How to Remove Tourists from Your Photos
Every notable landmark seems to have one thing in common: visitors, and lots of them. But if you want that postcard shot or that image that shows how the location may have once appeared, you have a challenge ahead of you. This digital photography and PhotoShop tutorial will provide a means to remove the tourist throngs from your vacation images.
Taking the Photos
The technique I will describe here applies to photos you have yet to take. Unfortunately, there is no single easy way to get rid of people in the shots you already have. But instead of agonizing over long clone-stamping sessions, you can take shots that will yield vacant sites with only minimal PhotoShop work.
To start, you’ll want to be taking your photos with a tripod. A remote release or timer will also help (it will minimize the possibility that you may inadvertently move your camera between shots). You will also want to shoot using manual settings. As the scene changes, your camera meter may change your exposure values and that will make your PhotoShop work more difficult.
At busy sites, once you have composed your shot, you will find there is no end of tourist flow through your frame. You may find yourself quickly giving up on an image because you know that as soon as one group of visitors starts leaving, another will soon take its place. You might get lucky and everyone will flee the scene, but if you are short on time and/or patience, you may not be able to hold out forever.
The trick is, with your tripod-mounted camera, you can take your shot with people in it. Then, once people have moved a bit, you can take a second photo.
As an example, look at this photo I took at the ruins of Ta Prohm in Cambodia near Angkor Wat:
A lot of tourists loitering in the scene don’t make for such a great photo of a place that evokes imagery of explorers discovering a long-lost ruin. But with a little patience, I was able to get another shot of the scene with fewer people:
What’s important to note in this scene is where the tourists are and where they are not:
Make a mental note of the parts of the scene that were occupied by people. Then, as those parts of the scene empty, take a shot. The rest of the scene doesn’t need to be vacant, just the parts that were previously full:
Now, while still thinking of our mental note of what areas need to be vacated, we can still see one man occupying part of the photo. When he moves, we can take our final shot.
Putting it Together in PhotoShop
Once you have your sequence of shots you will want to open all of them up in Photoshop then copy and paste all of them into a single document as separate layers with your first shot as the bottom layer in the document. If you are shooting in RAW format, make sure that if you change settings for one of the images, you make the same changes to all of the images so that their exposures, white balance and other settings match.
Image Alignment
If there are small differences between the alignment of your images, select the Move Tool and use the arrow keys to nudge the layers into alignment. A handy trick for this is to change the blending mode of the top layer to “Difference,” then nudge the layer using the arrow keys. The closer the resulting image is to black, the better the alignment. Once you have finished the alignment, change the blending mode of the top layer back to “Normal.”
Masking
For now, we will make the top layer invisible (click the eye icon next to the Photo 3 layer). Next with the Photo 2 layer selected, create an empty mask for that layer, by clicking the mask icon while holding down OPTION on the Mac and ALT on the PC. Your mask should now be black and the entire layer is hidden.
Now it’s time to get rid of the people in your photo. Select the brush tool and use a brush with a feathered edge. Make sure the foreground colour is white, then Start painting into the mask of the Photo 2 layer in the places occupied by tourists. You will see the people magically disappear from the image!
Once you have removed as many people as you can by painting on the Photo 2 layer, make the Photo 3 layer visible, create an empty mask for it and paint out the remaining person. If you have to take more than three photos, keep repeating the process to erase any remaining stragglers.
You now have a landmark free of people!
Click here to see a larger version. And check here for more of my photos from Ta Prohm and Cambodia.
Notes
While shooting, if you waiting for any appreciable period of time between shots, the light in the scene may have changed. Once you have completed your masking and removed the people, you may be able to discern differences in lighting in the areas where the people were and where they now are not.
If the difference isn’t too off, you can correct this by making active the layer where the people are not present. Then, you can either any of PhotoShop’s tools in the “Image > Adjustments” menu to correct the change in light between the shots.
Developing a web design is not time consuming process any more. As there are many softwares that help to design an attractive web page saving half the time. So now web design software is one of the important business software. In addition, broadband phone in collaboration with broadband internet access has cut the communication gap in the business world by making possible an effective business telephonic conversation. In this context high speed internet connection; using dsl service or any fast wireless internet is worthwhile.
107 Comments Add your own
1. mookie | December 5th, 2006 at 10:14 am
thanks for this most excellent tutorial. digg +1
2. unhappymeal | December 5th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Holy shit you are a genius and I want your babies!
3. utroligt | December 5th, 2006 at 10:29 am
This is a very handy tip. Thanks!
4. mwcbrent | December 5th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Fantastic, more more more!
5. dsawchuk | December 5th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Thanks everyone. Nice to know it’s helpful!
6. vegas | December 5th, 2006 at 11:15 am
This tutorial cured me of leprosy!! Would highly recommend!!1
7. dsawchuk | December 5th, 2006 at 11:16 am
lol. Glad I could help!
8. Nicora | December 5th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
i can already think of a number of uses for this, thanks for taking the time to put this tut together.
9. David Bradley Photographer | December 5th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
This is a super technique and I can see that it works really well where there are just a few people milling around those ruins. But if the only time you can visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa is mid morning say, your stuffed, as soon as one person moves a foot to their left, someone’s jostling in from behind to fill the gap. I guess an alternative in situations like that, other than simply finding a new angle to shoot from is to use a very long exposure so that the people become nothing more than a blur, which would make for quite a nice, interesting shot anyway giving a sense of just how busy such a tourist trap can be.
10. Jeff | December 5th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Brilliant! Like cloning in reverse. Why didn’t I think of that!
11. Jaxxon | December 5th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
I would like to add that the reverse technique can be used to create the illusion of more people.
Or, similarly, a sequence of photos of someone walking across a scene can be constructed for a nice effect.
Anyway… good stuff.
Cheers
-jxn
12. Earl Conner | December 5th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
“Holy shit you are a genius and I want your babies!”
Ha ha, just don’t expect to see them in any family photos!
13. brody | December 5th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
This stuff is so good, i want to shoot it into my veins.
14. Stephan Burlot | December 5th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
A swiss company (FutureLab) has made an online tool that does exactly the same, but doesn’t require the pictures to be taken with a tripod (although it’s better to use one if you want better results)
And it’s called… “Tourist Remover”.
See it here: http://www.snapmania.com/info/en/trm/howto.html
15. Gimp User | December 5th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
These tutorials are great. Have you considered doing Gimp tutorials? They would be useful to so many more people, considering Gimp doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars.
16. Kingkong | December 5th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Thank you!!!!!!
17. Si | December 5th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
So patience and a cloudy day required, this technique designed for the british
Great technique, will give it a go at some point.
18. Me | December 5th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Ha I used this technique for getting people empty room pic on an online chat game.
19. gman | December 5th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
I guess this is one way.
Another way is to have your camera mounted on the tripod.
If you are using an SLR where you control the exposure time, then aim to take a 30 second to 60 second photo. Anyone moving through the viewfinder will not be recorded. If there is someone standing in the photo, they will obviously be recorded.
Try photographing a building with people coming and going. It will look like no one was ever there. This is an old pro photography method used before the days of photoshop. Tried and true.
20. thatpatguy | December 5th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
nice tutorial man… some stuff in there that seems obvious, if you stop and think about it.. I guess I never did though so thanks for writting this.
I just came back from a month in Italy, took far too many photos.. and though I tried hard to keep tourists out of my photos, it never occurred to me to take more than one photo of something and then mask out the tourists. awesome
dugg and del.icio.us’d
21. Wuh? | December 5th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
A gun is so much easier.
22. philpill | December 5th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
simple, but effective …. I can see me using this a lot
23. Cowboy_X | December 5th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
/me discreetly puts newspaper over hard-on
24. dsawchuk | December 5th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
say what?
25. blipy | December 5th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I’ve gotten similar results, with less effort, can be obtained from Group Shot.
Download it from here: group shot
26. Chua Wen Ching | December 5th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
But what if your picture where your background full of tourists including those standing behind you? Wonder how can I remove it too?
27. Iman Idiot | December 6th, 2006 at 4:58 am
Interesting idea:
What if you took a picture of some hum-drum place that really SHOULDN’T be considered a tourist trap, reversed this process and made it look crowded?
“Look here at all the people milling about the public restroom made famous by the former lead singer of Wham, George Michael!”
28. Blah | December 6th, 2006 at 11:51 am
Cool. Nice work
29. aaa | December 6th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Simply marvelous!
30. Meena | December 7th, 2006 at 11:49 am
When things start getting to complicated.. STOP THINK… there is always a much simpler way to do the same. Simply super!
31. Mehran Kadivar | December 7th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Dear Sir,
Thank you and Best Regards,
Mehran Ali Kadivar
32. Gnostic | December 7th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
What if you only have 1 picture?
33. dsawchuk | December 7th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Then it’s time to break out the clone stamp tool!
34. Robert | December 7th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Nice tip, will stop me from screaming “There’s a bomb! Move to safety behind me!” again.
35. Frank | December 7th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Instead of using masks, why not just order them differently and use the erase tool? That’s what i’ve done, works just as well.
36. dsawchuk | December 7th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
Because using masks is non-destructive. Correcting any errors you make is easier using masks than it is once you’ve used the eraser.
37. Scott | December 8th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
This is great. My wife and I got married on the beach in Hawaii 7 years ago, early Pshop V1 or V2ish time frame. Our photographer was able to get most of the tourists out in the final prints using a similar technique, but we still have one picutre where a person simply wouldn’t move. It is a great memory, but I still wish we could have clipped them.
Thanks for the tutorial.
38. Engin | December 9th, 2006 at 9:43 am
very excellent technic. thanks for sample
39. Jonathan | December 13th, 2006 at 8:35 am
A friend of mine uses a similar technique with bracketed images allowing him to have the optimum exposure for every part of the scene.
Long exposures have already been mentioned, but that begs the question, “How do I deal with bright sunlight?” The answer is neutral density filters (ndf). With a tripod and an ndf (or stacked filters) you can drag exposure time out to a minute or longer. It’s how you get Grand Central Station to look like it’s empty without having to shut the place down.
40. Heath | December 16th, 2006 at 2:21 am
Thanks for a great tutorial.
41. Jenny | February 4th, 2007 at 12:34 am
I hate having tourists in my pictures. Thanks for a great tip!
42. Paul | April 19th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Excellent and detailed tutorial – worth a digg.
Please feel free to add to http://www.photographyvoter.com
43. Natalie | April 19th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Love, Love all the advice!!! Glad i went to it.
44. "Errandboy" | April 20th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Wow! I’ve to try it right a way. It is a helpful tip. Thanks for sharing.
45. Villa | May 16th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Thanks for this great tip. I only wonder if this can also be done in FireWorks. Maybe we can look to see an alternate tutorial for that in the future?
46. René Leskovac | July 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
OR YOU CAN JUST SET LONG EXPOSURE SO THERE WON’T BE ANY PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO DO A LITTLE COLOUR AND BRIGHTNESS CHANGES AFTERWARDS…
47. dsawchuk | July 2nd, 2007 at 6:10 pm
No need to shout.
As for that, it’s not always possible – this tip is for those occasions.
48. Tayfun | July 21st, 2007 at 6:27 am
thank you good tutorial
49. Kutsalodun | July 21st, 2007 at 6:28 am
wooow realy good job
50. Alarm | July 24th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Amazing.
51. www.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışması | July 24th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Cool. Nice work
52. atallman | July 28th, 2007 at 5:28 am
Good tip but if you don’t have a tripod of are in a place that doesn’t allow you use one then set you camera on manual (so you focus and metreing is the same for ever shot) take multiply shots.
Remove the people from every shot using PS
Use Photomerge then crop the end result.
bingo!
53. Craig | August 4th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Photoshop CS3 Extended has a new tool that does this for you automagically…it’s called STACKS.
Great tutorial with very practical advice!
54. Michael | August 20th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Very nice! Thanks!!!
55. Alarm Sistemleri | August 24th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
wonderfull
56. sergio | October 29th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Neat tutorial, for amateurs. Just brush up on your Photoshop skills people and you wont have to take multiple shots that take up space on your memory cards and HDs. One shot and the stamp (or heal) tool is all you need. Thanks for sharing.
57. Yah Davea | October 29th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Please sirs I am most confused and frustrated. No one seem to address this problems. What if I want people in my tourist photo? How do I leave them in there? Hope you can help. I am most dumb founded. Thank you.
58. Greg | October 29th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
This sure beats having to yell “MOVE” with a megaphone!
59. Robert | October 30th, 2007 at 1:35 am
It’s a great tutorial. It’s funny how simple and obvious solutions this is yet I never thought of it.
Thanks
60. Bob "nomad1" | November 4th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
That is so cool! Now I can go thru many of our photos and retouch them and place on our website!
61. Alarm | November 30th, 2007 at 12:28 am
Very nice! Thanks!!!
62. cyberanto | February 9th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Thank you for the tip. It will be very useful!
63. güvenlik sistemleri | April 5th, 2008 at 10:03 am
thanks..
64. izolasyon | May 1st, 2008 at 11:11 am
thanks..
65. yangın tüpü | May 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
thanks:
66. arkadas | May 1st, 2008 at 11:15 am
thank you
67. juznchris | May 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Actually sitting in Siem Reap, Cambodia at the moment….trying to figure out how to remove touists from my Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat photos…Now I know what it should look like!
Thanks
68. Joseph | June 14th, 2008 at 1:27 am
thanks man these will be a big help for me..
69. Jorge | June 26th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Fantastic – And so simple! Now I can get rid of all those unwanted tourists in my pictures… Thanks for sharing!
70. namazhocası | July 24th, 2008 at 6:06 am
thanks
71. kabin | August 20th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
its very nice perfect project.
72. levis iconty | August 27th, 2008 at 5:18 am
toooooooooooooo good
73. Tampagirl | September 25th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Nice trick! Thanks for this! No more using the clone brush to blend the background over them!
74. ersin | October 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
thanks…
75. ersin kılıç sigorta ve aracılık hizmetleri | October 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
thank u..
76. makale | October 12th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
that’s good…
77. film izle | October 25th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
thanx
78. Beau | December 8th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Great tip, Darby. I’m sure I will put this to use in the future, as people in my photographs really annoy me ;p
Cheers
79. mobil | January 19th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Good article , thank You
80. ilginç videolar | January 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
thanks…
81. stock images | February 3rd, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Great tutorial. Thank you, you make it look it’s so simple.
Paul
82. blog dergi | February 19th, 2009 at 1:33 am
thanks a lot..
83. Silkroad premium | March 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
thanks.
84. sro forum | March 24th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
thanx bro
85. bütün oyunlar | April 27th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
thanks You
86. Online Parça Kontör | May 7th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Thanks for all!
87. Silkroad Silk | May 7th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Thanks
88. kabinci | May 9th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Thanks for all!
89. lavner | May 15th, 2009 at 9:07 am
thankss…
90. konteyner | May 18th, 2009 at 7:38 am
very good.
91. Nasıl Yapılır | June 8th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
thanks for all
92. dvd film izle | June 9th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Great tutorial. Thank you, you make it look it’s so simple.
Paul
93. kulak burun boğaz | June 17th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Great tutorial. Thank you, you make it look it’s so simple.
Paul
94. forex | June 17th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Great tip, Darby. I’m sure I will put this to use in the future, as people in my photographs really annoy me ;p
Cheers
95. cep | June 21st, 2009 at 11:19 am
thn,anx, pererct
96. Güvenlik Sistemleri | June 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 am
thanks very beatiful photographs
97. Dantel | July 1st, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Thnaks for your help..
98. Haydisendeoyna | July 22nd, 2009 at 10:09 am
thanks very beatiful photographs
99. Aydın Boydak | August 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
i think original is best… i dont want to erase my tourists
100. çağrı merkezi | August 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Dear Sir,
Thank you and Best Regards,
101. izle | August 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
These tutorials are great.
102. Pasta malzemeleri | September 29th, 2009 at 9:53 am
thank you very much..
103. Jen | October 27th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
i wanted to remove people but i have only one pic what i do?
104. dsawchuk | October 27th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Jen, you’re going to to have to hop into Photoshop and use the clone tool to the best of your abilities. Not much else you can do.
105. Jen | October 28th, 2009 at 9:48 am
you dont have maybe other way beacuse with the clone that work dont good
106. dsawchuk | October 28th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
I’m afraid I don’t have another way. The clone tool may be tricky, but with practice, you can really accomplish a lot with it. Good luck with it!
107. Ücretsiz Fal | March 15th, 2010 at 11:59 am
you dont have maybe other way beacuse with the clone that work dont good
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>