How to remove people from a photo background (and other distractions: banners, cables, power lines)

Short answer: To remove people from a photo background in Framky, open the photo in the editor with “Edit with AI” and type one specific instruction, for example “Remove everyone from the background, leave the square and the buildings unchanged”. Check the preview, compare it with the original on a before-and-after slider, then create a final version in full quality for print. You remove banners, cables and power lines the same way.

A travel photo is rarely taken in an empty place. A tour group stands in front of the cathedral, someone puts up a windbreak on the beach, cables run above a mountain lake. On a phone that is a small thing. In a large frame above the sofa, a stranger becomes part of your wall for years.

This article shows how to remove those distractions in the AI editor, in the same place where you design a photo gallery wall. A general description of the editor, credits and versions is in the AI photo editor in Framky.

Why the background spoils a good photo on the wall

On a screen you look at a photo for a few seconds, and you look at what matters: the faces, the view. A photo on the wall you see every day, and the eye starts to wander over the details. Then everything that stayed invisible in the phone gallery shows up:

• Stray people. Someone in a bright jacket draws the eye more than your family in the foreground.
• Lettering and banners. We read text automatically, so an advert on a facade pulls attention away from the building.
• Lines and cables. A thin black line in the sky cuts the frame in half and spoils the landscape.
• Small clutter. A rubbish bin, a traffic cone, a parked scooter.

The larger the format, the more visible it is. If you are planning one large photo as the centre of the gallery, also read what size to choose, and how many.

Removing stray people: instructions step by step

1. Upload the photo to the project and, next to the photo, choose “Edit with AI”.
2. Describe whom to remove and what to keep. The editor asks: “What should change in the photo?”. One specific sentence, with a place and a description of the people, works best.
3. Check the preview. A quick draft to try out the idea. This usually takes about 10 seconds. It is low resolution and only for judging the idea.
4. Compare it with the original on a before-and-after slider (“Original” and “Edited”). Look at the spots where people stood: whether the pavement, the steps and the shadows look natural.
5. Create the final version in full quality for print. Full quality can take up to 1 minute.
6. Choose “Use in frame”.

Example instructions. The editor also offers the ready idea “Remove people from the background”:

Situation	Instruction
A crowd in front of a monument	Remove everyone from the background, leave the square and the buildings unchanged
One person in the frame	Remove the man in the blue jacket on the right
Family in the foreground, tourists behind them	Remove people from the background, the people in the foreground stay unchanged
A beach	Remove the people and the windbreaks from the beach behind us
A street	Remove the passers-by and the parked scooters from the street

If you are removing people and your family is also in the photo, always write who should stay. An instruction that only says “remove people”, without that note, can treat everyone the same way.

Banners, signs, cables and power lines

The same rules work for objects. Name the object, give the place, and say what should stay.

Distraction	Instruction
Power lines above the mountains	Remove the cables and power lines from the sky
A pole in the landscape	Remove the power pole on the left, fill in the forest and the lake
A banner on a building	Remove the advertising banner from the building facade
A road sign	Remove the road sign from the foreground
A bin and cones	Remove the rubbish bin and the cones from the pavement

Two practical tips:

• One change at a time. Remove the people first, then the cables, then the banner. Each next edit starts from the previous version (“Edit further from this version”), and every version stays on the list, so it is easy to step back.
• Large objects need more guesswork. When you remove something that covers a large part of the frame, the editor has to draw what was behind it. With small distractions the result is usually the most natural.

How to check the result before a large-format print

A preview on a phone forgives a lot. A print in a frame forgives less. Before you use the version in the gallery:

1. Enlarge the spots where objects were removed. Look for repeating patterns, blurred patches and broken lines, such as the edge of a pavement or the joints between paving stones.
2. Check shadows and reflections. The person is gone, but their shadow on the paving, or their reflection in the water, may remain. Then add an instruction: “Remove the shadow on the left”.
3. Turn on the frame proportions. The editor can “Show frame proportions”, so you see which part of the photo will sit in the frame. Do not fix a spot that will be cropped out anyway.
4. Compare with the original. A before-and-after slider quickly shows whether the editor changed something that was meant to stay, such as lettering on a monument or the shape of a window.
5. Check the resolution. An edit will not add detail to a file that is too small. How many pixels you need is described in how much DPI you need for photo printing.

Travel photos worth saving

We most often save photos that cannot be taken again: a trip from years ago, a place you will not return to, a moment with children who are older today. It is worth going through the archive with that in mind:

• Monuments and squares where someone was always standing in front.
• Beaches and promenades in season.
• Mountain views cut by a cable-car line or a power line.
• Narrow streets with parked scooters and shop signs.
• Family photos with a crowd behind them, where everyone came out well and only the background is chaotic.

Ideas for arranging photos like these are in a gallery of travel memories. How this looks in real homes is shown in the stories of Henry and Kai. If you are only planning the trip, a few tips on taking better photos from the start are in how to take beautiful photos on holiday.

From the edit to a gallery on the wall

1. Choose a layout in the photo gallery wall and upload your photos.
2. Next to the photos with distractions, choose “Edit with AI” and remove them one by one, one instruction at a time.
3. Check the final version with the frame proportions on, and choose “Use in frame”.
4. Place the order. The set arrives ready to hang, with a 1:1 paper template and self-adhesive hangers, and you have 30 days to send it back.