How to Use Content Aware Fill in Lightroom to Remove Objects From Photos

David brings up his landscape scene of distant mountains beyond a landscape of desert. To his dismay, he discovers a Fallen Rock sign and a bag of trash in the middle of the foreground. Time for Lightroom’s Content Aware Fill, which can replace unwanted objects with surrounding elements through AI, artificial intelligence. In the Develop module, David chooses the healing tool, which illuminates the Content Aware Remove feature. By clicking on the tool, a circle forms around the Fallen Rocks sign, AI takes over, and it is converted into a shrub.

But sometimes this feature is not effective, especially when working on large objects in a composition. David selects a sand dunes image with another photographer pictured in the foreground. When he uses this fill tool to remove the photographer, the result is a messy shadow. He has to resort to the clone stamp to fix the edges, a time consuming effort. However, if the person you are trying to remove is smaller, the Content Aware tool should work. David removes a person at the top of a sand dune by clicking and dragging the select circle over the person. You can also click and drag on any area of the image to select the replacement section.

In this premium video Outdoor Photography Guide’s David Johnston takes you through the process of removing unwanted objects from your images. The Content Aware fill tool will make your photographic life easier.