How to: my favorite iOS 16 trick

Removing a background is easier than ever

While some of us have said “meh” to the new iPhone, suggesting that some folks with the latest model not be in a rush to upgrade, the majority opinion on iOS16 has been pretty uniformly positive.

The yearly update to the iPhone operating system is a visual stunner, making your homescreen look prettier, and it’s full of several fun new features, like the ability to call back a text after you’ve sent it and removing backgrounds from photos. This is by far my favorite feature of the free upgrade.

My friends Christel (who is known as @xtel on social media) and Marci, minus their original background.Graphic created in Adobe Express app.

You don’t have to buy a new iPhone to do this—in fact, you don’t need an iPhone at all. There are many apps that now do it as well in a matter of a few clicks.

But it sure is drop dead simple on the iPhone!

Chalk it up to massive advancements in artificial intelligence. I used to spend hours in Photoshop trying to do this cleanly. Now, it can be done effectively in seconds, just by clicking a few buttons. (In Photoshop now, you go to the Select tab, and click Subject. That’s it.)

But let’s go back to iOS16. The subject tool only works with some photos (best with people or static objects, like food) and on iPhones as recent as iPhone 12, 13 or 14. You can remove backgrounds with one click from your photos in the Camera Roll, or images in the Safari web browser.

Just place your finger over the subject, and a ghostlike white border appears for a few seconds. Open up an e-mail or text, and paste the background less image, or share directly to social media.

To extract the background in iOS16, you place your finger on the image and get directed to copy it (to an e-mail or text) or share to a program like Facebook or Twitter.

What the iOS background removal photo looks like

The question next, is what to do with the photo? There are no Apple tools (yet, anyhow) to paste them over existing images.

Christel pasted the photo over the most famous un-finished church in Barcelona, using a third-party app

There are many third-party apps you can use however, to have fun with the images. Many offer a free trial of a few days, and then charge anywhere from $10 monthly to $40 and even higher for the year. Popular apps include Canva, PixelCut and Bazaart.

The white fog of the Half Moon Bay sky was replaced with this stock image on the Bazaart app. See the halo over the lighthouse? Cheesey!

The top image of my friends Christel and Marci (“Xtel and Marci”) with the pink background was created in Adobe Express, which uses many of the top tools from the flagship Photoshop, yet for free. (Photoshop starts at $120 yearly for the annual photography subscription.)

I choose a background, pasted my friends over the pink, put in a headline, and saved the file to my Camera Roll. That simple.

Or you could go basic and just paste the background-less image into Twitter, where the subject is so much stronger without those distractions. Two perfect subjects: people and food photography.

sam 🗯️ @gamsougher

ios 16 background removal does WONDERS for food photography

Jefferson Graham 🌅 @jeffersongraham

Pumpkin time!

ICYMI: Pumpkin Town

In case you missed it, the latest #PhotowalksTV episode is set in Half Moon Bay, which today celebrates its 50th annual Art and Pumpkin Festival. Please watch the video, and check out Ruth Talks Food’s take on pumpkins as well. And yes, I used iOS16 to cut out my background and place me in front of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse for the YouTube thumbnail.

Give it a try. And if you don’t have a current iPhone with iOS16, check out the Adobe Express app, which is free. The background removal tool is fantastic.

Thanks for reading, watching and listening. Have fun cutting out the background of your favorite images, and if you have any questions, I’m just a reply away!

Jeff