Lift the Subject from the Background in a Photo on the iPad

In this video, what we’re going to look at is how we can lift the subject from a photo on the iPad with iPad os 16. Let’s go over to my iPad and see how this works.

Now this feature where we can lift the subject out of a photo was introduced with iPad os 16. So if you’re using an older version of iPad OS, you’ll not be able to use this feature. Also, this feature is not specific to the Photos app, this works across multiple apps, I’m able to lift the subject out of a photo in my messages. If I had a photo in my notes, I’d be able to lift the subject out of a photo and my notes. This is not tied to a specific app, it’s just tied to the iPad. So let’s go and see how this works in the Photos app, and then I’m going to show you how it works in the Messages app, just so you can see how it works across multiple apps. Let’s go over to the Photos app.

Now the first thing that you’ll need to do is find a photo that has a clear foreground and background. This doesn’t work across all photos, you’re not going to be able to choose what is lifted, what happens is the iPad will look at the photo and see what is in the foreground. And then it lifted up as an example, when I go over to this photo here. If I wanted to lift the subject out of here, the iPad would not know what is the subject here, what is in the foreground. So I would not get good results with this. So to get the best results, we want to have a photo that has a subject, something in the foreground that it can separate from the background. As an example, when we go over to this photo here. This is from Disney’s Animal Kingdom, what I’m able to do is actually lift this mountain, this roller coaster up from the sky in the background, there is a clear distinction between the foreground and the background. To do that, all we have to do is just tap and hold on the subject. So I’m going to tap and hold on the mountain when I do that, you’re going to see a white line flash through the photo, it only takes about a second. It’s using machine learning to figure out what the subject is. And then from there, what I’m able to do is copy it and paste it into another app as an example. So I’m going to tap and hold and watch for that white line. There it is. And now what I’m able to do is take this photo here or this mountain, and lifted from the background. If I let go, what we have here is copy. So now what I’m able to do is copy this and you’re also going to see we have that white line outlining what the subject is. So I’m going to copy this.

Now what I can do is paste this into another app. Unfortunately, I can’t paste it on to a photo in the Photos app. So we can’t do any layering. But let’s go and open up my notes app. When I go to my notes app. And I create a new note. And I paste I just tap in here to paste, you’re going to see paste up towards the top here, watch what happens. We have my roller coaster there and it’s lifted from the background. Let’s go and do that again, I’m going to go back over to my photos app.

I’m going to show you how you can do this with gestures as well. And we’re going to go to a different photo. So I’m just going to tap on the care in the upper left hand corner to go back. And let’s take a look at this photo here with the elephant. Again, we can see that we have a good distinction between the foreground and background. So now all I have to do is just tap and hold on the elephant, we get our white line, we can see that it lifted the elephant there, I’m just moving my finger around. And now instead of letting go, I’m just going to keep holding on to the elephant here. And with my other hand, I’m going to swipe up to get to my home screen, we can see we have the elephant here. Now what I’m going to do is go to my notes app. And I’m going to create a new note, you’re going to see we have the green plus over here. And all I have to do is just let go and pasted that elephant in there.

Let’s see how we do this from another app. This time, what we’re going to do is go over to our messages app, I have this tool appear I would like to look that tool up out from the background. All I have to do is just tap on it to bring it into a bigger screen. And again, I just tap and hold and watch what happens. We have that white line and now from here I can lift it up. And if I swipe up and go over to my notes and create a new note. I can let go. And there it is with no background. I could have also used copy and paste. So that’s Now we looked the subject out of the background of a photo. Again, this was introduced with iPad os 16.

This does work within any app that you can open up a photo with just tap and hold on the photo. As long as it has a clear foreground, what you’ll be able to do is lift that subject in the foreground away from the background, and then you can copy and paste it or use gestures to bring it into another app. So that’s how you lift the foreground away from the background and how you can copy and pasted into other apps on the iPad.