PS Elements tools

by Brad
(Vermont)

Q: The full tools PS offers, specifically, what is necessary to remove backgrounds and shadows from images - Elements will or won't do this? From what I can tell I'd say not. Thanks for any help!


A: The Magic Extractor Tool works well for removing Backgrounds. Check it out by clicking on the link below.

Magic Extractor Tool

You can also use the Clone Stamp Tool to replace something in a photo with something from another part of the photo.

For instance if you wanted to remove a bucket from a photo of a yard, you could use the Clone Stamp Tool to sample some grass from another part of the picture and then brush over the bucket and it would be replaced by the grass.

The Healing Brush and Spot Healing Brush Tools work in a similar way. In fact the Spot Healing Brush in version 9 of Elements can now use the Content Aware feature to automatically fill in the area you brush over with pixels of the surrounding area.

Depending on your situation it might work to use one of the various Selection Tools to select the area you want to remove. Then click on the Backspace key on a PC or the Delete key on a Mac to remove it.

So there are various Tools that Elements has that will allow you to remove stuff from photos. It really depends on what specifically you want to do.

Hope this helps Brad.

Good luck,
Rick