Fix and edit your photos with AI
Remove a stranger from a holiday snap, brighten a dark birthday photo or rescue a faded family picture. Here’s how, and when to be honest about it.
Video transcript
A stranger in your holiday photo, a dark birthday snap, a faded picture of your grandparents. AI can fix all three in seconds. Here’s how, and when to be honest about it.
It can remove clutter, fix the lighting, sharpen a blurry shot, extend the background to fit a new shape, and repair old, damaged prints.
Many phones have a tool for this in the photo app. Brush over what you want gone, let the AI fill the gap, then zoom in and save it as a copy.
Some chat assistants can edit a photo you upload, too. Describe the change, say what must stay the same, and compare the result with your original.
For old family photos, scan the print or photograph it flat, and keep the original. Repair the damage first, add colour if you like, and check the faces still look like your family.
Remember that everything the AI adds is invented. It can’t know what was really behind that stranger, or what colour Grandma’s dress was.
Edits are fine for fun. But where it matters, such as news, evidence or selling a car, don’t pass off an edited photo as untouched. Label realistic edits.
And ask before you change anyone else’s face or body. A realistic fake of a real person can mislead people, and hurt the person in it.
Read the full guide below for a prompt you can copy, then try it on a photo you love.
In 30 seconds
- AI can remove clutter, fix the light, sharpen a blurry shot and repair old photos.
- What it fills in is a guess, so keep the original and check faces closely.
- Don’t pass off an edit as untouched where it matters, and ask before you edit other people.
There’s a stranger in a yellow coat behind you in your favourite holiday photo. The birthday cake picture came out dark, and Grandma’s wedding photo has faded to orange. Fixing these used to take expensive software and real skill. Now AI tools on your phone and in everyday apps can do it in a few taps.
What AI can fix
- Remove clutterBrush over a stranger, a bin or a stray cable, and AI fills the gap with background that matches.
- Fix the lightBrighten a gloomy party photo or bring back a washed-out sky, often with a single tap.
- Sharpen a blurry shotSome apps can sharpen a slightly blurred photo, or enlarge a small one, called Jargon busterUpscaling: Using AI to make a small or blurry picture bigger and sharper. It guesses the missing detail, so the result can look real without being accurate.. The extra detail is a guess.
- Extend the backgroundTurn a tall photo into a wide one for a banner or a frame. AI invents the extra scenery around the edges.
- Restore old photosRepair scratches, tears and fading on a scanned print, and even add colour to a black-and-white picture.
Look in your phone’s photo or gallery app first: many now have AI tools in the edit menu. Design apps such as Canva have them too, and some chat assistants, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, can edit a photo you upload when you describe the change. Some tools need a paid plan.
Removing, extending and restoring all use Jargon busterGenerative AI: AI that creates new text, images, sound or video, rather than only sorting or labelling things.: the AI paints in new Jargon busterPixels: The tiny coloured squares that make up a digital picture. Enlarge a picture too far and they show, so it looks blurry or blocky. that were never there. That’s why an edit can look perfect at a glance and odd up close, with a smudged edge or a pattern that repeats.
Remove something in a few taps
- Open the edit menuFind the tool to erase or remove things
- Mark itCircle or brush over what should go
- AI fills the gapIt paints in background to match
- Check and saveZoom in, then save it as a copy
Edit the photo I’ve uploaded. Remove [the man in the red coat on the left] and fill the gap so it matches the background around it. Change nothing else: keep everyone’s faces, the colours, the lighting and the shape of the photo exactly as they are.
Bring old family photos back to life
- Copy it wellScan the print, or photograph it flat in daylight, with no glare and the phone held straight above it.
- Keep the originalSave the untouched scan somewhere safe, keep the print, and do every edit on a copy.
- Repair, then colourFix scratches, tears and fading first. Add colour only if you want to: the colours are the AI’s guess.
- Check the facesCompare them with the original. Restoring can subtly change an eye or a smile, until Grandad no longer quite looks like Grandad.
- Say it’s restoredWhen you share it, mention that it’s been restored or colourised, so nobody mistakes the guesses for the real thing.
Be honest about your edits
| Fine for fun | Be upfront, or don’t edit |
|---|---|
| Brightening a gloomy holiday photo | News or a report at work or school: don’t change what happened |
| Removing a bin from a picnic picture | Evidence for an insurance claim or a complaint: send the original |
| Sharpening a blurry snap of the dog | Selling a car or a house: show scratches, cracks and damp as they are |
| A wider sky for your phone wallpaper | A realistic edit people might take as real: say it’s edited |
Saying so can be as simple as a caption: “edited with AI”. Some apps also add a small label, or a note hidden in the file, saying AI was used. Leave it in.
Ask before you edit someone else, and don’t change anyone’s face or body in a way they wouldn’t agree to. A realistic fake of a real person doing something they never did is a Jargon busterDeepfake: A fake video, image or voice recording made with AI to look or sound like a real person.. Never make sexual or mocking edits of a real person: they cause real harm, and some are illegal.
Want to make a picture from scratch instead? Here’s how to make images with AI. And to learn the tell-tale signs of an edited picture, see how to spot AI fakes.
Check yourself
3 quick questions nothing is savedTools in this guide
Spotted a mistake? Tell us and an editor will check it.
