How many photos adorn your Mac collection that have an object or two or three that you wished you could delete but you can’t afford the two years of night school at the local community college to learn Photoshop to get it done?
Been there. Done that. What you want is an elegant and affordable way to remove objects from a photo that just don’t belong there. A building or sign. A pole or power lines. A neighbor’s dog, a passerby, or someone’s errant child. There is a way to remove unwanted objects– including people– from photos on your Mac.
Superman’s Utility
To remove the aforementioned digital litter from photos requires Snapheal CK, a steady hand, and a bit of imagination. Otherwise, getting rid of an unwanted object in a photo is mostly point and click. Oh, and trial and error.
Open a photo. Grab the tool that highlights what you want to remove. Select a removal process (the trial and error part). And click. Seconds later all the digital cruft you didn’t want in a photo is gone from said photo.
Like this.
Snapheal CK is very good at removing the obvious from photos. That includes traffic signs that just got in the way when you clicked the shutter (I’m not sure what to call the shutter on a smartphone camera; button seems obvious). It’s just as good on power lines you never seen until after you click.
It’s also great to remove various bystanders. You know. Those people that are then and won’t leave when you whip out the camera? I’ve also found Snapheal to be a snap to heal old photos that were scanned into your Mac’s photo collection– photos with scratches, creases, folds, peel marks, and worse.
Here’s another sample of before and after.
Of course, there are some tools you’ll need to master to get the results to look like the samples. Fortunately, there’s a secret involved.
First, learn the basic tools. There are not too many but you need to know what each one does. Basically, you’re just grabbing a tool and rubbing it over the top of an object in the photo which you want to remove.
Second, you can choose what kind of erase and replace you want with the Erasing Modes. Each one is different and works depending upon what needs to be removed and what kind of background exists in the photo.
But it’s not overly complicated and a little trial and error effort pays off quickly.
Snapheal CK handles most of the photo file formats you’ll run into on your Mac. That includes RAW, PNG, JPG, and others that are standard for Mac users. The app also works as a plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom, as well as Apple’s new Mac Photos app. That means you can work in Photos or Photoshop and still use Snapheal. Why? Because, it’s easier than Photoshop and not even available as a tool in Photos.
The key to using Snapheal is as much touch as tools. It comes with three erasing modes with different levels of custom erasing precision, hence the need for some trial and error. Different tools and settings work better on some photos than others.
The example above is typical.
What you see is colorful photo with a bunch of power lines and shadows in the way. Sometimes unwanted objects are inescapable. You know. Like the electoral college. In Snapheal, just wipe the shadows and lines sufficiently that the app can erase what you obviously don’t want, then fill in the hole with what surrounds the offending object.
That’s about it. The tools are straightforward and trial and error helps to reduce the learning curve and improve results. What’s missing is a try-before-you-buy option but Snapheal CK has a 30-day money back guarantee.
I suspect you’ll like it.
