Using Topaz Photo Studio to Remove Unwanted Objects

I have found the Topaz Photo Studio editor to be amazing at intelligent object removal. Artificially intelligent, that is.

Neighbors and No Neighbors

It’s possible to use Topaz Photo Studio alone (drag photos to its desktop icon), but I find it preferable to send the photo to Photo Studio from within my photo editor (normally Capture One). I always use raw format for the best quality.

Launch Photo Studio from the photo editor

In Capture One, you just right-mouse-click in the photo to bring up the ‘Edit With’ menu. Launch Photo Studio from within the editor, and then convert the shot into DNG format.   It’s still a raw format, which will retain image quality.  Don't do any photo edits before doing this step, since those edits will be discarded. Wait until after processing in Photo Studio to do any more photo editing.

Convert the photo into DNG format

To remove objects in Photo Studio, select a new filter

Note that Topaz has already applied the “RAW denoise” filter. It will always do this step automatically when you send it a DNG (raw) photo.

Pick the ‘Remove’ filter

Goal: remove the car and the sign in the photo above

Draw a mask over an object

Use the ‘removal’ brush to draw over an object. If you have several objects to remove, it’s best to do them one-at-a-time. Click the ‘Remove’ button after drawing over an object. There’s a “Size” slider to alter the brush size. If you make a mistake drawing the mask, you can click the “Add/remove” ‘+’ or ‘-‘ buttons to add or erase the mask.

You can move the zoomed image view around the screen if you hold down the ‘space’ bar. If you prefer, you can change the image magnification to “Fit” the screen using the drop-down list that shows “100%” by default, at the bottom of the window.

After clicking ‘Remove’, the car is gone!

Note in the shot above just how intelligently the car was removed. The AI figured out how to re-create the ends of the stairs, for instance.

Add some more masks to rid small distracting objects

After clicking ‘Remove’ again, the distracting sign is gone

When all of the unwanted objects are removed, click the “Done” button. You are then free to select more filters, such as another “Sharpen” filter.

The vertical slider shows the ‘Remove’ filter effect

The vertical white slider can be used to review the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of the filter effects. Just slide it left/right across the photo.

When you’re finished with Photo Studio, just click the “Export to Capture One” (or whatever photo editor you are using). The DNG-format photo will be automatically added to your photo editor catalog, and you’ll be returned to your photo editor to do more editing.

This sophisticated level of object removal is only possible using artificial intelligence. Your photo editor ‘healing brush’ and ‘clone brush’ are no match for this.

For full disclosure, I have had issues with both Topaz Photo AI and Photo Studio occasionally crashing my computer. I tolerate that irritation, because these programs are so good as sharpening, noise removal, and object removal. My computer exceeds all of the Topaz specifications for CPU memory, GPU memory, disk space, etcetera, but I still have problems. I have tried every version through 4.0.4, but they all cause problems.

I have found that Topaz Photo AI and Photo Studio essentially interchangeable programs.