Google Photos has introduced The magic Eraser! How To Use it.

[TerryPG]

Why is this Exciting? I can finally remove those 2 legged creatures(humans) that stroll in front of our storefront photos. This is so exciting, let me try and show you how.

Within their last up date Google has introduced the magic eraser!

It’s available on Android, I Phones and Pixel phones.

It’s only available on mobile, not desktop yet. And I have heard it is not world wide yet, I hope some of you can confer and let us know.

What does it do, you may ask?

On the main photo above, again it has to be on mobile So I go to Tools and click on magic eraser , See this next photo screenshot.

Yes I want to remove this so I click on Erase all or click on the blurred image. And here comes the erased photo.

This is so exciting, how many times have we had someone walk into our shot.

You can do the same thing with License plates. You know Google doesn’t want license plates showing.

I will show you how .

Please excuse the different sizes of photos, some are desktop some are screen shots from my phone, But I wanted you to get the idea of how it works.

Next photo storefront with 2 license plates showing

So a little different now, Again go to tools and click on magic eraser, It doesn’t give a suggestion,

see next photo

Once clicked draw a small line with your finger on the license plate and it disappears, I love it

And finally the finished photo.

This is exciting, I am still learning but I will do my best to answer any answers.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TerryPG

The eraser is available in my Google Photos app also. So far it has shown up under Suggestions as the left most icon. But only sometimes. So I really appreciate you pointing out how I can always find it under Tools.

I love it. And try not to over use it.

The new eraser was also discussed in late March initiated by @TorM . See here: https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Magic-eraser-Pixel/m-p/3574657/highlight/true#M1346535

Now I also need to study the new blur tool.

Cheers

Morten

[TerryPG]

Thanks @MortenCopenhagen I have had the blur tool for a bit and used to use that to blur licenses plates, it worked good. Now I use the magic eraser.

I could never figure out how to blur faces, I tried a few times.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TerryPG

I viewed a few YouTube videos to understand the blur tool in Google Photos. It turns out it is designed to blur the background on portraits. No wonder we can’t get it to work on blurring faces and lisence plates.

I will try using the magic eraser to avoid having to use a separate app just to blur faces and lisence plates.

All the best

Morten

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TerryPG

I started using the magic eraser to blur faces. It looks a bit strange, don’t you think?

Here is another example:

It works great for license plates:

Cheers

Morten

[TerryPG]

Hey @MortenCopenhagen I also searched many sites on how to blur faces, Nothing really worked great and LOL I don’t like yours, (they look like weird creatures)

I did have some success using the pen tool effect and drawing a mask on their face which covered up their lower face. Here in Canada it’s probably only about 10% of people still wear a mask in Public( I still do I had Covid last year, and it as intense , Don’t want it again)

I’m Digressing.

Either way let’s keep this post going on, We or anyone else that can help us on blurring faces and using this new tool.

Cheers

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi again @TerryPG

In my native camera app, there is a tool called Mosaic. This is still the best tool in my opinion.

I shared a video on this right here.

In conclusion, I will need to keep using the Mosaic took until Google Photos comes up with a better solution.

Cheers

Morten

[SP31]

Great post recapping the feature, @TerryPG - have enjoyed playing and testing this feature thus far on my Pixel 5 and I think it’s wonderful for cases where we’ve got nearly the perfect shot, yet there may be a stray body or two that are just maybe the very things keeping it from being perfect. I think in cases where crowds show the vibe of a place are still rightful in keeping as is, but Magic Eraser is without a doubt a game changer. Hadn’t thought about using it for license plates either, so that’s cool - great tip!

[TerryPG]

That’s so great you are using it and are familiar with it @SP31

[Rednewt74]

@TerryPG ,

Thank you for the nice explanation, I have been experimenting with the magic eraser as well and over all I am pretty satisfied with the result. I did have one shot where I tried to remove a car that was in front a brick sidewalk, with a flower bed behind that at the base of glass/metal building. The three different backgrounds was just too much for it to blend.

Also, I have just started using an app called “Blur Photo Editor: blur effect” by R. Fukugawa. It has a good size and hardness selection so you can do some very small areas. You can also get it to save to your regular gallery,

[TerryPG]

Excellent @Rednewt74 I am still working on the blur effect I may try yours. Glad you liked it

[rashedul-alam]

@TerryPG Great post. Thanks

[AZ_2021]

Nice share @TerryPG

I jumped as soon as I saw this! I never knew this existed until I read your article. This will be such a timesaver. This will be helpful too when I’m taking photos of busier plaza areas. Thank you for sharing this helpful tip!

[TerryPG]

Thanks @rashedul-alam and @AZ_2021 , It is exciting news, wish I had this 9,000 photos ago.

[Latte]

Excellent post @TerryPG

I am secretly hoping the Magic Eraser starts offering options like remove;

• people

• license plates

• light flairs

I love it, the tool is amazing and gets better every update!

The AI sometimes gets confused but I’m sure that will improve over time… atleast the lady is gone, right?

[TerryPG]

You Are right @Latte I love the results of photo #1 . We are and Google still learning this but I love the results and yes we can remove those humans , LOL

[Latte]

@TerryPG very soon the next update will drop; Magic Editor. This will be an extension of Magic Eraser

[TerryPG]

Can’t wait for this, love to see it @Latte