other tools, it’s like the captain of a ship without any skill to handle it. In that case it’s better to be a passenger than a captain because you can be the cause of sinking many people. The same case is with the user of Lightroom because if you’re using it without knowing the performance of different tools it will lead to ambiguity in your photos and videos instead of making them attractive and professional.

Step 2: Consider the Complexity of Distracting Object

After learning the operations of different object eraser tools like Healing Brush, Clone, and Content-Aware Remove, the next step is to determine the position of the object causing distraction. You must notice that it’s behind, aside, or very close to the focus object. If it’s rather far or in a consistent backdrop, then you can easily erase it by electing a Clone or Healing Tool, painting the unwanted objects, and then applying their effects.

Step 3: Select a Right Tool

After knowing the location of unwanted objects within a photograph frame, the next step is the selection of the right tool. If you want to remove little imperfections or spots, then you must select the Healing tool. The Clone tool is preferred if the distracting object is far behind or aside from the focused object. On the other hand, you must choose Content-Aware Remove if you want to remove one object located in the gang of different objects, that may be people, animals, birds, or non-living things.

Step 4: Adjust the Settings of Removal Tool

The professionalism for removing unwanted objects in Lightroom doesn’t end with the selection of a suitable tool; you must also have expertise in adjusting all tools. After selecting the right tool, you need to press the H key on your keyboard then the settings of related tools will appear.  You can increase or decrease the size of the brush or use a smaller or larger selector according to the size of the unwanted object that you want to remove. You can also erase objects by separating them into different segments instead of removing the whole object at once.

Advanced Strategies for Complex Object Removal in Lightroom

If any tool does not work well to remove a complex object and you’re still wondering how to remove objects in Lightroom CC or Classic, you can use more than one tool at a time by following the following techniques.

Stacking of Healing Tools

You can use the Healing Brush, Clone, and Content-Aware Removal Tool collectively if the desired object is very small or in intricate shape and only one tool could not show better performance. You need to follow the following steps for applying this technique:

  •  You’ll initiate from Healing Brush to get rid of unwanted objects.
  • After that, you’ve to choose the Clone tool for tweaking the remaining imperfections.
  • At the end, you need to use the Content-Aware Remove tool to remove the shadows or remaining signs of removed objects.

Combining Tools

In this technique, you’ll use two tools, including Clone and Content-Aware, for erasing intricate objects from photograph frames. Follow the given steps to apply this technique for complex object removal:

  • Start by replication of the background through the Clone tool to hide unwanted objects.
  • After that, use the Content-Aware Remove Tool to remove the remaining impressions of removed objects, such as edges or shadows.

How to Remove Objects in Lightroom Mobile?

If you’re looking at how to remove objects in Lightroom Mobile or Lightroom CC, then follow the following steps:

The first step is to import photos in the Lightroom mobile library by hitting the import button at the lower right part of the screen.

Lightroom mobile library

Open the desired image and make sure that you’re in the edit mode of Lightroom.

Open the desired image

Then tap on the Healing option available at the bottom navigation of the screen. 

bottom navigation of the screen. 

After that, you’ll see a panel where you can choose one of the correction options and can change the size of the brush using the slider.

change the size of the brush using the slider.

Click on the blue button and select one from the options, Heal, Remove, or Clone, according to your desire.

Remove, or Clone, according to your desire.

The next step is to paint over the area within the photo frame that you want to remove from it.

photo frame that you want to remove from it.

Once you stop pressing, the selected element will disappear automatically within a few seconds. After that new pixels will be generated from those of the erased area to fill the original location.

Frequently Asked Questions

You can remove sun spots easily by using the Healing Brush of Lightroom.

The procedure for removing something in Lightroom for iPhone or Android is the same, so you’ll have to follow the same steps that I’ve discussed for Lightroom mobile.

Yes, you can remove anything in Lightroom Classic & CC for free without any premium subscription.

Final Thoughts

As I’m a professional photographer,  I once captured beautiful shots of a couple. When I reached my office and started editing those photographs, I observed a chair in the background that was distracting from the amazing look of the photos. I started exploring how to remove objects in Lightroom, and finally, I found this feature of Lightroom. Thanks to Adobe who has introduced this feature to make our visuals more professional and free of distracting objects.

After impressing with this feature of Lightroom, I’ve decided to share it with you. I’ve been applying this feature since 2022, so now I’ve discovered different techniques to remove objects perfectly that I’ve shared in this article. You can easily remove unwanted objects from your images and videos straightforwardly after applying the above-discussed methods and techniques.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *