Refine cutout edges with brushes

By Support writer

Automatic cutouts get you 80–90% on a clean desk photo. The last percent is usually brushes.

Tools

• Add — paint subject back in (the model chewed a strap, a hand, a logo corner).
• Erase — paint background away (halos, table edges, fake blur blobs).
• Size — smaller near hair and jewelry; larger for flat walls.
• Softness — feathers the stroke. Hard brushes carve; soft brushes blend.

A simple pass that works

1. Zoom with the before/after slider until the bad edge is obvious.
2. Erase background crumbs with a medium-soft brush.
3. Switch to Add only where the subject is actually missing — do not “paint skin tone” into empty air.
4. Reset refine if you overdid it and start the edge again; better than stacking ten wrong strokes.

What brushes will not fix

Motion blur, crushed blacks, and a subject the same color as the wall. Reshoot or relight beats a heroic mask.

If the whole job failed (worker error, decode error), see Troubleshooting before spending time on brushes.