Google Pixel 6 Magic Eraser tested — how good is it?

Google Pixel half dozen Magic Eraser tested — how practiced is it?

Magic Eraser in action on a Pixel 6 Pro

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Among the many software-powered photo improvements introduced with the Google Pixel half-dozen and Google Pixel half-dozen Pro, Magic Eraser is conspicuously the star of the bear witness. The new tool tin accept photos you lot've shot and remove whatsoever inapplicable people or objects in the background, giving yous an edited version that's a closer match to the pic you had envisioned.

Magic Eraser'south appeal lies in the fact that it's so uncomplicated to apply. Removing people from a photograph is as simple equally tapping them, and objects can be wiped out by drawing over them or circling them. Often times, the tool is smart enough to spot people or things cluttering up a shot on its own and recommend that you lot tap a button to remove everyone.

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We've already gone over how Magic Eraser works. Just how well does information technology work? To detect out, we took a agglomeration of photos — some shot with the Pixel 6's cameras, others that were in our photo library — and used Magic Eraser to eliminate inapplicable details from the images. Y'all tin can come across the before and later comparisons for yourself below.

Magic Eraser test: Selfie, outdoors

This shot, taken with the Pixel half-dozen's forepart camera in front of my local cinema, is marred simply slightly by the ii people wandering into the background over my shoulder. Eliminating them with Magic Eraser is pretty straightforward, though when the editing tool made its ain suggestions, it also proposed zapping Daniel Craig out of the No Fourth dimension to Die Affiche behind me. Since Daniel's amanuensis would no incertitude complain, I rejected the automatic deletions, and simply tapped on the other two people to get rid of them. Very simple.

Because it was an clouded day, I didn't have to worry too much almost heavy shadows from the erased people, though if you zoom in on the Afterward shot, you can see traces of their shadows on the cement. You'd only notice if you were looking for them, though, as the shadows otherwise await similar shading on the sidewalk.

Magic Eraser test: Portrait, indoors

Hither'due south an instance of the limits of Magic Eraser after I used it to zap an out-of-focus parent who shows up in the background at my daughter'southward showtime dance recital. The parent disappears with ease, but the trip the light fantastic studio's floor is then reflective, a ghostly reflection of her is still quite visible. It's probably not plenty to ruin the shot, merely information technology does make things look a little more eerie than I intended.

One other note — this photo is really old, and so old in fact that it was shot with an iPhone 5c. Yet, because it happened to be in my Google Photos library, Magic Eraser was able to take care of information technology without a problem.

Magic Eraser test: Selfie, background objects

So far, we've focused on removing people, which Magic Eraser handles pretty well. Only what about objects? This Pixel 6 selfie is marred somewhat by the fact that I don't have a pole sticking out of the back of my head, so I used Magic Erase to get rid of the pole, leaving just the blue sky as background.

To go rid of objects, you lot tin can either draw or a circumvolve or a straight line — my preferred method in the instance of the sign pole — and Magic Eraser does the rest. It took a couple tries to get all of the mail service, and the terminate sign itself proved a fiddling bit tricky, simply all that remains is a darker patch of sky that's not all that noticeable. I'1000 more impressed Magic Eraser's ability not to leave whatever traces of the pole around my hair, managing to dissever the photo's subject from its background.

Magic Eraser test: Telephone wires, outdoors

Phone wires are the blight of the mobile photographer's beingness, showing up in the background of many a shot and breaking upwardly what would otherwise exist a compelling sky. Magic Eraser promises to get rid of them, and in this Pixel 6 Pro photo, it does a pretty expert job.

There's a whole mess of telephone wires and lampposts in this shot, and yet Magic Eraser was able to accept out nigh all of them. (A wire tethered to ane of the now-disappeared poles remains, and you can brand out the hint of ane of the wires spanning through the copse.) It's an impressive, if not perfect endeavor, given the many dissimilar backgrounds — trees, heaven, and and then forth — Magic Eraser has to contend with.

Magic Eraser examination: Portrait, foreground objects

Not every object is equally easy to remove equally a direct pole, as this rake at the feet of Marker Spoonauer proves. Only Magic Eraser however managed to remove it from this Pixel six Pro shot, though some traces remain.

You can see the outline of where the rake used to be in the grass — in function considering at that place'due south no leaves like there are on other parts of the lawn and in part because the blades of grass are less distinct. It goes to prove that background surfaces thing when using Magic Eraser — the smoother, the meliorate.

Magic Eraser test Indoors, nighttime

A couple years back, I took a trip to Houston to watch a baseball game at Infinitesimal Maid Park, and paid up to sit in the Crawford Boxes, the seats in left field that are ridiculously close to the playing field. Being a few rows back, I couldn't become a clean shot of the field with my iPhone SE then, simply Magic Eraser had no trouble removing the handful of people seated in front end of me.

This is another instance where ignoring Magic Eraser's automatic suggestions and just tapping people manually is the better course of activity. Magic Eraser wanted to eliminate a lot of people — not only the folks in front end of me, but also the players on the field in the distance. While I imagine a lot of baseball fans wouldn't listen erasing the Houston Astros from memory, that seemed a step too far for me.

This is a case where the dark lighting inside the Astros' domed stadium helped out with the edit. At that place's no worry virtually shadow or weird colorization from the removed people.

Magic Eraser test: Landscape, large background object

Since I've started using Magic Eraser, I detect the one thing it really struggles with are oversized objects. Cars, in particular, seem to pose a challenge. Not just are they big, but there are things like windows and tires offering different surfaces for Magic Eraser to hibernate and blend.

After snapping this photo of some Halloween decorations with a Pixel vi, I decided that the truck in the groundwork needed to get. And thanks to the shadows cast past buildings and trees, Magic Eraser did a pretty good job of disguising where the truck used to be. Yes, the office of the street where tires were is a scrap darker, but the real tell is the driveway beyond the street. With the truck no longer there, the Pixel half dozen had a difficult time telling where the street ended and the driveway began, and so things expect a lilliputian jagged.

Magic Eraser exam: Group portrait, indoors

I've always been bothered by the glare coming off the framed photograph in this image shot by an iPhone SE in a Paris buffet, so I had Magic Eraser get rid of information technology, by circling the frame on my Pixel half dozen.

You'd take to admit Magic Eraser did a pretty thorough job zapping it, leaving only a vague outline. I'm particularly impressed that some lighting even so remains where the motion-picture show used to be, making the back wall expect a little more realistic.

Magic Eraser examination: Portrait with photobomber

Magic Eraser seems tailor-made for photobombers, those folks who unwittingly or otherwise, testify up in the background of your shot, like this Pixel two photo from years ago, in which a passerby stares right into the camera every bit I test some Sony headphones.

Magic Eraser got rid of him, but the results aren't cracking. Office of the problem is the unlike surfaces behind him — the brick wall and TV monitor are too much for the Pixel's Tensor processor to recreate. The passerby was also too close to me, and his shirt and mine were too similar in color. That seemingly confused the Magic Eraser on which one of united states of america needed to go. The terminate consequence is serviceable, but nothing I'd present as a finished product.

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Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.