iOS 16 brought a fun, new feature to photos. You can now isolate, lift, or cut out a person, pet, or object from the background of a photo. This used to be an arduous task in Photoshop, but now it’s as easy as a long press on a photo taken with an iPhone and stored in your Photos library.

How to cut out a photo in iOS 16

1. Choose a photo from your Photos library. It can be a photo taken before you upgraded to iOS 16.
2. Long press on the subject of the photo. You will feel a haptic tap and a white halo will appear around your subject. If it doesn’t work, try again or try another photo.
3. You should then see Copy and Share buttons.
   
4. If you choose “Copy” you can paste it into another app that allows you to paste a PNG file.
5. If you choose “Share:, you get more options including Copy. From here you can AirDrop it, or send it via Messages, Mail, or other apps. You can also Save the Image (to Photos), Assign it a Contact, and more!

Learn more about this feature from Apple.

Add your Subject to Fun Backgrounds

Now that you have a subject freed from its background, have fun. Find a background image to place it into to make a fun collage.

The following images were created in about 5 minutes using Adobe Photoshop or Affinity Photo. If you have Photoshop, that will work well. If you don’t, Affinity Photo is a good and far less expensive alternative.