It is possible to seamlessly remove an unwanted object from the photo or to remove the background leaving an object you can use elsewhere with these iPhone apps. Create special effects.

Sometimes you find that there are unwanted objects in a photo, such as when you are trying to photograph a building and there are people walking past on the street, or you take a photo of someone and there are random people in the background.

Unwanted objects can be removed so that the modified photo is cleaner and has only the content you want. No more strangers photo-bombing your snapshots.

Sometimes you want to copy an object out of one photo and use it in another to make a composite image. Three of the apps here do that and they let you make the background transparent to cut out an object from its surroundings.

All the apps are free and some are excellent.

Easy Eraser

Price: Free | By: Square Penguin | Size: 7.3MB | iOS: 6.0 or later

Easy Eraser is a simple app with few features, but it doesn't need a lot because it has a single purpose and that is to erase objects from photos.

Unlike the other apps here, it does not erase backgrounds, it removes the object so that you would not know it was there.

On starting the app, you are prompted to take a photo or select one. The image is then displayed on the screen. The Zoom button is used to zoom into the image and this is required when the object is fairly small.

The Brush tool is used to paint over the object to be removed in red. As you paint, a small window appears in the corner to show a magnified view of the area around the paintbrush.

When the object is painted, tapping Perform Erase removes it. It takes a second or two and then the finished image is displayed. It can be saved to the Photos library or shared.

The results vary and sometimes, as in the example shown here, it can work very well. However, it depends on the object and it won't work in every case.

Pic Eraser Free – Live Photo Editor To Erase Me WallaPop Photos Backgrounds

Price: Free | By: Peng Hui | Size: 19MB | iOS: 5.1.1 or later

Pic Eraser Free looks like a great app in the store because it has lots of 5-star ratings. However, giving it a 5-star rating is the only way to unlock all the features and without rating it, the app is very limited.

Very little in the app works well (maybe it's better if you 5-star rate it, but I didn't). It does not remove objects from photos, what it does is enable you to make sections, which are then cut out of the photo. You are left with a hole, which can be transparent or filled with white.

The app lasted about five minutes on my phone and was then deleted.

Magic Eraser Background Eraser

Price: Free | By: Alan Cushway | Size: 32.8MB | iOS 9.0 or later

Magic Eraser Background Editor is an app for removing backgrounds from photos. A photo can be taken or loaded from the Photos library and wherever you paint with your finger is cut from the image.

The paintbrush size is adjustable using a slider at the bottom and the brush can erase or restore, so if you clumsily erase a bit too much, the restore brush can be used to put it back.

There is also a zoom feature that seems to have no limit and combined with the adjustable brush, you can do some very detailed work even on an iPhone with stubby fingers.

There are different views and you can flip an image to switch the image and cut section. So you can paint over an object to cut it, then flip the image to show the object, but not the background.

This app is excellent for cutting objects out of images, perhaps to use in other images. The result is saved as a high resolution PNG file.

Background Eraser - SuperImpose Photo Editor & Cut Out Image Outline

Price: Free | By: Sunwoong Jang | Size: 16.2MB | iOS: 6.0 or later

Background Eraser is another utility that removes the background around an object in a photograph.

You can either erase the background by painting over it or paint over the object to erase it and then reverse the image to show the object and hide the background.

The brush width is variable and the image can be zoomed into to aid fine detail work. A problem with some tools like this is that you cannot see exactly where you are painting because it is covered up with your finger.

The solution is to offset the actual painting position from your finger. It is awkward at first and easy to make mistakes, but it gets easier with practise. Mistakes are not a problem and switching to the Restore brush undoes brush strokes.

Images can be saved in a range of resolutions, including the original.

This is a great app for cutting objects out of images for use elsewhere.