How to Remove a Watermark from a Photo Using a Neural Network

Watermarks on photos are a common problem. Sometimes you need to remove your own outdated watermark, restore an old photo, or clean up a screenshot. Neural networks have learned to do this in seconds. But before moving on to the tools, let's talk about something important — ethics and legality.

Ethics and Legal Issues

When removing a watermark is acceptable

• Your own photos — you applied a watermark and want to remove or replace it
• Photos with an expired license — you purchased a license, but the original without the mark is lost
• Personal photos — someone added their watermark to your photo without permission
• Testing and learning — you are exploring AI capabilities on your own images

When removing a watermark is not acceptable

• Commercial stock photos — the watermark protects the photographer's copyright
• Other people's work — removing a watermark from someone else's photos violates copyright
• Commercial use — using "cleaned" photos belonging to others in business is illegal

Removing a watermark from someone else's content can lead to legal consequences under copyright law. Use the tools responsibly.

Cleanup.pictures — the simplest option

Cleanup.pictures is a free online tool that removes any unwanted objects from photos, including watermarks.

How to use

1. Go to cleanup.pictures
2. Upload an image (drag and drop or click on the upload area)
3. Select the "Brush" tool
4. Paint over the area with the watermark
5. The neural network will automatically fill the area with suitable content
6. Download the result

Tips for the best result

• Paint over the watermark with a small margin around the edges
• For complex backgrounds, process in parts rather than all at once
• If the result is imperfect — undo and try painting slightly differently
• Quality depends on background complexity: uniform backgrounds are processed better

Limitations of the free version

• Maximum output resolution — 720px
• Full resolution requires a ClipDrop Pro subscription
• The number of processings is unlimited

Inpaint (theinpaint.com)

Inpaint is a specialized tool for removing objects from photos. It works on the principle of "smart filling."

How to use

1. Open theinpaint.com
2. Upload a photo
3. Use the marker to select the area with the watermark
4. Click Erase
5. The algorithm will fill the area based on surrounding pixels
6. If necessary, repeat for any remaining traces

Features

• Works without registration
• Processes images locally (does not send to a server)
• Supports batch processing in the desktop version
• Handles semi-transparent watermarks better

Adobe Photoshop — Generative Fill

Adobe added the Generative Fill feature to Photoshop based on the Adobe Firefly model. This is one of the most powerful tools for removing objects.

How to use

1. Open the image in Photoshop (version 25.0 and higher)
2. Select the area with the watermark using the Lasso Tool or Rectangular Marquee
3. On the panel that appears, click Generative Fill
4. Leave the text field empty (Photoshop will fill the area automatically)
5. Choose the best of the three suggested options
6. Generate more options if necessary

Advantages of Generative Fill

• Highest quality of filling
• Works with any background complexity
• Generates on a separate layer (does not destroy the original)
• Several options to choose from
• Supports text prompts to guide generation

Disadvantages

• Requires an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription
• Requires a powerful computer or a stable internet connection
• Cloud processing (privacy)

DALL-E Inpainting via ChatGPT

OpenAI allows you to use DALL-E for inpainting — replacing a selected area of an image.

How to use

1. Open ChatGPT (the version with DALL-E)
2. Upload the image to the chat
3. Ask it to remove the watermark:

This image has a watermark in the bottom right corner. 
Remove it and fill the area while preserving the natural background.

4. DALL-E will generate a new version of the image
5. Refine the request if necessary

Limitations

• The result may differ from the original (DALL-E "redraws" the entire image)
• Not suitable for photos where precision of details matters
• Works better with simple backgrounds and compositions
• Quality depends on the prompt

Lama Cleaner — free local processing

Lama Cleaner is an open-source tool for removing objects from images. It runs locally on your computer, which addresses privacy concerns.

Installation

pip install lama-cleaner
lama-cleaner --model=lama --device=cpu --port=8080

After launching, open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

How to use

1. Install Lama Cleaner via pip (Python 3.8+)
2. Start the local web server
3. Open the interface in your browser
4. Upload an image
5. Use the brush to paint over the area with the watermark
6. The neural network will process the image locally

Available models

Advantages of Lama Cleaner

• Completely free
• Works offline — data never leaves your computer
• Supports multiple AI models
• No limits on quantity or resolution
• Open source

Comparison of all tools

Legal alternatives to stock photos

Instead of removing watermarks from paid stock sites, consider free sources of high-quality images:

Stock photo sites with free licenses

• Unsplash — over 3 million high-quality photos, free for commercial use
• Pexels — free photos and videos from the photographer community
• Pixabay — over 2 million free images, illustrations, and videos
• Burst by Shopify — free photos for business and e-commerce
• StockSnap.io — hundreds of new photos every week without restrictions

Generating images with neural networks

Instead of searching for a suitable stock photo, create a unique image using AI:

• Midjourney — high-quality photorealistic images
• GPT Image (formerly DALL-E) — generation via ChatGPT, works well with text descriptions
• Stable Diffusion — free open-source model, runs locally
• Kandinsky (from Sber) — free generator with good understanding of the Russian language
• Shedevrum (from Yandex) — free app for generating images

Tips for better watermark removal

Image preparation

• Work with the maximum available resolution — the more pixels, the more accurate the restoration
• If the watermark is semi-transparent, try increasing the contrast first
• Save the original before processing

Removal technique

• Process the watermark in parts if it is large
• For text watermarks, paint over each letter separately
• After the main removal, go over any remaining artifacts again
• Compare the result with the original at 100% zoom

Post-processing

• Check the removal area for blurring or artifacts
• Use sharpening tools if necessary
• Make sure the background textures match the surroundings

Conclusion

Neural networks have made watermark removal technically simple — it takes literally seconds. For a quick result, use Cleanup.pictures; for maximum quality, Photoshop Generative Fill; for private processing, Lama Cleaner.

But remember the main thing: technical capabilities do not override ethics. Use these tools only for your own photos and legally obtained images. For commercial projects, free stock photo sites and neural network generation are the best and completely legal alternative to removing other people's watermarks.