Remove People from Photos Using Photoshop Image Stacking

Capturing popular tourist landmarks without crowds is nearly impossible, but you can automatically remove moving pedestrians using median image stacking in Adobe Photoshop. By capturing a series of photos from a fixed position and blending them together, Photoshop analyzes identical pixels across all frames and discards the shifting pixels representing people. This technique cleanly eliminates foot traffic, leaving only the stationary architecture or landscape behind without tedious manual cloning.

1. Shoot the Photos Correctly in the Field

The success of median stacking depends on your camera setup before opening Photoshop:

  • Use a Tripod: The camera must remain as still as possible across all exposures.
  • Lock Settings: Shoot in Manual Mode so exposure, white balance, and aperture stay consistent between frames.
  • Use Manual Focus: Ensure autofocus does not refocus on passing tourists between shots.
  • Take Multiple Shots Over Time: Capture between 15 and 30 frames spaced roughly 10 to 20 seconds apart. This interval ensures pedestrians have moved to new positions in each frame, allowing the static background behind them to be revealed.

2. Load the Files into Photoshop

Once your images are transferred to your computer:

  1. Open Adobe Photoshop.
  2. Navigate to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.
  3. In the dialog box, set the Use dropdown to Files or Folder, click Browse, and select all the images from the sequence.
  4. Check the box labeled Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images. This corrects any slight camera shake or tripod shifts.
  5. Check the box labeled Create Smart Object after Loading Layers.
  6. Click OK. Photoshop will process the images, align them, and place them into a single Smart Object layer.

(Note: If you already have the images open as layers in a standard document, select all layers in the Layers panel, right-click, and choose Convert to Smart Object.)

3. Apply the Median Stack Mode

With the aligned images grouped into a Smart Object, apply the median blend:

  1. Select the Smart Object layer in the Layers panel.
  2. Go to the top menu and select Layer > Smart Objects > Stack Mode > Median.
  3. Wait for Photoshop to render the calculation.

The Median calculation evaluates the numerical color values of each corresponding pixel across every layer in the stack and selects the middle value. Because moving pedestrians occupy a specific pixel location for only a fraction of the shots, their pixel values are treated as statistical outliers and deleted, rendering the scene empty.

4. Clean Up Residual Artifacts

If an individual stood stationary for too long during the shoot, a faint "ghost" or partial silhouette might remain. To fix this:

  1. Create a new blank layer above the Smart Object.
  2. Select the Spot Healing Brush or Clone Stamp Tool.
  3. In the options bar at the top, set the sample source to Current & Below.
  4. Paint over any faint outlines using the clean surrounding details to finalize the image.