Edits within a photo on Mac

I want to copy a section of a photo in Photos and paste it in a different part of the same photo to cover something in the background. Retouch isn't effective for this.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.5

Posted on Sep 16, 2023 4:51 PM

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Posted on Sep 16, 2023 10:07 PM

You may want to try this:

  • Export the photo from Photos and save it to folder in the Finder.
  • Open the exported photo in Preview.
  • Open the same photo in a second Preview window. select the area you want and copy it into the Clipboard, then paste it into the first window with the exported photo and move it to the place you want.

Photos itself cannot combine parts of several images into one image, not even within the same image. Sometimes cloning with the retouch tool will suffice, if we repeat the cloning several times.


But we can copy the main subject of the photo to the clipboard, so we can paste it with Preview to a different part of the image.


5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Sep 16, 2023 10:07 PM in response to 3591

You may want to try this:

  • Export the photo from Photos and save it to folder in the Finder.
  • Open the exported photo in Preview.
  • Open the same photo in a second Preview window. select the area you want and copy it into the Clipboard, then paste it into the first window with the exported photo and move it to the place you want.

Photos itself cannot combine parts of several images into one image, not even within the same image. Sometimes cloning with the retouch tool will suffice, if we repeat the cloning several times.


But we can copy the main subject of the photo to the clipboard, so we can paste it with Preview to a different part of the image.


Sep 17, 2023 7:43 AM in response to 3591

I usually use GraphicConverter for stuff like this. But, have you tried using Photos' retouch tool as a stamp? You option-click on the thing you want copied, and then retouch the other thing, and as you swipe, the clicked part is copied there. It's a little funky (you don't see it happen in real time, for instance), but it might do just what you want.



Here I copied the date to another part of the watch face.

Sep 17, 2023 7:34 AM in response to AbeIsaiah08

@ AbeIsaiah08

The question does make sense, and was answered by léonie

Example: the background of my photo is a green lawn. On the lawn is an item I wish to remove. Before Picasa was discontinued I was able to select another part of the lawn, copy it, and place it over the item I wish to hide, all on the same screen.

Edits within a photo on Mac

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