A few of you spotted something in my recent travel journaling video: I was using a built in iPad feature to pull an object from a photo and drop it into Procreate as a cut out. There was some interest in this method and its applications for digital collage, so I wanted to show you how to do it in more detail, with some tips and tricks based on my own experimentation.

Method 1: Copy and Paste

Open a photo in the Photos app and tap and hold for about 1-2 seconds on the subject you want to cut out. You'll see a glow appear around the edges, and that's iPad recognising the subject. Once it's selected, you'll see a little menu appear, and you can tap Copy.

Head over to Procreate, tap the gear icon, then Add > Paste. Your cutout will appear on its own layer, ready to resize, rotate, or do whatever you like with.

Method 2: Drag and Drop

This one's a bit easier (I think). Tap and hold the subject in the Photos app until the glow appears, but don't stop holding your finger on the screen, just drag it slightly away in any direction. Now close the Photos app with your other hand, and your cutout stays attached to your finger which is still holding on the screen. Open Procreate and drop your cutout straight onto your canvas (you'll see a green plus sign appear).

Using multiple windows

On iPadOS 26, you can have both apps open side by side. Drag down from the top-left corner of either app to resize the window, then arrange Photos and Procreate next to each other. From there, you can drag cutouts directly between the two without switching apps at all. This is helpful if you have a lot of photos to include in your work and don't want to keep switching apps back and forth.

Cleaning up the edges

The cutout won't always be perfect, and you might get some rough edges or anti aliasing, especially if the subject wasn't on a clean background. If it's bothering you, tap the eraser in Procreate and choose something from the Basics library (like Forester) to tidy it up.

That said, you won't always need to do this. Some cutouts are cleaner than others, and sometimes the imperfections won't be noticeable on certain backgrounds or in a busy collage. This step is optional and completely depends on your artwork and personal preferences.

What Works Well

This feature was designed with people and pets in mind, so that's where you'll get the cleanest results, especially with a clean background. Beyond that, it works pretty well for:

• Nature (flowers, leaves, sticks)
• Found objects or personal ephemera (rocks, paper, cups, ticket stubs)
• Photographed artwork (see notes below)

Photographing your own artwork

If you're photographing something you've made, zoom in so the edges of the paper aren't visible in the photo. The feature will pick up the paper itself if it can see the edges. It also works best with well defined shapes. Things like watercolor with wispy edges won't cut out cleanly, but a solid painted shape or clear illustration usually will.

Things to Watch Out For

• Live photos: These don't work well with the cutout feature. Turn it off before you shoot, or switch it off afterwards if you forgot.
• Text: The Photos app reads text as text, not as an image. If you try to cut out handwriting or printed text, it'll paste as actual letters rather than a visual.
• Cluttered backgrounds: The cleaner the background, the better the cutout. If you're photographing something with a lot going on around it, try cropping the photo down to just that subject first. It makes a real difference.

This is a quick, imperfect method, and that's fine for many purposes. It's great for personal ephemera, spur of the moment collage elements, quick journaling entries, and any time you just want to grab something fast from your photo library and get it into your artwork. Give it a try and see what you can make with it.