Photos are always added in documents to make our ideas more clearly. However, very often, the cited photos are created by others and added with a watermark showing the origin. Then how to remove a watermark from photos, in the purpose to make the cited photos not distractive by the watermark and to make our files look more professional? Here you will find 8 ways to remove watermark from photos, including online free solutions and several offline professional photo watermark remover applications.

But before removing the watermark from a photo, you should realize that it is illegal to remove the photo watermarks for commercial or for other criminal act.

Part 1. Best Ways to Remove Watermark from Photo (Mac & Windows)

Taking out watermark from your photos can be challenging, it is more than cropping the watermark, we often use Heal (Erase) or Clone to eliminate the watermarks for prefect looking, without changing the original image quality or messing it with watermark removal traces. In the following, you will find 3 good tools to remove watermark from pictures.

#1 The Most Creative

Is there any tool helps to remove watermark from photo with one click? Yes, there is. Luminar Neo can remove watermark, remove person, power line, dust spots or other unwanted objects from your photos easily. It examines the surrounding pixels and create a new texture based on awareness of what’s near by the brushed area, which makes the watermark-removed photo natural and no trail of erasing.

Luminar Neo Standout feature

  • AI-Powered: smart, intelligent, professional
  • Browse photos in library
  • Add as plug-in to Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom/PS Elements/Apple Aperture
  • Crop, rotate, align horizon
  • Essential editing: light, color, black & white, details, denoise, landscape, vignette
  • Creative editing: relight, sky replacemet, atmosphere, sunrays, dramatic, mood, toning, matte look, glow, film grain, etc.
  • Professional editing: supercontrast and color harmony
  • Retouch (eye, hair, mouth, body, etc.)
  • Remove unwanted person or objects
  • Convert photos to JPG, PNG, TIFF, PDF
  • Before & After check

Remove Watermark from Photo with Luminar Neo Now!

For Simple Watermark Images

  1. Grab a copy of Luminar Neo , install and open the application.
  2. Go to Catalog>Add Photos>Add Folder or Add Image.remove watermark luminar neo 1
  3. Go to Edit>Essentials>Erase.remove watermark luminar neo 3
  4. Use the brush tool to brush over the watermark, you can adjust the brush size. Press and hold Space bar to choose between brush tool and hand tool, zoom in to check the details.remove watermark luminar neo 4
  5. Once ready, click Erase to remove watermark.
  6. Right click on the watermark image and click Export to save the photo without watermark to other format.remove watermark luminar neo 5

Or we can use the Crop feature to cut out the watermark if it just stands a small proportion of the image in the corner.

remove watermark luminar neo 2

For Complicated Watermark Image

If the watermark takes a large portion on the image and stands across different surroundings, you need to do the erase bit by bit.

  1. Add photos to Luminar Neo accroding to above steps.
  2. Go to Edit>Essentials>Erase. Scroll your mouse control to zoom in and brush over watermark part with pixels in same or similar color. Press Space bar to switch between hand tool and brush tool. Then repeat the Erase process to remove all the watermark pixels.remove watermark luminar neo 6
  3. Go to Details and move the slider bars to get a good look.remove watermark luminar neo 7

#2 The Easiest for 2022

Movavi Picverse is super easy to use, the intuitive interface and pop-out tutorials make any edit in the app simple.It offers basic tools like enhance, crop, rotate, resize, etc., also provides pro-level tools like restore, retouch, add effect, overlay , etc. It is also AI powered, smartly enhance your photos with one click.

Regarding watermark removal, Picverse is the only one that can match Adobe Photoshop in selection control, thanks for its selection tools, which makes it possible to select the watermark perfectly and have the best control point to point. I tested on both simple and complicate watermarks, Picverse gave me good results.

How to Remove Watermark from Photos Easily?

For Simple Watermarks

  1. Grab a free copy of Movavi Picverse, install and run the app.
  2. Drag and drop the watermarked photo to Picverse.remove watermark picverse 1
  3. Head to Edit>Smart Eraser>Brush Tool, adjust brush size and brush over the watermark.remove watermark picverse 2
  4. Click on Start Erasing.remove watermark picverse 3
  5. Head to File>Save, the watermark is taken out from your picture.remove watermark picverse 4

For Complicate Watermarks Interacting with Multiple Things

  1. Grab a free copy of Movavi Picverse, install and run the app.
  2. Drag and drop the watermarked image to Picverse.The watermark is quite complicate, interacting with multiple layers.remove watermark picverse 5
  3. Head to Edit>Smart Eraser, choose Magic Wand Tool, it quicky selects the watermark subject of the same color.(Also, you can try other selection tool and learn the difference)remove watermark picverse 6
  4. Click on the watermark subjects, the selected parts will be marked in red.To undo the previous selection, press Ctrl+Z.remove watermark picverse 7
  5. Zoom in or out by scrolling your mouse to check details, press Space bar and move your mouse to locate and select all watermark bits.remove watermark picverse 8
  6. Click on Start Erasing and remove the watermark.
  7. (Optional) If you are not happy with the result, use the Smart Eraser>Clone tool to fix parts that over processed, by copying from a perfect source in the photo.remove watermark picverse 9
  8. Then head to File>Save to eliminate the watermark.remove watermark picverse 10

#3 The Most Professional

Still not happy with the result, then you can remove watermarks from your photos using Adobe Photoshop. For simple watermarks, it is also easy to remove even using Adobe, but if the watermark is added with some advanced effects, you will need to spend some time to fix the background for original watermark.

Steps to Remove Watermark from Photo Using Adobe Photoshop

  1. Install Adobe Photoshop, open the program.
  2. Drag and drop the image to Adobe PS.remove watermark ps 1
  3. Click on Layers in the right panel, right click on current layer and select Duplicate Layer in case of any mess. Make the original layer invisible.remove watermark ps 3
  4. Right click to select the Magic Wand Tool and click on the watermark to select the whole watermark subject.remove watermark ps 4
  5. After the selection, go to Select>Modify>Expand.remove watermark ps 5
  6. Adjust the Expand Selection, expand by 1 or 2 pixels(test yourself) to cover the outline of the watermark.remove watermark ps 6
  7. Then head to Edit>Fill.remove watermark ps 7
  8. Choose Content-Aware to fill in the watermark areas.remove watermark ps 8
  9. Check the result, you may need to use the Clone tool to fix over-processed areas. Select Clone tool and fix the messy parts by copying from other good source.remove watermark ps 10
  10. Then go to File>Save.remove watermark ps 11

Part 2. Remove Watermark from Photo Online Free (3 Ways)

Maybe you just have 2 or 3 photos needs to be done with watermark removal and decide to process online without paying. Then, you can try online free image watermark remover services.

I have tried virtually all the online free image watermark remover tools, not counting those just keep directing you to unsecure websites and those don’t allow remove watermark at all, the quantity of online image photo watermark remover tools are less than 10. Here we pick best 3 of them to remove watermark from photo online free.

#4 Pixlr

If you have edited a photo online before, you must have known Pixlr, the most popular online free photo editor to edit, rotate, resize, flip, crop, merge, flatten, adjust, add filters and customize your photos as professional as Adobe Photoshop. In addition, it allows users to export the edited photos as different image formats, including JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and PXD.

There are 2 ways to remove watermark from photo online free with Pixlr, using the Spot Heal Tool or Clone Stamp Tool.

Way #1 Steps to Remove Watermark from Photo Online Free with Pixlr

  1. Head to Pixlr Photo Editor Online
  2. Click Open Image from Computer to import your photo to Pixlr.remove photo watermark pixlr01
  3. In the left panel, choose Clone stamp tool.remove photo watermark pixlr02
  4. Then click Ctrl to select the area you want to clone, so the area with watermark can be replaced with the cloned part. In my test, I choose to clone the bush near to the watermark, it will make the whole photo natural, the watermark-removed area will be in harmony with other parts. photo watermark pixlr03
  5. Click on the watermark, or hold the left mouse button to select the whole watermark area, then you will see the watermark is replaced by the cloned area. photo watermark pixlr04
  6. Once ready, go to File>Save, rename the file and choose an output format for your photo, click OK. photo watermark pixlr05

Way #2 Steps to Remover Watermark from Photo Online Free with Pixlr

  1. Navigate to the website of Pixrl.
  2. Upload your photo to Pixlr.remove photo watermark pixlr01
  3. Go to left panel, choose Spot Heal Tool. photo watermark pixlr06
  4. Hold left mouse button, move the brush onto the watermark, wait for the watermark to be removed. photo watermark pixlr07
  5. Once ready, go to File>Save, choose an output format to save the photo onto your computer.

Disadvantages of Using Pixlr

  • Require good Internet connection
  • It may take time when uploading, processing and downloading photos
  • Repeated steps are needed to get the photo done with good quality

#5 Inpaint

Inpaint is another online free tool to remove photo watermark. Actually, it is my favorite one, it is easy to use and does the watermark removal quite professional, it is not likely that others will notice the photo is processed with a watermark removal. However, its free service only allows users to download a relatively low-quality photo, for high definition output, you need to pay for it.

inpaint result price

Anyway, if your source photo is in high definition, you can still have a try on this online free tool.

Steps to Remove Watermark from Photo Online Free with Inpaint

  1. Navigate to the website of Inpaint.
  2. Click Upload Image to import your photo to Inpaint.inpaint remove photo watermark01
  3. Then hold and move the brush onto watermark.inpaint remove photo watermark02
  4. Click Erase to remove the watermark from your photo.inpaint remove photo watermark03
  5. Once ready, click Download on the top right to save the photo to your Mac or Windows PC.inpaint remove photo watermark result

#6 Apowersoft

The 3rd tool to remove watermark from photo online free is Apowersoft. It does help to remove the watermark, easy and effective, but the part of the watermark will be hazy, you will notice that there is an object or something removed from the photo.

remove photo watermark apowersoft result

However, if this is OK for you, you can have a try.

Steps to Remove Watermark from Photo Online Free with Apowersoft

  1. Head to Apowersoft Online Watermark Remover.
  2. Click + to import your photos.remove photo watermark apowersoft 01
  3. Drag the erase box onto the watermark.remove photo watermark apowersoft 02
  4. Then click Erase.
  5. Once ready, download the photo to your computer.

Of course, there are other online tools to remove photo watermark:

Like Lunapic, but you will find the trails that proved the photo has been watermark-removed:

lunapic remove photo watermark

Or like Photofunny, it only allows users to blur the watermark:

remove photo watermark photofunny

Part 3. Free Watermark Remover: GIMP

If you want to remove photo watermark offline, you can use GIMP, the free image editor to enhance photos, do retouching, save photos as other image formats, etc. Of course, it allows users to remove photo watermark using its clone tool.

Steps to Remove Watermark from Photo Free in GIMP

  1. Download GIMP from its website, it is safe to use, install and open the application then.
  2. Go to File>Open, import your photo to watermark removal.remove photo watermark gmip01
  3. Then choose Clone tool.remove photo watermark gmip 02
  4. Press Ctrl and select an area to clone to the watermark area.remove photo watermark gmip03
  5. Once ready, go to File>Save. The photo watermark is removed in GIMP.

Part 4. Use Paid Watermark Remover to Remove Watermark from Picture

If a professional photo editor is unnecessary for you, a dedicated photo watermark remover would be a better choice, like, SoftOrbits Photo Stamp Remover.

It is a Windows photo watermark tool to add watermark and remove watermark/date stamp/text or other unwanted objects from photo. It supports batch removing watermarks. You can use selection tools to remove simple watermarks or utilize its clone stamp feature to remove complicate watermarks with details.

Photo Stamp Remover Offers

  • Remove watermark/date stamp/unwanted objects
  • Batch remove watermark
  • Basic and advanced tool to do watermark removal
  • Add watermark text or image
  • Crop photos
  • Save photos as JPEG, PNG, SVG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, ICO, etc.

How to Remove Photo Watermark Easily on Windows?

  1. Download Photo Stamp Remover, install the program and run it.
  2. Add photos to the program by drag and drop.add photos
  3. Go to Remove, choose a selection tools to select the watermark or use clone stamp to replace watermark.remove photo watermark 01
  4. Click Remove to start photo stamp removal process.remove photo watermark02
  5. Click on Save as to export the photo without watermark.

To tell you the truth, I am quite surprised that image tools today are doing so good in editing. There is still gap between Adobe and other image editors, but those non-Adobe tools are not that greatly outshadowed by Adobe any more, they are getting better and better, like Movavi Picverse, it is worth a try.