How to remove something from a photo: the clone stamp and the healing brush
Paint over the unwanted thing with a clone stamp, which copies pixels from a spot you choose, or a healing brush, which copies the texture and matches it to the light around it. GIMP, Paint.NET and the free web editor Photopea all have them, as does Photoshop. Work on a layer above the photo, so the original stays as it was.
30 October 2026 · 4 min read
Two tools, two jobs
Clone stamp. You pick a source point, usually with Alt+click (Ctrl+click in GIMP), then paint. The brush copies whatever is at the source, moving with you. It is exact, so it is right for edges, patterns and straight lines: carrying a skirting board across where a plug socket was.
Healing brush. It also copies from a source, but blends the copied texture into the colour and brightness around where you paint. It is right for skin, walls, sky and wood grain, where an exact copy would show a patch of the wrong shade. Photoshop also has a Spot Healing Brush and Content-Aware Fill, which pick the source themselves.
Where to find them for free
- GIMP (Windows, Mac, Linux): the Clone tool and the Heal tool, open source.
- Paint.NET (Windows): a Clone Stamp tool; free, with a paid store version that funds it.
- Photopea (in the browser): Clone Stamp, Healing Brush and Spot Healing, laid out like Photoshop. The editing runs in your browser, with adverts unless you pay.
Doing it well
- Use a new layer. Add an empty layer above the photo and set the tool to sample all layers. Every fix can be erased or hidden later, and the photo underneath is untouched.
- Sample close by. Take the source from just beside the thing you are removing, where the light and grain are the same.
- Move the source often. Cloning from one spot leaves a repeated pattern the eye catches at once.
- Soft, small brush, zoomed in. Several small dabs look better than one long stroke.
- Select first for big changes. A feathered selection keeps a fix, or a brightness change, from spilling onto the rest of the picture.
When not to
A product photo for a shop should show what the customer will get. Removing a scuff from the shelf behind it is tidying; removing a scratch from the product itself is a different thing, and many marketplaces forbid it.
Our own product, disclosed
Where our own software comes into this
We make Rutba Office, a free desktop suite for Windows. Its Image app has the Clone Stamp and the Healing Brush, feathered selections, the Lasso, and layers that can be saved as a project. Fixes go on layers above the photo, and the photo itself is left as it was.
Related
How to remove the location from a photo before you share it
Phones write where each photo was taken into the file itself, as GPS coordinates among its EXIF details. Turn it off when sharing from the phone, use Remove Properties in Windows, or export a copy without it. Most social networks strip it from what they show, but files sent as attachments keep it.
How to resize, convert and rename a whole folder of photos at once
On Windows, Microsoft’s free PowerToys adds Image Resizer and PowerRename to File Explorer; on a Mac, Preview resizes a selection and Finder renames it with a number. For one job that resizes, converts and renames together, use a batch tool such as ImageMagick, and always write the results to a new folder.
How to open HEIC photos and camera RAW files on Windows
Windows opens HEIC photos once two Microsoft Store extensions are installed, HEIF Image Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions, and camera RAW files once the free Raw Image Extension is. Or have the iPhone save JPEG in the first place, or convert its photos as you copy them.
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