LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Remove Photo Backgrounds With Ease
Pixelmator Pro
Pro image editing for everyone
This is part of a series on Pixelmator Pro’s one-click, machine-learning-powered features. More stories in this series:
Sometimes the best photo of your subject is ruined by a busy or uninspiring background. Pixelmator Pro’s background-removal tools—powered by AI trained on millions of professional photos—can help.
Check out these three features for focusing on your subject:
Get rid of the background
Pixelmator Pro’s Remove Background tool (Edit > Remove Background) automatically determines the subject of the photo, refines the edges of that subject to avoid jaggedness, then removes everything else—all in seconds. The feature also “decontaminates” the colors of the subject so there’s no bleedthrough from the original background or halo effect around the edges.
Select just the subject
To keep the background but isolate the subject for editing, opt for the Select Subject tool (Edit > Select Subject). It works the same magic as Remove Background but selects your subject rather than removing everything else. You can then use any of the app’s other editing tools on the selected area.
Pro tip: If you use this feature often, make it even easier to access by Control-clicking anywhere in the toolbar, choosing Customize Toolbar, and dragging the Select Subject button to the desired position.
Customize your mask
If your photo’s subject or background is complex or noisy, the Remove Background and Select Subject tools might give you a less-than-perfect result. The Select and Mask feature lets you refine the selection.
Click any selection tool in the list on the right, then click Select Subject. Once Pixelmator Pro identifies the subject, click Select and Mask; anything not selected is masked with yellow, making it easy to spot places where the automatic mask isn’t perfect.
Next, click Smart Refine: Pixelmator Pro uses machine learning to refine its detection of small details like hair strands. You can also zoom in (Command-=) and use the Basic Brush, Quick Select Brush, and Refine Edge Brush tools to manually touch up the trickiest bits; choose Add (+) or Subtract (-) mode to add to or remove from the selection, respectively.