Remove the background from a photo on Mac

How to remove the background from an image on Mac

1. Import your photo

   Choose Magic ▸ “Import Photo…” in the toolbar and pick any image your Mac can open. It lands on a new layer named “Photo”, scaled down if needed and centered.

2. Make the photo layer active

   Click “Studio” in the toolbar to show your layers, then click the “Photo” row. Remove Background works on the active layer only, and a photo you just imported is already active.

3. Remove the background

   Choose Magic ▸ “Remove Background”. The subject stays on the “Photo” layer and everything around it turns transparent; click “Undo” if you want the original back.

4. Paint a new background

   Click a layer below “Photo” (a new canvas starts with an empty one) and paint on it, or press F for “Fill” and click once for a solid color.

5. Export the result

   Choose File ▸ “Export as PNG…” for the whole picture. For the cut-out alone, select the “Photo” layer and choose File ▸ “Export Selected Layers…” (⇧⌘E).

How Remove Background works on your Mac

When you remove a background on Mac with Paint My, the app finds the foreground subject on the active layer and makes everything else transparent, keeping every subject it finds. It is one undoable step, and it works on any unlocked layer: an imported photo, an image pasted with ⌘V (it lands on a layer named “Pasted”), or your own artwork.

The cut-out stays on the same layer. Paint My does not move it to a new layer, so your layer order stays as it was.

There is no refinement brush and no edge feathering. If an edge needs a touch-up, use the Eraser (E). It works on the topmost visible layer with paint where your stroke starts. Its “Hard”, “Soft” and “Color-aware” styles are all free.

Cut out a subject from a photo, then paint a new background

Anything on a layer below shows through the cleared area, so you can paint a new scene behind your subject with a brush, a Linear or Radial “Gradient”, or a flat “Fill”.

Watch the layer order. Switching brush or color on a layer that already has paint starts a new layer at the top of the stack, and so does a gradient on a layer of brush strokes. If fresh paint covers your subject, drag that layer below “Photo” in the Studio list. Free paintings keep up to 3 layers, and at that limit new marks go on the active layer; Pro has no layer limit. New to layers? See how Paint My works as a drawing app with layers for Mac.

Want to change the whole photo instead? Turn a photo into a painting with Paint It for Me, or turn a photo into a sketch with Photo to Sketch.

Make the background transparent on Mac and save a transparent PNG

PNG keeps transparency. File ▸ “Export as PNG…” saves the visible layers at the canvas size and never includes the paper surface, so cleared areas stay transparent. Hide your background layer first if you want only the subject.

For a tight cut-out, select its layer and choose “Export Selected Layers…” (⇧⌘E). You get a PNG cropped to the artwork’s own edges.

JPEG has no transparency: “Export as JPEG…” flattens the picture over the surface’s flat color, or white on the “Transparent” surface. “Export as Layered PSD…” keeps the cut-out and your new background as separate layers; here is how to open PSD files on Mac. Every export is free.

To see transparency while you work, pick the “Transparent” surface from the “Surface” chips in the Studio. Cleared areas then show as a checkerboard.

Remove background offline: nothing leaves your Mac

Remove Background runs on your Mac, using Apple’s on-device Vision framework. Your photo is not uploaded, you don’t need an account, and it works without an internet connection. The Magic menu’s tooltip says it plainly: “Smart imaging — everything runs on this Mac”.

Paint My needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Paint It for Me and Photo to Sketch, in the same Magic menu, run on the device too.

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