The worst part about taking pictures of historical monuments and city streets is that cars and people always block part of the picture. This takes the photo away from the real thing.

Remove people’s images, you will learn a technique that allows you to quickly remove people and cars from your photos. You have to plan for this and take several pictures, but the results will be amazing!

Photoshop has a lesser-known feature called Image Stack Modes that has been around for over a decade. Stack Image is like a Blending mode that combines the layers inside a smart object in a specific way, depending on the algorithm you choose.

One of those modes is Median , which takes a statistical average of the content in all photos. Keeps these areas the same and removes everything that changes between different photos. When the algorithm is applied, you can remove people and unwanted traffic, only the background.

 

Put your photos in a Photoshop document

The first step is to put the image files in Photoshop as layers in a single document. To do this, go to  Load Files into Stack File> Scripts .

In the ” Load Layers ” window, select ” Folder ” from ” Use ” and drop it. Then click the ” Browse ” button and search for the folder that contains the images. After selecting the folder, press OK .

The file names appear in the window (as shown below). If all the files are there, press the OK button . Photoshop then takes all the files and lays them in a document

 

Automatic adjustment of layers

To work with the Image Stack , the layers must be aligned as best as possible. If you used a tripod when shooting, your layers should be aligned right now. The photos used in this tutorial were taken without a tripod, so we need the help of Photoshop to coordinate them for us.

To align layers, all of them by pressing Ctrl + Alt + A select. Then go to the Edit menu and select ” Auto-Align Layers “. Make sure ” Auto ” is selected and press ” OK “. Photoshop then scrolls through all the layers to find similar pixels and arranges them in order.

Put coordinated layers in a smart unit

Now that all the layers are aligned, you need to place them on a smart object or unit to be able to apply Stack Mode . All your layers by pressing Ctrl + Alt + A select again. Then right-click on the space to the left of each selected layer and select ” Convert to Smart Object “.

You should now have only one Smart Object in the Layers panel.

Median Stack mode

Now that all the layers are inside a smart object, you can control how the set is combined using a “Stack” mode. Go to Layer> Smart Objects> Stack Mode> Median.

Here, stack mode extracts a statistical average of the content in all photos. Holds the same areas and removes everything that changes between different photos, such as people passing through the scene.

A faster way to do this with Statistics Script

You can only do this with one command. To do this go to File> Scripts> Statistics  Go

In the Image Statistics window , select the folder you want to use. Click the Browse button to find the images you want to use in the Image Stack.

After uploading the images, select Median as Stack Mode and check the “Try to Automatically Align Images Source” check box.

Automatically adjusts images, placing them in a smart object using Median Stack mode.

Fix Image Stack errors

Problems may arise when dealing with background elements that are always moving, such as water, clouds, or flags. In this example, the two flags disappear from the top of the tower. We can restore them by copying and filling out a flag from one of the original images.

To see the original images, go to Layer> Smart Object> Edit Contents . A new tab will open containing the contents of the smart object. Then look at your layers to see which of the original layers has the best case version you want to replace.

Select the Lasso tool and select around objects. Press Ctrl + C to copy.

Return to the previous location and press Ctrl + Shift + V to move to the original location.

Create a smart object to hold everything

Select all the layers by pressing Ctrl + Alt + A, right-click on each selected layer and select “Convert to Smart Object”. This smart object can now be adjusted or manipulated as long as it is one layer. You can apply the Camera RAW filter non-destructively to increase the color and tone of the image.

 

Camera RAW filter to adjust the tone and color of the image

Select the smart object that contains all the layers and select Adobe Camera Raw by going to Filter> Camera RAW. This filter is very similar to Adobe Lightroom. The controls are in a similar design and do the same thing. Lightroom is built from the Camera RAW engine, so if you are a Lightroom user, you will be familiar with it.

You can create an HDR effect by darkening and brightening the shadows. Drag the Highlights slider to the left and the Shadows slider to the right. Drag the Clarity slider to the right.

Finally, finish by adding Vibrance. Vibrance reduces saturation in its saturated areas and protects the skin tones in the portrait.

 

Crop image

If you do not use a tripod, the edges of the photo are probably incompatible. To fix these shortcomings, you can simply cut them using the Crop Tool. Press C on the keyboard, then use the knobs to adjust the size of the product. When done, press Return: