How do you edit people out of your wedding and engagement photos?


No matter how hard you try as a photographer you will always end up with a few photos from a long engagement or wedding photography sessions that have distracting elements around your subjects.


Here's how to fix it using Lightroom Classic:

How to Eliminate Distractions From Your Wedding Photos (Step by Step):

Step 1: Select the Spot Removal Tool

The spot removal tool appears near the top right of your window in Lightroom Classic (just under the histogram and right of the crop tool). Make sure "heal" is selected rather than "clone".


Step 2: Set the Size of Your Brush

The proper size of your brush will depend on the needs of your image. If you have large objects to remove you can leave the size big. I typically recommend sizing the brush down to allow for more precise adjustments. Set the size of your brush by moving the slider left and right.


Step 3: Set Feather to 0 and Opacity to 100

You can play with these settings if you'd like, but in most cases, you'll want to remove any feathering and use a 100 for opacity to completely remove the unwanted person/object.


Step 4: Use Your Brush to Paint Over Unwanted Objects

Now that you have your brush set the way you'd like, it's time to begin painting over the object or person you'd like removed. Be careful not to remove too much. Once you release your mouse you can see where Lightroom is pulling information from to fill in the painted area.


Step 5: Make Adjustments

If you don't love the way your changes look, feel free to make adjustments. Click and drag the selection circle to show Lightroom where you'd like it to pull information from in the image. If it still doesn't look right you can always delete the selection and try again!


Repeat these steps, adjusting the size and opacity as needed for various objects, until your image looks distraction-free!

Questions?

If you have any questions about removing objects or people from the background of your images, please reach out! I'm happy to help where I can or point you in the right direction.


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