iOS 16 Lets You Isolate, Copy, and Share Subjects in Photos

[MacRumors]

Using advanced machine learning, iOS 16 will let users extract a subject from a photo, then drag and drop that subject as a photo across the system to use in Messages, Notes, Mail, and more.

The feature works not only in Photos but even in screenshots and Quick Look. In the Photos app, just hold down on a photo for a few seconds until you see a white glow appear around the subject. You can then drag the subject out of the Photos app and into Messages, Mail, Notes, and more.

In Quick Look and elsewhere in the system, simply hold down on a photo and tap "Copy Subject" from the list of actions. The subject of the image is then isolated and stored in your clipboard to be used elsewhere in the system.

The feature also works with paused frames for videos in the Photos app. Since the feature requires advanced machine learning and image analysis, it is only available on phones with the A12 Bionic and newer.

Article Link: iOS 16 Lets You Isolate, Copy, and Share Subjects in Photos

 

[BvizioN]

It used to take me ages to do this very thing on a Photoshop years ago.

 

[jonnysods]

Dang! I'll do this sometimes as a quick workaround instead of heading into PS.

 

[Bustycat]

The middle image shows that Craig lives in an iPhone.

 

[runeapple]

Would have been more impressive if it removed the background in the middle from the arm in which he\s touching his hair.

 

[EastHillWill]

Would have been more impressive if it removed the background in the middle from the arm in which he\s touching his hair.

Good catch. Wonder if they missed that, or included it to show its limitations. I’m guessing it’s the former, but also that it’s an accurate example of the feature’s capability. Very cool either way, hoping it works on iPadOS as well.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Nice. I can see myself actually using this 😂😂😂

 

[Shanghaichica]

Good catch. Wonder if they missed that, or included it to show its limitations. I’m guessing it’s the former, but also that it’s an accurate example of the feature’s capability. Very cool either way, hoping it works on iPadOS as well.

It’s on the website under iPadOS.

 

[Sean J]

Would have been more impressive if it removed the background in the middle from the arm in which he\s touching his hair.

It manages it with his right arm, but not his left. I suspect it may be because his grey hair is a close match in colour to the background colour.

 

[pboudoin]

My app HyperPhoto just has been sherlocked by Apple
Fortunately, I've got several other features

 

[asdex]

It manages it with his right arm, but not his left. I suspect it may be because his grey hair is a close match in colour to the background colour.

It also chops off part of his right ear 👂

 

[alpi123]

It's surprising how well it detects the edge of objects

 

[nfl46]

I just tried this with a few pictures and it worked great.

 

[MrGimper]

I've had a play and seems to work well. Now we need a samsung-esque magic erase in photos now

 

[The Game 161]

Wait can you remove somebody from a photo though? Or just copy?

 

[Premium1]

Apple going for the king of cringe with that part of their keynote...

 

[Shanghaichica]

Wait can you remove somebody from a photo though? Or just copy?

Just copy I think.

 

[narr]

 

[gsmornot]

I dont see a way to resize the image. I have to accept whatever the size is going to be on the paste.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Still cannot place photos into your album removing from the moan library though

 

[Danfango]

I give it a week before this process failing in an amusing way appears as a meme.

It is a very cool feature though.

 

[BeatCrazy]

This is the one announcement from the keynote that actually had me say 'wow' aloud. Yes, I know this function has been around for a long time, but the ease of which Apple is going to implement it makes it take on a whole new functionality for millions.

 

[tkaravou]

The middle image shows that Craig lives in an iPhone.

Swipe up, up, down down, left, right, left, right, double tap to unlock

 

[ProfessionalFan]

It works very well already but it can and likely will be improved. For a first beta, I am shocked at how well it works.

 

[ignatius345]

As someone who's manually silhouetted thousands of images in Photoshop, I can attest that this is inherently a very tricky process with complex backgrounds. A lot of times it just ends up being a judgement call whether to include a bit of shadow, or where someone's hair ends and the grass behind it begins. It will probably look very good most of the time at small sizes, but I predict some funny/maddening misfires as it sees wide use.

I've really scaled back using Portrait Mode on my iPhone 13 because it gets my kid's frizzy hair so horribly wrong a lot of the time, blurring out parts of it and not others. You can close up the aperture to ƒ22 or something afterward to increase depth of field, but sometimes even that doesn't fix it, and there's no turning the effect off completely once you've taken the photo that way.